Tax tips for students in Ontario: credits and deductions

File even if you owe nothing

The CRA says to do your taxes every year, even if you have no income to report, because filing is a condition of continuing to receive benefit and credit payments. It uses the information on your return to calculate those payments, and without it they can be stopped. Students who work part time or over the summer should also remember that employment income is reported on a T4, and tips or occasional earnings still count as income.

A return is also what lets the CRA keep a running record of unused tuition. If you skip a filing year between the year you pay tuition and the year you want to use it, the CRA says the amount will not carry forward and will not be available to claim. For most 2026 returns, the filing and payment date is April 30, 2027, and it is June 15, 2027 if you or your spouse or common-law partner are self-employed, although any balance is still due April 30.

Tuition and the T2202

To claim tuition, you need the slip or receipt your school issues, usually Form T2202, Tuition and Enrolment Certificate. Check your student portal for it and contact your school’s registrar if you have not received one. Only eligible tuition fees count, and not every charge on your fee statement is tuition, so read the amounts on the slip rather than your own payment total.

The federal education and textbook amounts were eliminated in 2017, so the federal claim is for tuition fees. You claim it on line 32300 and complete Schedule 11, which also calculates how much is used, transferred or carried forward. Provincial amounts are calculated on the Ontario forms attached to the return, and tax software normally handles that. Check the provincial result rather than assuming it mirrors the federal one.

Use it, transfer it or carry it forward

Tuition is a non-refundable credit, so it only helps to the extent you have tax to reduce. The order matters: you must first claim your current year’s tuition and any carried-forward amounts on your own return, up to what is needed to reduce your tax to nil. The unused balance can then be transferred, to a maximum of $5,000 of the current year’s federal tuition amount, to a spouse or common-law partner, or to a parent or grandparent of you or your spouse. You complete the transfer section on the back of the T2202 as well as Schedule 11.

Anything you do not transfer carries forward, and you claim it in the first year you have tax to pay. Once you carry an amount forward, you can no longer transfer it. As an illustration, suppose a student has $8,000 of federal tuition and needs only $2,000 to bring tax to nil. Up to $3,000 could be transferred ($5,000 less the $2,000 used), and the remaining $3,000 would carry forward. Those numbers are illustrative only. Do not decide whether to transfer until you have compared the family’s tax saving now with the student’s likely tax later.

Scholarships, bursaries and awards

A post-secondary scholarship, fellowship or bursary is generally fully exempt when you are a full-time qualifying student and the award is intended to support your enrolment in the program. For part-time studies the exemption is limited, so the amount you report can differ. You generally report only the part above your scholarship exemption, on line 13010. Elementary and secondary awards are not taxable. A program that consists mainly of research qualifies only if it leads to a college diploma or a bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral degree.

Because the institution may issue a slip showing the full award, a slip does not mean the amount is taxable. It is up to you to work out whether the exemption applies. Keep the award letter, which usually states the purpose of the funds, and ask the school if the purpose is unclear. Research grants are not reported on line 13010, so treat them separately.

Student loan interest

You may claim interest paid on a government student loan, such as one under the Canada Student Financial Assistance Act, or on a similar provincial law. Interest on bank loans, lines of credit or loans that were consolidated or renegotiated with another loan does not qualify. The loan must be in your name, though it does not matter who actually paid the interest.

You can claim interest paid in the current year or any of the previous five years. If you have no tax to reduce, unused interest can be carried forward for up to five years, and the CRA does not track it for you. Keep a simple log of the amount claimed each year and use the oldest amounts first so none expire.

Moving expenses for full-time students

If you moved to attend a full-time post-secondary program, your new home generally has to be at least 40 kilometres closer to the school, by the shortest usual public route. You can only deduct these expenses from the taxable part of scholarships, fellowships, bursaries and certain research grants. If your awards are fully exempt, there is nothing to deduct them against.

A student who later moves for a job can claim moving expenses against income earned at the new work location, which is a different rule. Use Form T1-M, keep the receipts, and subtract any reimbursement you received. Our moving expenses entry covers the general rules.

Registered accounts and benefits

A deduction is worth the most at higher incomes, so many students gain little from an RRSP deduction now. Your room still builds from earned income, so contributing less now does not usually mean losing it. A TFSA or an FHSA, if you are a first-time home buyer, may suit a low-income year better; the 2026 limits are in our limits article. A Lifelong Learning Plan withdrawal lets you borrow from your RRSP for education without it counting as income, and it is generally repaid over 10 years.

The Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit, formerly the GST/HST credit, is not income. Students may also receive Ontario Trillium Benefit components, and both depend on a filed return. If a parent is saving through a registered education savings plan, the CRA lists payments from it among the common types of student income, so check the slips you receive.

What to keep and when to ask for help

Keep your T2202 and T4 slips, scholarship letters, student loan interest statements, moving receipts and last year’s notice of assessment. Free tax clinics run by volunteers may help if your income is modest and your situation is simple, and the CRA lists them. Ask an accountant when you have self-employment income, income from outside Canada or a mid-year move, or when transferring tuition and the family’s numbers are not obvious.