Line 58160 on your tax return is where you claim the provincial or territorial amount for an eligible dependant on Form 428. It is the regional counterpart to federal line 30400, and despite the confusion that circulates online, it has nothing to do with medical expenses. The credit is non-refundable, meaning it can bring your provincial tax down to zero but will not produce a refund on its own. In practice, it is one of the larger credits available to single parents and to other taxpayers who live with and support a qualifying relative.
What Line 58160 Is
Line 58160 sits on your provincial or territorial Form 428 and corresponds directly to the federal amount for an eligible dependant on line 30400 of the T1.1Canada Revenue Agency. Line 30400 – Amount for an Eligible Dependant The eligibility rules match at both levels. What differs is the dollar figure, because each province and territory sets its own base amount and applies its own lowest tax rate. You fill it in on Form 428 after completing steps 1 through 5 of your federal return.2Canada Revenue Agency. Ontario Tax Information for 2025
Who Can Claim It
You can claim line 58160 if, at any point in the tax year, you were single, divorced, separated, or widowed, and you supported an eligible dependant who lived with you in a home you maintained. The CRA treats you as separated even if you still had a spouse or common-law partner on paper, provided you were not living with, supporting, or being supported by that person.3Canada Revenue Agency. Can You Claim an Amount for an Eligible Dependant
The dependant generally must have lived with you in Canada. A dependant who normally lives with you but is temporarily away at school still counts. Someone who was only visiting does not.3Canada Revenue Agency. Can You Claim an Amount for an Eligible Dependant
Who Counts as an Eligible Dependant
The person must be related to you by blood, marriage, common-law partnership, or adoption, and must fit one of these categories:1Canada Revenue Agency. Line 30400 – Amount for an Eligible Dependant
- A parent or grandparent, with no age restriction, who was living with you and relying on your support.
- A child, grandchild, brother, or sister under 18. This is the typical single-parent scenario.
- A child, grandchild, brother, or sister 18 or older, but only if they were dependent on you because of a mental or physical infirmity.
The dependant’s own net income also matters. Federally, their net income must be below the basic personal amount, which for 2026 is $16,452 for taxpayers with net income of $181,440 or less.4Canada Revenue Agency. Payroll Deductions Formulas – 122nd Edition Effective January 1, 2026 If the dependant has an infirmity, the threshold increases by $2,687.1Canada Revenue Agency. Line 30400 – Amount for an Eligible Dependant
How Much the Credit Is Worth
The credit starts from a base amount and is reduced dollar-for-dollar by the dependant’s net income. A dependant with no income gives you the full amount. A dependant earning $5,000 reduces the base by $5,000. Once their income reaches the base, the credit is gone.
On line 58160, the base is the provincial or territorial figure, not the federal one. For 2025, Ontario used $11,905 and Nova Scotia used $12,618.2Canada Revenue Agency. Ontario Tax Information for 20255Canada Revenue Agency. Nova Scotia Tax Information for 2025 Amounts are indexed annually, so 2026 figures will be a little higher once each province’s updated package is published. The base is then multiplied by your province’s lowest tax rate to produce the actual dollar value of the credit.
A worked example: if your provincial base is $12,000, your child has no income, and the lowest provincial rate is 5.05%, the credit is worth $606 against your provincial tax. That is in addition to the federal credit you claim on line 30400.
Rules That Can Disqualify Your Claim
The CRA enforces several limits, and they apply the same way at the provincial level:1Canada Revenue Agency. Line 30400 – Amount for an Eligible Dependant
- Only one eligible dependant claim is allowed per household, even if you support several people. You pick the one that gives you the largest credit.
- You cannot use this line for a spouse or common-law partner. That claim goes on line 30300.
- Two people cannot split the credit for the same dependant. If both are eligible and cannot agree, neither gets it.
Child Support and Shared Custody
If you pay child support for a child, you generally cannot claim that child as your eligible dependant. Two exceptions apply: you separated partway through the year due to a relationship breakdown, or both parents paid support and agree that you will make the claim.1Canada Revenue Agency. Line 30400 – Amount for an Eligible Dependant
In shared custody, when both parents have a clear obligation under a court order or written agreement to pay support for the same child, normally neither can claim the amount. If they agree, one of them may. Without agreement, the credit is lost. The fact that both parents’ incomes are used to work out support under the Federal Child Support Guidelines does not, on its own, make both of them payers. Unless the order explicitly requires both parents to pay, only the recipient parent can claim the amount.6Canada Revenue Agency. Child Custody and the Amount for an Eligible Dependant
How to Fill In Line 58160
There are two steps. First, complete Schedule 5 (Amounts for Spouse or Common-Law Partner and Dependants) with your federal return. That is where you list the dependant and calculate the federal credit for line 30400.1Canada Revenue Agency. Line 30400 – Amount for an Eligible Dependant
Second, complete Part B of your provincial or territorial Form 428. The form runs you through the same calculation using the provincial base and rate, and the result goes on line 58160. If you reduced your federal claim on line 30400 for any reason, reduce the provincial claim on line 58160 in the same way.7Canada Revenue Agency. Saskatchewan Tax Information for 2025 Tax software moves the numbers between Schedule 5 and Form 428 automatically. On paper, you fill both in yourself.
Quebec Residents Will Not See This Line
Quebec administers its own provincial income tax through Revenu Québec and does not use Form 428, so line 58160 does not appear on a Quebec return. If you live in Quebec and support an eligible dependant, look for the equivalent credit on the TP-1 return through Revenu Québec’s guide.
Records to Keep
Keep all supporting documents for at least six years from the end of the tax year they relate to, even when you filed electronically.8Canada Revenue Agency. How Long Should You Keep Your Income Tax Records For this credit, that means anything that shows the dependant lived with you, their relationship to you, and their net income for the year. If the CRA reviews the claim, bank statements, a lease with matching addresses, and school records can help prove you maintained a shared home.