RESP CESG Deadline Canada: Last Age and Year to Get Grants

The Canada Education Savings Grant (CESG) runs on calendar-year deadlines, and a few of them can’t be undone once missed. This page covers the cutoffs: the December 31 deadline each year, the last year a child can get the grant, and the contribution test for the years the child turns 16 and 17. How much grant a plan can collect, including catching up on missed years, is covered in our guide to maximising the CESG; the RESP hub lists every other guide.

CESG deadlines at a glance

The yearly deadline: December 31

The grant is worked out on contributions received in each calendar year, so:

• a contribution that arrives on January 2 counts toward the new year, not the one just ended;
• a catch-up contribution has to land by December 31 to use that year’s pace limit;
• transfers from a bank account can take a few business days, so a contribution started on the last business day of December may not arrive in time.

The last grant year

The CESG is paid until the end of the calendar year in which the child turns 17. The birthday date doesn’t matter: a contribution made any time in that calendar year can attract grant, provided the age-16 and 17 test below is met. From January 1 of the next year, the plan receives no more CESG, however much is contributed. Grant room that is still unused at that point is lost.

The test for ages 16 and 17

To stop families from opening a plan in the last 2 years only to collect the grant, the CESG for the years a child turns 16 and 17 depends on a contribution test: A child aged 16 or 17 can still get the CESG only if, by the end of the year they turned 15, at least $2,000 had been contributed to their RESPs, or at least $100 a year in at least 4 years, in either case not withdrawn. If neither part was met, the plan gets no CESG in those two years.

Example. A plan opened in the year a child turns 14, with $500 contributed that year and $500 the next, meets neither condition by the end of the year the child turns 15: the total is below $2,000, and there are only two years of contributions. The plan gets no CESG at 16 or 17. The same family contributing $2,000 or more over those two years would have met Condition A and kept both grant years.

What the test means in practice:

• A plan that has been receiving regular contributions since early childhood meets it without any extra step.
• A plan started late can meet Condition A with one deposit before the end of the year the child turns 15.
• Condition B needs four separate years, so a plan meeting it with small amounts has to start by the year the child turns 12.

Catching up before the deadline

Unused grant room can be claimed in later years, but no faster than $1,000 of basic CESG a year. Because the grant stops after the year the child turns 17, the later a plan starts, the less of the lifetime $7,200 it can still collect. The table of what each starting age can recover is in the CESG catch-up section.

Canada Learning Bond deadlines

The Canada Learning Bond runs on a different clock. It is earned for each year the family qualifies, up to the year the child turns 15, and needs no contribution. It isn’t lost if the family didn’t have an RESP in those years: when the bond is requested, the eligible years are paid. If the parents never request it, the beneficiary can do it themselves from age 18 until the day before they turn 21. Amounts and eligibility are in the Canada Learning Bond section of our RESP guide.

After the grant years

The end of the grant doesn’t close the plan. Contributions can continue, without grant, until the plan’s contribution deadline, and the money stays invested until the child enrols. What changes when the beneficiary becomes an adult is covered in what happens when your child turns 18.