🍁 Canadian tax

Tuition tax credit calculator

Enter your province, the tuition on your T2202 and the tax you owe before the credit. You see the credit you use, the amount you can transfer and what carries forward.

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Credit you use this year—
    Working with a different rate? Edit the rates this calculator uses

    These are the figures we verified on 2026-10-25. Change them to work with a historic period, or with a new rate that has been announced but which we have not published yet.

    2025 tax year rates. Not tax advice.This applies the federal Schedule 11 and the provincial and territorial S11 schedules for the 2025 tax year, the latest published. The 2026 forms are not out, so 2026 rates, including the federal lowest rate falling to 14%, are not included. Quebec is not covered. It does not model the Canada training credit, which reduces the tuition amount, the limit on what the person claiming a transfer can use, scholarship exemptions, or tuition paid to foreign institutions. Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan no longer give a tuition credit, so only balances carried forward from earlier years are claimable there. This is general information, not tax advice.

    How much is the tuition tax credit worth in Canada?

    For 2025 the federal tuition credit is 14.5% of eligible tuition, and most provinces add their own credit at their lowest rate. It is non-refundable, so you use only as much as your own tax allows. A British Columbia student with $7,000 of tuition and $300 of federal tax uses $2,068.97 of the tuition for a $300.00 federal credit, can transfer up to $2,931.03 to a parent, and carries the rest forward.

    Why we built this calculator

    Tuition is a credit, not a deduction, and it is non-refundable. A student with little income pays little tax, so most of the credit has nothing to reduce. The rules then let the student pass up to $5,000 of the unused amount to a parent, grandparent or spouse, and keep the rest for a later year. Working out how the three pieces fit is the hard part, and the numbers differ in every province.

    This calculator splits the tuition on your T2202 into the part you use now, the part you could transfer and the part that carries forward, for the federal return and for your province. For the tax you owe before the credit, use the income tax calculator; for the cost of repaying a loan, see the student loan repayment calculator.

    It runs in your browser. Nothing you enter is sent anywhere, and there is no sign-up.

    When to use it

    • Deciding whether to transfer tuition to a parent or keep it
    • Seeing what a transfer is worth before filling in the T2202 authorization
    • Checking how much will carry forward to your first taxable year
    • Comparing the credit between provinces

    Mistakes it helps you avoid

    • Transferring more than the unused amount: the student must use what reduces their own tax to zero first.
    • Treating the $5,000 limit as the credit: it is a limit on the amount, and the credit is 14.5% of it.
    • Forgetting that carry-forward amounts cannot be transferred later.
    • Expecting a provincial credit in Alberta, Ontario or Saskatchewan for 2025.

    How the credit is worked out

    The student uses what their own tax allows; the unused amount can be transferred up to the limit, and the rest carries forward.

    • tuition amount = eligible fees paid to one institution, if more than $100
    • amount you use = the smaller of the tuition amount and (your tax before the credit ÷ 14.5%)
    • your credit = 14.5% × the amount you use
    • can be transferred = the smaller of $5,000 and the tuition amount, minus the amount you use, not below zero
    • carried forward = the tuition amount − the amount you use − the amount you transfer
    • province = the same steps at the province's rate, adding its education amount where there is one

    These follow Schedule 11 and the provincial S11 schedules. The federal credit rate is the lowest federal rate, 14.5% for 2025, which the form uses when it divides your tax by 14.5% to find how much tuition you can use. Each province has its own $5,000 limit on top of the federal one. The amount you transfer comes off what you can carry forward, and the CRA says that an amount you carry forward cannot be transferred in a later year. You have to claim a carry-forward in the first year you have tax to pay.

    Worked example: British Columbia, $7,000 tuition

    A British Columbia student paid $7,000 in tuition to one university in 2025. Before the tuition credit they owe $300 of federal tax and $150 of British Columbia tax.

    1. Federal amount you use: $300 ÷ 14.5%$2,068.97
    2. Federal credit: 14.5% × that amount$300.00
    3. Federal amount you could transfer: $5,000 − the amount used$2,931.03
    4. British Columbia amount you use: $150 ÷ 5.06%$2,964.43
    5. British Columbia credit$150.00
    6. Total credit you use now$450.00
    7. Worth to a parent if you transfer the most you can$528.00
    8. Federal tuition amount left to carry forward$2,000.00

    The student uses $450.00 of credit now, a parent could use up to $528.00 by transfer, and $2,000.00 of tuition amount carries forward.

    For the same figures in Manitoba, which adds an education amount of $400 a full-time month, the student's credit is $450.00 and the transfer is worth $815.00. In Ontario there is no provincial tuition credit for 2025, so the student uses $300.00 and the transfer is worth $425.00.

    Provincial and territorial tuition credits, 2025

    From the provincial and territorial S11 schedules and the Form 428 credit rates. Quebec has its own rules and is not covered.

    Provincial tuition credit, 2025 tax year
    Province or territoryCredit rateWhat countsCan be transferred
    Alberta—no 2025 tuition credit; carried-forward balances onlyno
    British Columbia5.06%tuition onlyyes, up to $5,000
    Manitoba10.8%tuition plus $400 a full-time month and $120 a part-time monthyes, up to $5,000
    New Brunswick9.4%tuition onlyyes, up to $5,000
    Newfoundland and Labrador8.7%tuition plus $200 a full-time month and $60 a part-time monthyes, up to $5,000
    Northwest Territories5.9%tuition plus $400 a full-time month and $120 a part-time monthyes, up to $5,000
    Nova Scotia8.79%tuition plus $200 a full-time month and $60 a part-time monthyes, up to $5,000
    Nunavut4%tuition plus $400 a full-time month and $120 a part-time month, and a textbook amount of $65 and $20yes, up to $5,000
    Ontario—no 2025 tuition credit; carried-forward balances onlyno
    Prince Edward Island9.5%tuition plus $400 a full-time month and $120 a part-time monthyes, up to $5,000
    Saskatchewan—no 2025 tuition credit; carried-forward balances onlyno
    Yukon6.4%tuition onlyyes, up to $5,000

    Terms on this page

    T2202
    The tuition and enrolment certificate your school issues, showing eligible fees and months of study.
    Carry-forward
    The part of the tuition amount you do not use or transfer, saved for a later year.

    What has changed, and when

    Rates on this page have not always been what they are today. If you are working on an earlier period, use the figure that applied at the time rather than the current one.

    1. 2025 tax year Federal credit rate of 14.5%, the blend of 15% for the first half of the year and 14% for the second.
    2. 2017 The federal education and textbook amounts were eliminated.

    Common questions

    How much is the federal tuition tax credit?

    For 2025 it is 14.5% of your eligible tuition fees, which is the lowest federal rate for the year. Fees paid to each institution must be more than $100.

    How much tuition can I transfer to a parent?

    Up to $5,000 of the current-year tuition amount, minus the amount you need to bring your own tax to zero. Only current-year amounts can be transferred.

    What happens to the tuition I do not use or transfer?

    It carries forward to a later year with no time limit. You have to claim it in the first year you have tax to pay, and it can no longer be transferred.

    Do the provinces give a tuition credit too?

    Most do, at their lowest rate. Alberta, Ontario and Saskatchewan do not give a new tuition credit for 2025, though balances from earlier years can still be claimed.

    Are education and textbook amounts still available?

    Not federally, they were eliminated in 2017. Some provinces and territories still add a monthly education amount to the provincial credit.

    Where these numbers come from

    Last verified 2026-10-25 Rates on this page are checked against the sources above at least once a year, and whenever the governing authority announces a change. Spotted something out of date? Tell us and we will fix it.

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