Tax credits for home safety in Canada: what qualifies and what doesn't

The short answer: renovations can qualify, monitoring usually does not

Is a medical alert system tax deductible in Canada? No. The CRA's guide for the 2025 tax year lists "personal response systems such as Lifeline and Health Line Services" among the common medical expenses you cannot claim, next to blood pressure monitors and nebulizers (CRA Guide RC4065, 2025).

Every renovation credit we checked excludes appliances and monitoring services. BC and New Brunswick go further and name monitoring equipment itself. These credits reward lasting changes to the building.

Table sources: CRA Line 31285 and CRA Details of medical expenses for the federal columns; the BC and New Brunswick qualifying and non-qualifying lists for the last column. All linked in Sources below (2025).

Which federal credits can help?

Medical expense tax credit: prescribed aids and mobility renovations

For 2025, the credit only counts eligible expenses above the lesser of 3% of your net income or $2,834, paid in any 12-month period ending in 2025 and not already claimed for 2024 (CRA, Lines 33099 and 33199, 2025).

Prescribed aids come first: bathroom aids, walking aids, hospital beds and audible signal devices. Each entry is marked "prescription needed." Keep the prescription with the receipt.

Renovations come second. The CRA allows "amounts paid for changes that give a person access to (or greater mobility or functioning within) their home because they have a severe and prolonged mobility impairment or lack normal physical development." Two more tests apply. The cost must not normally be expected to increase the home's value, and it must be a cost that "would not normally be incurred by persons who have normal physical development or who do not have a severe and prolonged mobility impairment" (CRA, Details of medical expenses, 2025). That is a higher bar than "my parent is getting older."

Home Accessibility Tax Credit: up to $20,000 of enduring renovations

HATC applies to someone 65 or older at year end, or eligible for the disability tax credit. The expense cap is $20,000 a year. The work must be "of an enduring nature" and "integral to the eligible dwelling," and must improve access, mobility or function, or "reduce the risk of harm." In plain terms: attached to the house, and it stays there.

HATC does not cover "amount paid to buy household appliances," "amount paid to buy electronic home-entertainment devices," or "the cost of housekeeping, security monitoring, gardening, outdoor maintenance, or similar services." Routine maintenance, financing costs and work done mainly to raise property value are also out (CRA, Line 31285, 2025).

A worked example. A daughter pays $8,000 to replace her 78-year-old father's tub with a walk-in shower, add grab bars and put a handrail on the porch steps. All of it is attached to the home and reduces the risk of harm, so it fits under the cap. HATC is non-refundable and is calculated at the lowest federal personal income tax rate. That rate fell from 15% to 14% on 1 July 2025, so it is 14.5% for 2025 and 14% for 2026 (CRA, Tax rates and income brackets – 2025, 2025; CRA, Tax rates and income brackets – 2026, 2026). On $8,000 of eligible work, that is about $1,160 for 2025 and $1,120 for 2026. The maximum on $20,000 is about $2,900 for 2025 and $2,800 for 2026. The $500 a year she pays for a monitoring subscription is not claimable at all. (Published subscription prices for the Canadian pendant providers are in our senior monitoring devices compared guide and the medical alert pendants and watches category.)

Multigenerational Home Renovation Tax Credit: only for a secondary suite

The MHRTC is refundable, "15% of the lesser of qualifying expenditures and $50,000" (maximum $7,500), for 2023 and later. Its one purpose is building a self-contained secondary unit so a senior 65 or older, or a DTC-eligible adult, can live with a relative. Like HATC, it excludes appliances, entertainment devices, and "housekeeping, security monitoring, gardening, outdoor maintenance, or similar services" (CRA, Multigenerational Home Renovation Tax Credit, 2023).

Disability and caregiver credits: not for devices, but they open doors

Neither pays for safety equipment. Both still matter. The federal disability amount for 2025 is $10,138, and DTC approval opens HATC and MHRTC to people under 65 (CRA, Line 31600, 2025).

The Canada caregiver credit is non-refundable and helps "people who support family members with a mental or physical infirmity." The CRA page shows $2,687 and up to $8,601, split across lines 30300, 30400, 30425 and 30450. The page does not label a tax year, so check the amounts for the year you are filing (CRA, Canada caregiver credit).

What do the provinces offer?

Ontario. The Seniors Care at Home Tax Credit is refundable, for a person who "turned 70 years of age or older in the year, or [has] a spouse or common-law partner who turned 70 years of age or older in the year," and was resident in Ontario at year end. It pays "up to 25% of claimable medical expenses up to $6,000, for a maximum credit of $1,500," "reduced by 5% of family net income over $35,000 and fully phased out by at most $65,000." It can be claimed on top of the federal and Ontario medical expense credits for the same expenses, from 2022 on (Ontario.ca, 2025). Note the math: the maximum is $1,500 back, not $6,000. The eligible list follows the CRA medical expense list, so the CRA exclusion on personal response systems applies.

