You may also be eligible to claim the education credit, equal to 15.25% of $400 for full-time students or $120 for part-time students, multiplied by the number of months in the calendar year during which student were in attendance at a university, college, or other designated educational institution in Canada, or at a university outside Canada in a course leading to a bachelor or equivalent level degree that lasted for at least 13 consecutive weeks. To be considered a full-time student, you must have been required to spend at least 10 hours per week on courses or work in your post-secondary program. In general, you will be considered a full-time student if you have taken 60% or more of the usual course load for the program during a semester.

You will be required to first apply sufficient tuition and education credits earned in a given year to reduce your taxes payable in the year to zero. If you have any unused tuition and education credits still remaining, you may transfer them to one designated individual — either a spouse (including a common-law partner) or a parent or grandparent (which can include a spouse’s or common law partner’s parent or grandparent) up to $5,000 per year. Alternatively, you can carry forward the unused tuition and education credits to future years. You may only transfer unused tuition and education credits to a parent or grandparent if your spouse (or common-law partner) has not claimed either the married exemption credit or any spousal credit transfers (i.e. age, pension, or disability).

You can also claim a 15.25% non-refundable tax credit on interest paid on loans made for post-secondary education under the Canada Student Loans Act, the Canada Student Financial Assistance Act, or similar provincial or territorial statutes. You are not permitted to claim interest paid on any other kind of loan, or on a student loan that has been combined with another kind of loan. For example, if your student loan carries a 7% interest, you cannot claim the interest paid on a second loan (presumably at a lower interest rate) that was used to pay off the student loan. You may want to consult with your advisor about whether you would be better off tax-wise with a lower interest rate loan even if the interest is not deductible. If you do not want to claim the interest in the year it was paid, you are able to carry forward the claim and apply it on your tax return for any of the subsequent five years.

Scholarships, fellowships, or bursaries that are received by you as a student with respect to your enrolment in a program that entitles you to claim the education amount are not taxable and are no longer reported as income on your tax return. If you are not able to claim the education amount, then the tax-free amount that can be received is reduced to $500.

If you move in order to attend full-time courses at a university or other post-secondary educational institution in or outside of Canada, you may be able to deduct your moving expenses — but only against your income from scholarships, fellowships, and research grants that is reported on your tax return. Similarly, you may also be able to deduct moving expenses if you move within Canada to take a job, including summer employment, or to start a business, to the extent of the employment or business income earned at the new location. In all cases, you can only claim moving expenses if the move results in you residing at least 40 kilometres closer to the educational institution or work location.

As a student, you may be entitled to deduct childcare expenses against any income earned in the year. The general rule governing the deduction of childcare expenses is that the lower income spouse or common-law partner is required to claim the childcare expenses.

So long as you are a resident of Canada, you may be able to withdraw up to $10,000 per year — to an overall cap of $20,000 — from your Retirement Savings Plan to finance full-time training or post-secondary education for yourself or your spouse or common-law partner. The withdrawals can only be made over a maximum period of four calendar years. The amounts withdrawn from your RSP will have to be repaid over a 10-year period.

Are you a beneficiary of a Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP)? If you receive an educational assistance payment (EAP) from the RESP, you will have to report the EAP received as taxable income on your tax return.

Students who are 19 years or older may be entitled to receive the Goods and Services Tax credit. If you are eligible, you must apply to receive the GST credit by filing a tax return every year.

Parvez Patel is a UW graduate and investment advisor with RBC Dominion Securities. Daily Bulletin