# Students: what to file and what you can claim

> Why students should file a return, when scholarships are tax-free, and what you can claim for student loan interest, tuition, moving and training.

- Web page: https://taxnotes.ca/guides/students-and-taxes/
- For: Individuals & families · Topic: Students and young adults
- Last reviewed: 2026-10-10

Most students should file every year, even with little or no income: it can bring a refund and benefit payments, and it records tuition amounts and room for later. Scholarships for full-time studies are often not taxed at all.

## Do you have to file?

You must file a return if you owe tax for the year, if you still have Lifelong Learning Plan amounts to repay to your RRSP, if you received advance payments of the Canada workers benefit, or if you have to contribute to the Canada Pension Plan. That can apply when your pensionable employment income plus net self-employment income is more than $3,500 for 2025.

Even if none of those apply, filing is usually worth it:

- **A refund** of any extra tax taken off your pay.
- **The Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit** (formerly the GST/HST credit). You generally need to be 19 or older, unless you have a spouse or common-law partner or are a parent living with your child. If you've filed and meet the other conditions, your first payment comes on the first payment date after your 19th birthday.
- **Your tuition record.** Filing with Schedule 11 records unused tuition amounts to transfer or carry forward.
- **Future room.** Reporting income keeps your RRSP deduction limit up to date and can add to your Canada training credit limit.

Without a return, the CRA can't calculate your benefit payments, and they can stop.

## Which province's return

Generally, you use the tax package for the province or territory where you lived on December 31. If you're living somewhere else only for school, use your usual province: an Ontario student at school in Alberta files as an Ontario resident. If you lived in Quebec on December 31, you also file a Quebec return with Revenu Québec. For international students, residency status decides how you're taxed.

## Scholarships, fellowships and bursaries

Your T4A slip shows the full amount of an award, even when you can exclude all of it. Working out the exemption is up to you:

- **Full-time.** Post-secondary scholarships, fellowships and bursaries aren't taxable if you received them for a program in which you're a full-time qualifying student for the year before, the year you received it, or the year after. The exemption covers only the part of the award meant to support your enrolment in that program.
- **Part-time.** The exemption is limited to your tuition plus the cost of program-related materials.
- **Anything left over.** Awards these rules don't cover get a basic exemption of up to $500 in total.

Scholarships and bursaries for elementary and secondary school aren't taxable. Postdoctoral fellowships are. RESP educational assistance payments are taxable income for the student; see [the RESP guide](https://taxnotes.ca/guides/resp/).

## Student loan interest

You can claim a non-refundable credit for interest paid on a government student loan: one made under the Canada Student Loans Act, the Canada Student Financial Assistance Act, the Apprentice Loans Act or a similar provincial or territorial law.

- Only the student borrower can claim it, even if a parent paid.
- Interest on other loans doesn't count, including a student loan you renegotiated with a bank or combined with another loan, and interest owed because of a court judgment for not repaying.
- If you don't owe tax in the year you pay the interest, don't claim it yet: carry it forward to any of the next five years, oldest amounts first. The CRA doesn't track this for you.

## Tuition

Eligible fees of more than $100 per school qualify for the federal tuition credit, using the T2202 your school gives you. You claim what you need on your own return first; you can then transfer part of the current year's amount (up to $5,000, minus what you used) to a spouse, parent or grandparent, and carry the rest forward. See [tuition credits and carry-forwards](https://taxnotes.ca/guides/tuition-credits/).

## Moving for school or a summer job

If your T2202 shows full-time enrolment and your new home is at least 40 kilometres closer to your school or new job, you may be able to deduct moving expenses. A move for school is deductible only from the taxable part of scholarships, bursaries and research grants; a move for work, including a summer job, from what you earn at the new location. See [deducting moving expenses](https://taxnotes.ca/guides/moving-expenses/).

## If you work

Tips and occasional earnings are taxable. As an employee, you can claim the Canada employment amount: the lesser of $1,471 and your employment income for 2025.

## The Canada training credit

This refundable credit is for people at least 26 and under 66 at the end of the year who were resident in Canada all year. It's the lesser of your training credit limit, shown on your latest notice of assessment, and 50% of eligible tuition and fees paid in Canada (they must also qualify for the tuition credit). The limit grows by $250 for each year you file and meet the conditions, up to $5,000 in a lifetime; any credit you claim reduces it.

## What to do

- File every year, even with no income, and keep your T2202 and T4A slips.
- Work out your scholarship exemption yourself, and track student loan interest you carry forward.
- Check your notice of assessment for unused tuition and your training credit limit.

## Sources

1. [P105, Students and Income Tax 2025](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/forms-publications/publications/p105/p105-students-income-tax.html) (canada.ca)
2. [Students and the CRA](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/individuals/segments/students.html) (canada.ca)
3. [Line 31900 – Interest paid on your student loans](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/individuals/topics/about-your-tax-return/tax-return/completing-a-tax-return/deductions-credits-expenses/line-31900-interest-paid-on-your-student-loans.html) (canada.ca)
4. [Line 45350 – Canada training credit](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/individuals/topics/about-your-tax-return/tax-return/completing-a-tax-return/deductions-credits-expenses/line-45350-canada-training-credit.html) (canada.ca)
5. [Who is eligible – Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/child-family-benefits/canada-groceries-essentials-benefit/who-eligible.html) (canada.ca)

Tax figures in this guide come from the TaxNotes.ca rates tables (https://taxnotes.ca/rates/), which cite the Canada Revenue Agency and, for Quebec, Revenu Québec.

Last reviewed: October 10, 2026

How to cite: "Students: what to file and what you can claim", TaxNotes.ca, last reviewed 2026-10-10, https://taxnotes.ca/guides/students-and-taxes/. For a figure or rule, also cite the official source listed above.

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