Many older articles still promote the Ontario Seniors' Home Safety Tax Credit. It was available for the 2021 and 2022 tax years only, and gave seniors 65 or older and family members living with them back 25% of up to $10,000 in eligible expenses a year for their principal residence in Ontario (Ontario Ministry for Seniors and Accessibility factsheet, 2022). It ended after the 2022 tax year. The CRA form for it, Schedule ON(S12), is marked "This form is no longer current" (CRA, Schedule ON(S12), 2022).

British Columbia. The credit is refundable: 10% of qualifying expenses up to $10,000, for a maximum of $1,000 a year, for residents 65 or older or DTC-eligible, and family who live with them. Its non-qualifying list names appliances, "fire extinguishers, smoke alarms, carbon monoxide detectors," "home security (anti-burglary) equipment," "home medical monitoring equipment," security or medical monitoring services, and wheelchairs and walkers (Government of BC, 2025).

New Brunswick. The Seniors' Home Renovation Tax Credit covers up to $10,000 of eligible expenses for residents 65 or older, or those living with a senior. Eligible examples: wheelchair ramps, stair lifts, grab bars, walk-in bathtubs, widened doors and motion-activated lighting. Not eligible: "equipment for home medical monitoring," "home security (anti-burglary) equipment," "fire extinguishers, smoke alarms, and carbon monoxide detectors," "household appliances," wheelchairs, walkers, and "security or medical monitoring services" (CRA, Information for Residents of New Brunswick, 5004-PC, 2025). BC and New Brunswick publish near-identical ineligible lists. The credit is refundable and is calculated as 10% of the eligible expenses claimed, to a maximum of $1,000 a tax year, and the province states it is available regardless of income (Government of New Brunswick, Department of Finance).

Quebec and elsewhere. Quebec's tax credit for home support for seniors is a refundable credit for people 70 or older, and remote monitoring is named among the eligible personal assistance services, alongside nursing care, hygiene care and meal preparation (Gouvernement du Québec, Programs and services for seniors, 2024 edition). That guide states a rate of 37% of eligible expenses for the 2023 taxation year, so do not carry that rate into a later year; check Revenu Québec for the current rate and amounts. For other provinces, start with the CRA's provincial information sheet for your tax year.

What does not qualify, and why?

Medical alert pendants and subscriptions

The CRA wording is direct: "personal response systems such as Lifeline and Health Line Services" cannot be claimed (CRA Guide RC4065, 2025). That covers the device and the monthly fee.

Vendors rarely say this. Lifeline Canada's site, which describes technology "designed to automatically detect most falls," carries no tax information (Lifeline Canada, 2026). TELUS Health lists LivingWell Companion Home at $45 a month on a 1-year term, $60 a month with no term, plus a $35 activation fee, and no tax information (prices as listed on the TELUS Health page, checked September 2026). Holo Alert's blog states that medical alert systems "are often eligible for the Federal METC if prescribed by a doctor" (Holo Alert, 2026). That conflicts with the CRA guide, and we found no CRA text to support it. A doctor's note does not move an item onto the CRA list.

US sites add confusion. TheSeniorList says medical alert systems "may be tax-deductible as a medical expense if a doctor has prescribed or recommended the device" (TheSeniorList, 2026). That is an IRS rule and does not apply in Canada.

Cameras, alarms and home monitoring sensors

No credit we checked covers these. HATC and MHRTC exclude security monitoring services. BC and New Brunswick name home security equipment, home medical monitoring equipment, smoke alarms and CO detectors as ineligible. That covers cameras, acoustic monitors, bed sensors and radar presence sensors, including WalledCare. Bundling a sensor into a renovation invoice does not change how it is classified.

Appliances, wheelchairs and walkers

Renovation credits are for the building, not things you move around. BC and New Brunswick exclude wheelchairs and walkers; HATC excludes appliances. Walking aids and bathroom aids can still qualify under the medical expense credit with a prescription (CRA, Details of medical expenses, 2025). Same item, different credit.

Are there other ways to pay?

Ontario's Assistive Devices Program pays 75% of the approved price for covered categories such as mobility aids and hearing aids, but states it does not cover "life-alert systems" (Ontario.ca, 2025). If you have an employer health spending account, read the plan wording rather than a vendor's claim.

How do I claim, and what should I keep?

• Keep every receipt, and the prescription for any prescribed aid.
• For renovations, keep contractor invoices showing the work, the address and the contractor's GST/HST number.
• For the medical expense credit, pick a 12-month period ending in the tax year and do not reuse last year's expenses.
• If you paid for a parent's renovation, check who can claim. Family living with the senior can claim under the BC and NB credits.