How to Claim Prescription Drug Costs on Taxes in Canada

Prescription drugs and medications bought with a prescription are eligible medical expenses for the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) medical expense credit. Over-the-counter medications, vitamins and supplements are not eligible. The prescription is the dividing line, so only drugs dispensed under one can be included in your claim.

Are prescription drugs eligible for the medical expense credit?

Eligibility depends on whether a prescription exists. Prescription drugs qualify, while non-prescription products do not, as the CRA states (Canada Revenue Agency, 2026-01-20). The table below sets out each purchase type.

Excluded purchases

Three categories fall outside the claim:

• Over-the-counter medications: products sold without a prescription are not eligible.
• Vitamins: not eligible, even though they may be used for health reasons.
• Supplements: not eligible, and the CRA groups them with vitamins in the same exclusion.

How to sort purchases before you total them

Separate your health spending into two groups before adding anything up:

1. Put every item bought with a prescription in the eligible group.
2. Put over-the-counter medications, vitamins and supplements in a separate group that you leave out of the total.
3. Add only the first group to get the prescription-drug amount for the credit.

This method keeps excluded items out of your figure from the start, rather than removing them afterward.

Which expenses can you claim?

Only the portion of a prescription drug cost that you paid yourself and that was not reimbursed can go on your return. If an insurer or drug plan covered part of the bill, that part is excluded. The expense must also have been paid in a 12-month period ending in 2025, which is the window the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) applies for the 2025 tax year. The period does not have to be the calendar year, so you can choose the 12-month period that gives the largest eligible total.

Two tests decide what counts:

• Unreimbursed portion: Count the amount you actually paid, not the pharmacy’s list price or the full invoice total. Subtract any amount your insurer or drug plan paid back.
• Payment within the window: The cost must fall inside the 12-month period you select, and that period must end in 2025.

To work out your claimable total:

1. List the prescription receipts for the 12-month period you chose.
2. Add up the amounts you paid for each prescription.
3. Subtract any reimbursement from your insurer or drug plan for those same prescriptions.
4. Enter the net total on the line for the person the expenses belong to: line 33099 for you, your spouse or common-law partner, and your or your partner’s children under 18, or line 33199 for children 18 or older, grandchildren, and certain dependent relatives.

How the 3% or fixed-amount threshold works

For the 2025 tax year, you subtract a threshold from your eligible expenses. The threshold is the lesser of two figures: 3% of your net income, or $2,834. Whichever amount is smaller is the one you subtract.

The calculation runs in four steps:

If your net income is low enough that 3% of it is below $2,834, the 3% figure is your threshold. If 3% of your income is above $2,834, the $2,834 cap applies instead.

For line 33199 claims (children 18 or older, grandchildren and certain dependent relatives), the threshold is not a single household figure. The same lesser-of test is applied separately for each dependant, and it uses that dependant’s own net income, not yours or your spouse’s. Each dependant therefore has a separate threshold. A dependant with lower net income has a lower 3% amount, which leaves more of their expenses above the threshold. Calculate each dependant’s threshold on its own before combining any results.

Who can claim for the family?

Either spouse or common-law partner can claim the family’s eligible prescription drug costs. The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) page, dated 2026-01-20, notes that the lower-income partner may benefit more from the credit. The reason is the reduction formula. A lower net income produces a smaller 3% figure, so less of the family’s total expenses is subtracted and more remains claimable.

Because the choice affects the result, compare both partners before deciding who claims.

The comparison uses only the figures from the two returns. It does not depend on which partner paid the expenses, since the CRA page states that either spouse can claim the family’s expenses.

Which lines do you use on your return?

Eligible prescription costs go on one of two lines, depending on who the medication was for. Line 33099 covers you, your spouse or common-law partner, and children under 18 who are yours or your partner’s. Line 33199 covers children 18 or older, grandchildren, and certain relatives who depend on you. Sort each receipt by the person who received the medication before you add up any totals, because each line is calculated on its own.

Use this sequence when preparing the figures:

1. Set aside the prescriptions for the line 33099 group: your own, your partner’s, and those of children under 18.
2. Set aside the prescriptions for the line 33199 group: older children, grandchildren, and dependent relatives.
3. For each group, total only the amounts you paid that were not reimbursed by an insurer or another source.
4. Enter each total on its matching federal line.
5. Report the provincial or territorial amounts on Form 428, using line 58689 for the line 33099 group and line 58729 for the line 33199 group.

What receipts should you keep?

Each prescription receipt must show two things: the payee name (the pharmacy or provider that was paid) and the prescription the medication was filled under. A receipt that lists a drug without any link to a prescription does not document an eligible expense.

Your receipts are supporting records. Keep them with your tax file and do not send them with your return unless the CRA asks for them. If the CRA requests them, you need to be able to produce the original documents for each expense you claimed.

Pair each pharmacy receipt with the insurance statement from your drug plan or insurer that shows the amount reimbursed. The two documents together show the full cost of the prescription and the unreimbursed balance.

Can you claim past years you forgot?

Yes, but only for unclaimed 2024 expenses. The CRA allows you to claim eligible medical expenses that were not claimed for 2024, so a 2024 expense that was never entered on your 2024 return can be added to your 2025 return. What matters is that the expense was not claimed for 2024 and that it was paid within a 12-month period ending in 2025. The expense does not have to have been paid in 2024, because any 12-month period ending in 2025 can be used.

Only expenses not claimed for 2024 qualify. A prescription amount that was included in your medical expense total on the 2024 return cannot be claimed again on the 2025 return. A 2024 prescription amount that was left off that return, whether because it was overlooked or paid for a family member, can still be added, as long as it falls within the eligible 12-month period.

Check each item against the eligibility rules before adding it:

To prepare the claim:

1. List the 2024 prescription purchases you paid for during the eligible 12-month period.
2. Subtract any amount already included in the medical expense claim on your 2024 return.

This section covers only 2024 expenses. Amounts from earlier years fall outside its scope and are not addressed here.

Québec: are RAMQ premiums claimable?

Québec residents file their provincial return, the TP-1, with Revenu Québec, not Form 428. The CRA source (dated 2026-01-20) describes the federal medical expense rules and says provincial or territorial credits are claimed on Form 428. It does not cover Québec’s own return, so treat its Form 428 references as federal-side guidance and check the TP-1 for Québec’s treatment of any medical expense.

The RAMQ premium (the contribution paid to the Régie de l’assurance maladie du Québec) does not appear in the CRA source’s list of eligible expenses. That list covers prescription drugs and medications bought with a prescription. Premiums are not named in either group, so the source gives no basis for claiming them, and no basis for ruling them out.

Keep the RAMQ premium payment records for the year alongside your prescription receipts. Revenu Québec’s answer determines whether the premium is entered on the TP-1 at all, so do not reuse a federal line number or a federal calculation to decide the question.

Frequently asked questions

Which drug purchases count toward the CRA medical expense credit ?

Only medications bought with a prescription count, because the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) uses the prescription as the dividing line. Over-the-counter medications, vitamins and supplements are excluded even when you take them for a health reason.

Can I claim drug costs from a year I did not claim them ?

Yes. You can claim eligible expenses paid in any 12-month period ending in 2025, provided they were not claimed for 2024. The payment does not have to fall within calendar 2024.

How is the threshold applied when I claim for a dependant ?

For line 33099 (you, your spouse or common-law partner, and children under 18), the claim subtracts the lesser of 3% of your net income (line 23600) or $2,834 for 2025. For line 33199 (children 18 or older, grandchildren and certain dependent relatives), the same limit is applied separately to each dependant, using that dependant’s own net income.

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