If the answer was no
Refused is not the end of it.
A lot of refusals are overturned. Not because anyone lied the second time, but because the first application described a diagnosis when the law asks about a day.
First — how long you have
The deadline is whichever is later: one year after your tax filing due date for that year, or 90 days after the letter was sent.
Almost everyone is told "90 days". That is not the whole rule, and the difference has cost people their claim.
And if that has already passed, you can still ask for more time — for up to a year afterwards. You explain why you could not object sooner and that you asked as soon as you could. Being too unwell to deal with it is a reason, not an excuse.
Check the date on your letter before you do anything else.
Work out your own deadline
Two dates decide it, and the one most people are told about is usually the wrong one. Put yours in and we will do the arithmetic. Nothing you type here is stored or sent anywhere.
Why applications get refused
Almost never because the person was not disabled enough. Usually because of how the form was filled in:
- The doctor wrote the diagnosis instead of the restriction. The form does not ask what you have — it asks what you cannot do, and how long it takes you.
- Good days were described instead of most days. The test is what happens all or substantially all of the time, counted WITH your medication and devices.
- Difficulties were listed one at a time. Two or more that are each significant can add up to the same thing in law, but only if they are described together.
- The section for extra detail was left blank. It is the part reviewers actually read.
- Mental functions were understated. People describe a hard day as normal because it has become normal for them.
What you can do
There are three routes, and the first is much easier than people expect. Each one leads to the next, so nothing here is your last chance.
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Send more information
You can write back with more detail — usually a fuller letter from the practitioner who signed the form, describing an ordinary day rather than your condition. This is not a formal appeal and it resolves a lot of refusals on its own.
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File a formal objection
A Notice of Objection sends the file to a different part of the Canada Revenue Agency, one that had nothing to do with the first decision. It is free. You do not need a lawyer, and you should not pay anyone a percentage of your refund to do it.
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Take it to the Tax Court
If the objection is refused — or 90 days pass with no answer — the Tax Court of Canada is next. Below $25,000 it is free to file and built for people without a lawyer. You have 90 days from their decision, and if that passes you can still ask the Court for more time.
What to bring back to your doctor
This is the part that changes the outcome. Take these, in your own words:
- How long a normal task takes you — actual minutes, on an ordinary day.
- What you cannot do at all, and what you can only do with help.
- What a bad week looks like, and how often those weeks happen.
- Everything that is hard, together on one page — not one difficulty per sentence.
- What you are already using: the medication, the devices, the aids. The law counts you as you are WITH them.
Nobody should take a cut of this
Some companies charge 20 to 30 percent of your refund to file this for you. You can do all of it yourself for nothing, and a community legal clinic will help you free. getowed never takes a percentage of anyone’s benefit.
The parts of the law this rests on
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Income Tax Act 165(1)(a) (opens in a new tab)
on or before the later of (i) the day that is one year after the taxpayer's filing-due date for the year, and (ii) the day that is 90 days after the day of sending of the notice of assessment
Checked against the legislation on August 3, 2026
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Income Tax Act 166.1(7) (opens in a new tab)
the application is made within one year after the expiration of the time otherwise limited by this Act for serving such a notice
Checked against the legislation on August 3, 2026
Not sure which part applies to you?
The check walks through the same questions the form asks, in plain words.
When the rules change, we will tell you
The rules for the Disability Tax Credit do change — who may certify, what counts as a marked restriction, what the Canada Disability Benefit pays. A refusal under this year’s rules is not a refusal under next year’s.
Leave an address and we will write when something changes that could matter to a claim like yours.
We write rarely — some years that is twice. No name, no diagnosis, no newsletter, and one-click unsubscribe on everything.