Each year, ARTA provides an account of the premiums you paid into the ARTA Benefit Plans over the past calendar year and a detailed list of the claims that were submitted for each person (you and your eligible dependants) covered under your plan membership during the same time period. This Premiums and Claims Statement is provided to you so that you can include eligible Medical Expense Tax Credit (METC) amounts that you paid out-of-pocket over the past year in your annual income tax return.
The Premiums and Claims Statement includes pertinent information for each claim made under your coverage, including:
- the date the claim was submitted
- a description of the product or service claimed
- the amount charged by the provider of the product or service
- the amount paid by any other benefit plan from which you receive coverage (such as the Alberta Health Care Plan for Seniors or the British Columbia Fair PharmaCare Plan)
- the amount paid by the ARTA Benefit Plans, and
- the difference between the charged amount and the amounts covered by the plans; this is the amount that you would have paid out-of-pocket for the product or service you received.
Check each claim line carefully in case there are multiple instances of a claim. In many instances, there may be a claim submitted by a provider to determine if a product or service is eligible for coverage under the ARTA Retiree Benefit Plans, and then a subsequent reversal of the claim. We are not able to remove these redundant claims from the claim records, so it is up to you to ensure each claim is correct.
When you are reviewing each claim, you should also confirm that each medical expense you are including in your income taxes qualifies as an eligible METC. A list of eligible METCs is available online by searching for Canada Income Tax Act Income Tax Folio S1-F1-C1. This document provides a list of those items that are eligible to be claimed as an METC (such as premiums paid toward a Private Health Services Plan or out-of-pocket costs paid for eligible paramedical practitioners). You may have submitted other items to the ARTA Retiree Benefit Plans for coverage that were deemed not eligible (gym memberships, for example). These may appear on your Premiums and Claims Statement as a denied claim and are not eligible to claim as an METC.
One item that does not appear in your annual statement is the fee you paid to be an ARTA member. While you must be an active ARTA member in good standing to participate in the ARTA Benefit Plans, the ARTA membership fees do not qualify as eligible tax deductions according to current Income Tax Act regulations.
The statements are posted to each covered member’s MyARTA account at the end of February.
Finally, keep in mind that the Premiums and Claims Statement provides a record of the expenses you submitted for coverage under the plan over the past calendar year but are not considered official tax statements. Only official receipts and Explanation of Benefits forms you received may be used for official tax purposes. When in doubt, we advise you to check with your accountant to ensure you are claiming the correct METCs on your annual income tax return.