Transferring and carrying forward amounts
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Transferring and carrying forward amounts
You must claim your tuition, education, and textbook amounts first on your own return. Complete Schedule 11 to calculate how much of this credit you will need to reduce your tax payable. You may need to use all of the credit, or just some of the credit depending on how much tax you owe.
If you did not need to use all of the credit, you can now choose one of the following options:
Transfer the amount
You can transfer an amount equal to $5,000 minus the amount you used to reduce your own tax payable. You can transfer the remainder to:
- your spouse or common-law partner (who would claim it in field 360 of their Schedule 2, depending on their province or territory of residence)
- your parent or grandparent, or your spouse's or common-law partner's parent or grandparent (who would claim it in field 324 of their Schedule 1)
To transfer the amount you must complete the transfer section of the certificate you received from your school.
Example
Tanya is a single parent. Her son, Philip goes to college and works part-time in the bookstore. He makes very little money.
Tanya may be eligible to claim the unused part of Philip's eligible tuition, education, and textbook amounts that he does not need to reduce his federal income tax to zero. The maximum amount Philip can transfer is $5,000 minus the amount he claimed.
To calculate the amount of the transfer and to designate Tanya – the parent, as the person who can claim the transfer, Philip must complete Schedule 11 as well as the transfer section of the certificate he received from his school.
Philip must first claim the amount on his tax return on line 327 of his Schedule 11. Tanya claims the amount that Philip has transferred to her on line 324 of her Schedule 1.
Carry forward the amount
Your second choice is to carry forward the remaining amount so you can claim it in a future year. You must claim this amount in the first year you have a tax payable. Complete Schedule 11 to calculate the amount you have available to carry forward.
Note
Even if you do not have to pay tax and you are carrying forward all or part of your tuition, education, and textbook amounts, you should file your return and attach a completed Schedule 11 so we can update our records with your unused tuition, education, and textbook amounts available for carry forward to other years.
Depending on your province or territory of residence, you may also need to complete Schedule S11 to calculate your provincial or territorial transfer or carry forward amounts.
Supporting documents
If you are the student – if you are filing a paper return, attach a completed Schedule 11. You must keep all of your official receipts or other forms in case we ask to see them.
If you are the person receiving the transfer – you do not submit Schedule 11, the receipts, or other forms. If you have claimed an amount transferred from a student on your return and are requested to provide supporting documentation, the student's signature must be present on the reverse side of the forms. If you are filing electronically go to E-services for individuals, keep all of your documents.
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- Date modified:
- 2017-03-01