Tax Returns for Students

Plenty of students skip filing because they barely earned anything. That can cost them, because the return is where tuition gets recorded, where tax taken off a part-time paycheque comes back, and how the CRA starts paying benefits once you turn 19.

When you have to file, and when you should anyway

You have to file if you owe tax, or if you have to contribute to CPP. For 2025 that applies when your pensionable employment income and net self-employment income add up to more than $3,500. There are a few other triggers, but those are the common ones for students.

Even when you don't have to, the CRA lists good reasons to file:

• Tax was taken off your pay and you want it back.
• You want the CRA to check whether you qualify for the quarterly benefit described below.
• You have tuition you'd like to transfer to a parent or carry forward.
• Reporting earned income now keeps your RRSP deduction limit up to date for later.

A part-time or summer job usually comes with a T4 slip. If you're under 18 and wondering how the family return is affected, see how taxes work when a teenager starts working.

Tuition, Form T2202 and transfers to a parent

To claim tuition you need Form T2202, Tuition and Enrolment Certificate, from your school (or a TL11A, TL11C or TL11D form for some schools outside Canada). The fees paid to each school have to be more than $100. Eligible fees include admission, library and lab charges, exam fees that are part of the program, mandatory computer fees and the charge for your certificate or diploma. Fees your employer paid or reimbursed without it being added to your income don't count.

Only tuition counts federally now. The federal education and textbook credits were eliminated in 2017.

You have to use your own tuition first, on Schedule 11, to bring your own tax down to zero. Only what's left can move.

You can transfer up to $5,000 of the current year's federal tuition amount, minus what you used yourself, to a parent or grandparent, or to your spouse or common-law partner (or their parent or grandparent). You fill out the transfer section on the back of the T2202, and the parent claims it on line 32400. A transfer to a parent isn't allowed if your spouse or partner claims the spouse amount or a transfer from you. Our page on paying a child's university tuition looks at this from the parent's side.

Anything you don't use or transfer carries forward, and you have to claim it in the first year you owe tax. Once carried forward, it can't be transferred to anyone later. The CRA says you have to file a return every year while you're carrying tuition forward. If you miss a year in between, its page says the amount won't carry forward and won't be available to claim. If that's already happened, our post on unfiled back taxes is a good next read.

Scholarships and bursaries

Scholarships and bursaries for elementary or high school aren't taxable. A post-secondary scholarship can be fully exempt if you're a full-time qualifying student and the award is meant to support that program. If you're part-time, the exemption is limited to your tuition plus required program materials. If you aren't a qualifying student at all, only the amount over $500 from box 105 of your T4A slips is taxable. Any taxable part goes on line 13010.

Student loan interest

Interest on a government student loan can be claimed on line 31900, by the student whose name is on the loan. That includes loans under the Canada Student Loans Act, the Canada Student Financial Assistance Act, the Apprentice Loans Act and similar provincial laws. Interest on a bank loan or line of credit doesn't qualify, and neither does a student loan that was combined or renegotiated with another loan. There's no federal maximum. If you have no tax to reduce, carry the interest forward up to five years, and keep track yourself because the CRA doesn't.

Moving for school or a summer job

If you're full-time and your new home is at least 40 km closer to school, you can claim moving costs, but only against the taxable part of your scholarships, bursaries and research grants. Moving for work, including a summer job, is different. Those costs come off the employment income you earned at the new location. Unused amounts carry forward. Our moving expenses post covers the general rules.

The benefit that starts at 19

The GST/HST credit was renamed the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit (CGEB) in July 2026, with the same eligibility rules. You have to be a resident of Canada and generally 19 or older. Under 19, you qualify only if you have (or had) a spouse or partner, or you are (or were) a parent living with your child. You don't apply. You file your return, and once you've filed and meet the other criteria, the first payment comes on the next payment date after your 19th birthday. Filing by April 30 each year keeps the payments from being interrupted.

How we help

We prepare personal tax returns and explain what we did in plain English. Every tax client also gets our CCNotes summary, a plain-English breakdown of exactly what went into the return.