Can accommodation expenses paid to a retirement home for a patient with advanced Alzheimer's and who is on a floor with other high-need seniors qualify as expenses of full time care in a nursing home for the purposes of s. 118.2(2)(d)? CRA responded:
The fact that a person lives in a retirement residence and has Alzheimer's disease at a stage requiring the help of others for personal needs and care may be an element that helps leads to a determination that the person lives in a nursing home, but this does not automatically qualify the residence as a nursing home. In addition, other criteria such as the number of staff at the facility, their skills and the equipment available in order to provide nursing care to patients 24 hours a day are elements that may be considered to establish if a retirement residence is a nursing home. To the extent that the floor where this person lives meets the above criteria, we believe that the residence can qualify as a nursing home with respect to that floor. Accordingly, the expenses of full-time care in respect of that floor could qualify for the tax credit under subsection 118.2(2)(d) if the other conditions therein provided are satisfied.