If you support a parent, spouse, adult child, or other loved one living with a serious disability or long-term medical condition, the Disability Tax Credit (DTC) can be very important. It reduces income tax and serves as a gateway to other key supports, including the Canada Disability Benefit, and access to tools like the Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP).
The Spring Economic Update 2026 proposes several changes aimed at making the DTC easier to access.
A Quick Refresher: What is the Disability Tax Credit (DTC)?
The DTC is a non-refundable tax credit intended to recognize that people with severe and prolonged impairments face ongoing costs that are not easily itemized.
Eligibility is based on the effects of an impairment—not just the diagnosis. A person may qualify if they have a severe and prolonged impairment in physical or mental functions and meet one of the legislated tests (for example, being markedly restricted in a basic activity of daily living or having multiple significant limitations that, together, are equivalent to a marked restriction under the cumulative effects test).
A medical practitioner completes the certification, and the CRA assesses the application against the legislative criteria to determine eligibility.
What the 2026 Update Proposes to Change
Streamlined Certification for Certain Long-lasting Conditions
This is the headline change.
For individuals with certain listed long-lasting conditions, practitioners would only need to certify that the person has the condition. They would no longer need to complete detailed descriptions of functional limitations in most cases.
However, the legal test for Disability Tax Credit (DTC) eligibility is not changing. Individuals must still meet the statutory criteria, and the CRA can still request additional information.
What this means in practice:
- The application process should become simpler;
- The paperwork burden should be reduced for listed conditions;
- Approval is still not automatic.
Proposed list of conditions eligible for simplified Disability Tax Credit (DTC) certification:
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
- Amputations — certain severe forms
- Angelman syndrome
- Autism spectrum disorder — level 3
- Blindness – bilateral (legally blind)
- Cardiac functional class of 4/IV or an ejection fraction of 20% or less
- Cerebral palsy — severe
- Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, stage III or higher
- Colostomy (permanent)
- Cystic fibrosis
- Dementia
- Down syndrome (Trisomy 21)
- Duchenne muscular dystrophy — advanced or severe
- Edwards syndrome / Trisomy 18
- Hearing loss — severe or profound, bilateral
- Hearing loss – profound in one ear and severe in the other
- Hemipelvectomy
- Hemophilia A (severe)
- Hip disarticulation
- Huntington disease
- Ileostomy (permanent)
- Intellectual disability (severe, profound or IQ of 70 or below)
- Microcephaly
- Mutism (total)
- Paraplegia
- Parkinson’s disease — advanced or severe
- Patau syndrome / Trisomy 13
- Phenylketonuria
- Prader Willi syndrome
- Progeria
- Quadriplegia or tetraplegia
- Relying only on lip-reading and/or the use of sign language to understand conversations or communicate
- Renal failure — requiring lifelong hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis
- Schizophrenia
- Sickle cell disease (severe) requiring transfusions
- Sign language is the primary means of communicating due to profound hearing loss or expressive aphasia
- Spinal muscular atrophy – type 1 and 2
- Stroke (severe) no functional recovery
- Supplemental oxygen — lifelong continuous requirement
- Tay-Sachs disease (infantile/juvenile)
- Traumatic brain injury — severe
This change is proposed to apply beginning with the 2026 tax year.
Expanded List of Medical Practitioners
The Update proposes expanding who can certify certain impairments so that certification better reflects real-world care:
- Occupational therapists could certify impairments affecting eliminating (bowel/bladder)
- Physiotherapists could certify impairments affecting feeding and dressing, as well as cumulative effects involving walking, feeding, and/or dressing
- Speech-language pathologists could certify impairments affecting feeding or hearing, plus cumulative effects involving speaking, feeding, and/or hearing
- Podiatrists could certify walking impairments within their scope of practice.
This change is about who can complete the medical certification on the Disability Tax Credit (DTC) form for specific types of impairments. It aligns certification authority with the practitioners who often have the best understanding of a person’s day-to-day functional limitations.
These changes are proposed to apply starting in the 2027 tax year.
Certification by Public Guardians and Trustees
For adults under the care of a public guardian, trustee, or curator, a valid certificate of incapacity issued under provincial or territorial law could be used to support a Disability Tax Credit (DTC) application—without a separate medical certification.
A similar rule would apply for certain federal departments acting for adult dependants under the Indian Act.
What is Not Changing
The Disability Tax Credit (DTC) is not becoming a diagnosis-based credit.
Eligibility will continue to depend on how a condition affects daily functioning. Even for listed conditions, the CRA can verify whether the statutory criteria are met.
Bottom line:
- A diagnosis alone does not guarantee approval;
- The underlying legal framework remains the same.
Why these changes still matter
Even without changing the legal test, these reforms could have a real impact:
Less paperwork
Simplified certification should reduce administrative burden for both families and practitioners.
Better practitioner fit
Expanded certification rules allow the most relevant professional to complete the form.
Improved access to related programs
Because the Disability Tax Credit (DTC) unlocks other supports, a smoother process could have broader financial effects.
Talk to Your McCay Duff LLP Consultant to Understand the Disability Tax Credit (DTC)
At McCay Duff LLP, our trusted team of Chartered Professional Accountants provides high-quality tax and business advisory services to businesses and individuals in Ottawa and the surrounding area. If you have questions about the Disability Tax Credit (DTC), please get in touch with our office—we’re here to help. Contact us online or by telephone at 613-236-2367 or toll-free at 1-800-267-6551.
