Amounts which cannot be claimed as tuition fees

You cannot claim the following tuition fees:

• fees paid or reimbursed by your employer, or an employer of one of your parents, where the amount is not included in your or your parent's income;
• fees paid by federal, provincial, or territorial job training program, where the amount is not included in your income; or
• fees paid (or eligible to be paid) under a federal program to help athletes, where the payment or reimbursement has not been included in your income.

You cannot claim the following as tuition fees:

• extracurricular student social activities;
• medical expenses;
• transportation and parking;
• meals and lodging;
• goods of lasting value that you will keep, such as a computer, microscope, uniform, or an academic gown;
• initiation fees or entrance fees to professional organizations;
• administrative penalties incurred when a student withdraws from a program or an institution;
• cost of books (other than books that are included in the total fees for a correspondence course). However, you may be entitled to the textbook amount; or
• courses taken for purposes of academic upgrading to allow entry into a university or college program.

Forms and publications

• Guide T5000, General Income Tax and Benefit Guide
• Guide P105, Students and Income Tax
• Information Circular RC192, Information for Students - Educational Institutions Outside Canada

Related topics

• Students
• Completing Schedule 11

Date modified:

2017-03-01