Your unused provincial tuition amounts

As a student, not only can you claim the federal tuition tax credit to reduce your taxes, but you can also claim a corresponding provincial tuition tax credit to reduce your provincial tax payable to zero. You’ll need to use your tax certificate (such as a T2202, or an RL-8 slip (if you’re a Québec resident)) to complete your provincial Schedule 11 (or Schedule T, if you’re a Québec resident) to determine how much of your credit amount you can claim.

Note: H&R Block’s tax software automatically completes your provincial Schedule 11 (and Schedule T, if applicable) based on the information you enter from your tax certificate.

If you don’t need to use all of your provincial tuition credit amount in a given year to reduce your tax payable to zero, you can either:

  • Carry forward the unused portion for use in a future year or
  • Transfer the unused amount to a family member

Notes:

  • Starting 2019, New Brunswick has re-introduced the tuition tax credit and you’ll be able to claim the tuition you paid in 2017 and 2018 on your 2019 return. To do this, follow the steps given in the Claiming your unused provincial tuition tax credit carried forward from a previous year section below. Then, enter the tuition you paid in 2017 and 2018 in the field labelled How much did you pay for tuition fees for 2017 and 2018?.
  • Ontario and Saskatchewan have discontinued their provincial tuition tax credits. If you’re a resident of either province and you’ve got unused provincial tuition amounts, you’ll still be able to claim them or carry forward these amounts for use on future returns. In addition, not all provinces have the education and/or textbook amount tax credits. Click here to see if the education and/or textbook amount tax credits are still available in your province or territory of residence.

If you decide to carry forward your unused provincial tuition amounts, you’ll need to claim them the first year you have to pay tax. You can find your unused provincial credit amounts on your most recent notice of assessment (NOA) or reassessment.

Note: If you move from one province to another (except Québec), your provincial carry forward amount can’t be more than the federal tuition carry forward amount. If you move to another province from Québec, you’ll lose your provincial carry forward amount.

You’ll be able to see how much of your unused provincial tuition amount is available for carry forward (or transfer) on the Credits claimed page under the OPTIMIZATION icon of the WRAP-UP tab in H&R Block’s tax software. If you choose not to transfer this amount to a family member, the software will automatically carry forward your entire unused provincial tuition amount.

Tax tip: It’s to your advantage to file a tax return each year, even if you didn’t have any income, so that the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) or Revenu Québec can update their records with your unused tuition amounts.

You can transfer all or some of your unused credit amount from this year to one person as long as they’re:

  • Your spouse or common-law partner or
  • Your or your spouse's parent or grandparent

You can only transfer an amount to your or your spouse’s parent or grandparent if your spouse isn’t claiming the following amounts for you:

  • Spouse or common-law partner amount
  • Amounts transferred from your spouse or common-law partner

The maximum amount you can transfer to a family member is $5,000 minus any amount you need to reduce your own tax payable. Keep in mind that you can only transfer your provincial tuition amounts from this year, since carry forward amounts from a past year can’t be transferred.

You can decide how much of your unused provincial tuition amounts you’d like to transfer on the Claimed credits page under the OPTIMIZATION icon of the WRAP-UP tab in H&R Block’s 2019 tax software:

This page shows you how much of your tuition credit amounts you’ve got available for transfer to an eligible family member. If you’re filing a single return or are preparing your return separately from your spouse, you’ll be able to transfer your unused tuition amount to a family member on this page. When you answer Yes to the question, Do you want to transfer your unused tuition amounts to someone else?, you can select who you want to transfer the unused tuition amount to and either transfer the maximum amount available or specify the exact amount.

If you’re preparing your return with your spouse (coupled return), H&R Block’s tax software will automatically optimize your unused tuition amounts for transfer to your spouse on the Optimized credits page under the OPTIMIZATION icon. You’ll be able to change the transfer amount here.

Tax tip: If you decide to transfer an amount to a designated individual, only transfer the amount he or she can use. That way, you can carry forward as much as possible to use in a future year.

To claim the tax credit, enter information from your tax certificate (and Relevé 8, if applicable) into H&R Block’s tax software as follows. The software will automatically complete your provincial Schedule 11 (and Schedule T, if you’re a Québec resident).

  1. Under the QUICK ENTRY tab, click the QUICK SLIP icon. You'll find yourself here:



  2. Type the name of the slip/tax certificate you received (such as the T2202, TL11A, RL-8, etc.) in the search field and either click the highlighted selection or press Enter to continue.

  3. When you arrive at the page for your slip/tax certificate, enter your information into the tax software.

To claim your unused tuition tax credit that you carried forward from a previous year, follow these steps in H&R Block’s tax software:

  1. Under the PREPARE tab, click the IN THIS SECTION icon.

  2. In the Unused tuition amounts and student loans box, click the Add This Topic button.

  3. Click the STUDENTS icon. You’ll find yourself here:



  4. Under the CREDIT AMOUNTS section, click the checkbox labelled Tuition, education, and textbook amounts carried forward from a previous year (Schedule 11), then click Continue.

  5. When you arrive at the page for your Unused tuition/education amounts, enter your information into the tax software.

If you’re single, a widow, or divorced, or preparing your return separate from your spouse to transfer your unused tuition tax credit amount, follow these steps in H&R Block’s 2019 tax software:

  1. Under the WRAP-UP tab, click the OPTIMIZATION icon.



  2. On the Claimed credits page, select Yes in response to the question Do you want to transfer your unused tuition amounts to someone else?.
  3. Select the person to whom you want to transfer the amount to and if you aren’t transferring the full credit amount, enter the amount you want to transfer.

If you’re preparing your return with your spouse (coupled return), follow these steps in H&R Block’s 2019 tax software:

  1. Under the WRAP-UP tab, click the OPTIMIZATION icon.



  2. On the Optimized credits page, select Yes in response to the question Do you want to make any changes in the table above? (such as changing the optimized amounts or choosing not to claim a credit).
  3. Select Yes in response to the question We've optimized the unused tuition amounts you can transfer to {spouse}. Do you want to change the amount(s) in the table above?.
  4. Enter the amount you want to transfer to your spouse.