Line 398 - Tax credit for tuition or examination fees

Line 398 - Tax credit for tuition or examination fees

You can claim a tax credit for your tuition or examination fees paid for 2024 or for 1997 through 2023, provided they have never been used to calculate a tax credit for tuition or examination fees. You can also transfer the unused portion of the tax credit that relates to your tuition or examination fees paid for the year to one of your or your spouse's parents or grandparents.

To claim or transfer a tax credit for tuition or examination fees, complete Schedule T and file it with your return.If you are transferring the unused portion of the tax credit, the person you are transferring it to must complete Part D of Schedule A of their return.

Even if you are not claiming or transferring a tax credit for tuition or examination fees for 2024, you should still complete Schedule T to determine the cumulative amount of fees that you can carry forward and file the schedule with your return.

Even if your tuition or examination fees were paid by another person, you can claim a tax credit for the fees or transfer the unused portion of the tax credit to one of the people mentioned above (provided the transferred portion relates to the fees paid for the year). If the fees were paid or reimbursed by an employer, see "Tuition or examination fees paid or reimbursed by an employer" opposite.

You cannot claim the following amounts as tuition or examination fees:

• the amount from box A of your RL-8 slip. Please note that:

  • if you are under 18, this amount can be claimed on line 367 as an amount for post-secondary studies by the person who is claiming an amount for a child under 18 enrolled in post-secondary studies with regard to you,

  • if you are 18 or older, you can complete Schedule S to find out if you can transfer to your father or mother an amount representing the recognized parental contribution to your education;

• the cost of board and lodging, books, student association fees, travel and parking;

• expenses for which no official receipt was issued; or

• tuition or examination fees paid for a previous year throughout which you did not reside in Canada.

Tuition fees

You can claim a tax credit for your tuition fees paid for 2024 to:

1. a university, college or other post-secondary institution where you were enrolled in a program (whether at the post-secondary level or not), provided you were 16 or older at the end of the year and it is reasonable to consider that you were enrolled for the purpose of acquiring or upgrading skills necessary for a profession;

2. an institution recognized by the Minister of Revenue where you were enrolled for the purpose of acquiring or upgrading skills necessary for a remunerated activity, provided you were 16 or older at the end of the year;

3. a university outside Canada that you attended full time for at least three consecutive weeks (the course of study must lead to a diploma); or

4. an institution in the United States where you were enrolled in a post-secondary program, provided you lived in Canada near the U.S. border throughout 2024 and regularly commuted between your home and the institution.

The educational institutions referred to in points 1 and 2 must be located in Canada unless, during the period for which the tuition fees were paid, you were temporarily living outside Canada.

Examination fees

You can claim a tax credit for your examination fees if they were paid for 2024 in order to take:

• an examination that you must pass to become a member of a professional order named in Schedule I to the Professional Code;

• an examination with a professional organization in Canada or the United States that you must pass to obtain a permit to practise issued by a professional order named in Schedule I to the Professional Code or a title granted by the Canadian Institute of Actuaries;

• a preliminary examination that you must pass to take one of the above examinations; or

• an examination required to obtain a professional status, a licence or certification to practise a profession or a trade.

Minimum amount of tuition or examination fees

You can claim a credit for your tuition or examination fees, or transfer the unused portion of the credit to one of your or your spouse's parents or grandparents, only if the fees total more than $100 for the year.

Tuition or examination fees paid or reimbursed by an employer

If your tuition or examination fees were paid or reimbursed in whole or in part by your employer or your father's or mother's employer, you can claim a credit for the fees the employer paid or reimbursed, provided the reimbursement is included in your income or in your father's or mother's income.

Fees reimbursed under a vocational training program or a program designed to assist athletes

You can claim a tax credit for the tuition or examination fees reimbursed to you under a vocational training program or a program designed to assist athletes, provided the reimbursement is included in your income.

Unused portion of your tuition or examination fees paid for previous years (lines 34 and 44 of Schedule T)

If tuition or examination fees were paid after 1996, but in 2023 you did not calculate the amount that could be carried forward:

• enter the result of the following calculation on line 34 of Schedule T: the eligible fees paid for 1997 through 2012 plus those paid for 2013 that give entitlement to the tax credit at the 20% rate, minus the portion of the total that has already been used to calculate the credit for previous years or has been transferred to one of your or your spouse's parents or grandparents;

• enter the result of the following calculation on line 44 of Schedule T: the eligible fees paid for 2013 that give entitlement to the tax credit at the 8% rate plus those paid for 2014 through 2023, minus the portion of those fees that has already been used to calculate the credit for previous years or has been transferred to one of your or your spouse's parents or grandparents, as well as the tuition fees refunded to you under the Canada training credit for 2020 to 2023 (as entered on line 45350 of your federal income tax return).

Carrying tuition or examination fees to a future year

You can carry forward to a future year your eligible tuition or examination fees for 1997 through 2024, provided you have not already used them to calculate this credit or transferred them to one of your or your spouse's parents or grandparents.To calculate the amount that can be carried forward, complete Schedule T and file it with your return.

For more information, see publication IN-112-V, Tax Credit for Tuition or Examination Fees.

5