5 February 2003 External T.I. 2003-0000565 - CLASSROOM FEE

Please note that the following document, although believed to be correct at the time of issue, may not represent the current position of the CRA.
Prenez note que ce document, bien qu'exact au moment émis, peut ne pas représenter la position actuelle de l'ARC.

Please note that the following document, although believed to be correct at the time of issue, may not represent the current position of the CCRA.

Prenez note que ce document, bien qu'exact au moment émis, peut ne pas représenter la position actuelle de l'ADRC.

Principal Issues:

Is a "classroom fee" an eligible tuition fee for purposes of the tuition tax credit

Position TAKEN: Yes

Reasons:

Classroom fee is charged for classroom portion of an apprenticeship program.

XXXXXXXXXX 		2003-000056
		  Cornelis Rystenbil, CGA
February 5, 2003

Dear XXXXXXXXXX:

Re: Classroom fee

This letter is in response to your facsimile dated January 29, 2003 in which you ask whether a classroom fee charged to a student would be considered tuition fees for the purposes of the tuition tax credit.

The Ontario government formerly fully funded the apprenticeship program. Effective August 1, 2002, the Ontario government reduced the funding to this program by $10 per day and introduced a "classroom fee" of $10 per day to make up for the difference. This classroom fee is charged to the student. For a typical, full-time, eight-week period of instruction, the classroom fee would be $400.

You state that XXXXXXXXXX collects and provides this fee to the academic department that is responsible for the training. These classroom fees, together with the funding received from the Ontario Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities, are applied to the costs associated with the in-school training for apprentices.

Ontario Regulation 31/02 made under the Trades Qualification and Apprenticeship Act and Ontario Regulation 32/02 made under the Apprenticeship and Certification Act, as published in the Ontario Gazette, state that "(1) a fee of $10 per six-hour unit of training, or part of a unit, in a course of training or study within an approved apprenticeship program is payable by apprentices, except as otherwise provided in this section". A "course of training or study" is defined in these regulations as meaning "a course of training or study, other than workplace-based training, that is funded by the Minister and that delivers the approved curriculum to apprentices".

Comments

The Canada Customs and Revenue Agency's (CCRA) general views in respect of the tuition tax credit are found in Interpretation Bulletin IT-516R2, Tuition Tax Credit, a copy of which can be obtained on our website at http://www.ccra-adrc.gc.ca/tax/technical/incometax/menu-e.html. Paragraph 26 of IT-516R2 describes the various fees that are included in determining the amount of eligible tuition fees. Since the classroom fee is directly related to the classroom instruction portion of a course of training or study and it resembles the fees described in paragraph 26(b) of IT-516R2, we are of the view that the classroom fees would qualify as eligible tuition fees. The determination of whether the eligible tuition fees would qualify for the tuition tax credit would depend on whether all of the other requirements are met to claim a tuition tax credit.

We trust that our comments will be of assistance. However, as stated in paragraph 22 of Information Circular 70-6R5, the opinion expressed in this letter is not a ruling and consequently is not binding on the CCRA.

Yours truly,

Mickey Sarazin, CA
for Director
Financial Industries Division
Income Tax Rulings Directorate