Working While in School: Tax Guide for Canadian Students

A job during school is taxed like anyone else’s pay, but students have a few things of their own to deal with: the tuition credit and what to do when it is more than the tax you owe, the TD1 at each new job, small amounts of CPP and EI that can come back as a refund, and benefits that depend on filing. This page is part of the self-employed taxes hub because many students also earn freelance or gig income; if that is you, side hustle taxes and first-time self-employed taxes cover the self-employed side, and contractor vs employee helps tell the two apart.

Who has to file

The CRA’s student guide (Guide P105, 2025 edition) says you must file if any of these apply:

• you have to pay tax for the year;
• you have not repaid everything you withdrew from an RRSP under the Lifelong Learning Plan;
• you have to contribute to the CPP, which can apply when your pensionable employment income plus net self-employment income is more than $3,500 for the year;
• you received advance Canada workers benefit payments.

Even if none of them apply, filing is how you claim a refund of tax withheld from your pay, have the CRA assess you for the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit, keep your RRSP deduction limit and Canada training credit limit up to date, and keep unused tuition on record. On that last point the CRA is strict: “If you miss filing a year in between when you incurred the expense and the year you want to claim it, the amount will not be carried forward and it will not be available to claim” (transfer or carry forward).

You file with the tax package for the province where you lived on December 31; P105 adds that a student who usually lives in Ontario but goes to school in Alberta uses the Ontario package.

What you need to file

A T4A shows the full scholarship or bursary even when an exemption means none of it is taxable; only the taxable part is reported on the return (see below). International students have extra steps, such as getting a SIN or an individual tax number and settling their residency status; taxes for international students working in Canada covers them.

The tuition credit

Your school issues Form T2202, Tuition and Enrolment Certificate, and you claim the tuition on line 32300 with Schedule 11 (line 32300). The federal credit is a non-refundable credit at the lowest federal rate, 14% for 2026 (Finance Canada): it reduces tax you owe but is never paid out on its own. The federal education and textbook credits were eliminated in 2017.

The CRA sets the order in which it is used (transfer or carry forward):

1. Your own return first. You claim this year’s tuition and any amounts carried forward, and you must use as much as you need to bring your own tax to zero.
2. Then an optional transfer. You can transfer up to $5,000 of the current year’s federal tuition amount, minus the amount you used yourself, to your spouse or common-law partner, to their parent or grandparent, or to your own parent or grandparent. A parent or grandparent claims it on line 32400; a spouse or common-law partner claims it on federal Schedule 2 (line 32600). You designate the transfer on the back of the T2202. You can’t transfer to your own or your spouse’s parent or grandparent if your spouse or common-law partner claims the spouse or common-law partner amount (line 30300) or amounts transferred from you (line 32600).
3. Then carry forward. Whatever you don’t use or transfer carries forward. You have to claim it in the first year you have income tax to pay, and once carried forward it can’t be transferred to anyone.

So carrying the credit forward does not wait for a higher tax bracket: it is used in the first year you owe tax, at the lowest-rate percentage. The choice a student actually has is between transferring part of this year’s amount now (to a parent or grandparent who can use it) and keeping it for their own first tax-paying year. The tuition tax credit guide covers eligible fees and Schedule 11 in more detail.

Other credits and deductions. A full-time student who moves to attend a post-secondary school can deduct the moving expenses only from the taxable part of their scholarships, bursaries and research grants, while moving expenses for a job, including a summer job, are deducted from the employment income earned at the new location. Interest paid on a government student loan is a non-refundable credit that only the student can claim, even when a relative paid it; the deductions and credits hub lists the rest.

Provincial credits. Provincial and territorial tuition amounts are separate, calculated on the provincial schedule (S11) where one exists, and not every province still has one. Ontario’s “Tuition and education tax credits were discontinued in September 2017” (Ontario Taxation Transparency Report); Ontario residents with older unused amounts can still claim those. For other provinces, the provincial tax package for your province shows what is available.

The TD1 at a new job

The TD1 tells your employer how much tax to take off each pay (what the TD1 is). On the federal form (TD1, 2026), points that matter to students:

• Tuition. If you will pay more than $100 per institution, you enter the tuition you will pay this year, which lowers the tax withheld.
• Income below your claim. A box on the form is for when “your total income for the year from all employers and payers will be less than your total claim amount on line 13”; tick it and your employer won’t deduct tax.
• Two jobs at once. If you have already claimed your credits on another TD1 for the year, “you cannot claim them again”. If your total income will be more than the credits you claimed on the first TD1, the form has you tick a box and enter 0 as your total claim on the second one.

You also fill in a provincial TD1 for your province (in Quebec, Revenu Québec’s Form TP-1015.3-V instead). Tuition carried forward from earlier years is not on the TD1: To have less tax deducted for deductions or credits that aren't on the TD1, such as regular RRSP contributions, child care or employment expenses, charitable donations or tuition carried forward, you send Form T1213, Request to Reduce Tax Deductions at Source, to the CRA with supporting documents; if it approves, it issues a letter of authority, usually for one tax year, that you give your employer. The CRA usually won't issue one if you have a balance owing or unfiled returns, and no letter is needed for RRSP contributions your employer deducts from your pay. Non-resident employees working in Canada and non-resident directors don't use the form.

CPP and EI on student pay

Being a student doesn’t change payroll deductions. You contribute to the CPP if you are over 18, work in Canada outside Quebec and earn more than $3,500 a year; contributions stop when you turn 70, and from 65 someone already receiving a CPP or QPP retirement pension can choose to stop. EI premiums “have no age limit” and start “from the first dollar earned up to the yearly maximum” (CRA, EI premiums).

In Quebec, employers deduct Québec Pension Plan contributions instead of CPP, and Québec Parental Insurance Plan premiums (CRA); the EI rate there is 1.30% of insurable earnings, up to $895.70 for 2026 (CRA, EI rates).

On the $30,000 of pay above, about $1,577 of CPP and $489 of EI come off the pay over the year. The CPP contributions build your own future CPP pension, and you claim them on your return (CPP contribution rates explains the credit and deduction).

CPP overpayments come back. Outside Quebec, Schedule 8 works out whether you contributed more CPP than required for the year; any overpayment goes on line 44800, and the CRA “will refund the excess contributions to you or use them to reduce your balance owing” (line 44800).

Small EI amounts can come back. If your insurable earnings for the year are $2,000 or less, you don’t claim the EI premiums on line 31200; you enter them on line 45000 and “may receive a refund of the premiums you paid” (line 31200). A refund of an EI overpayment has to be requested within three years from the end of the year it happened, which filing the return does.

Whether a student can collect EI benefits after a job ends depends on the usual entrance rules and on being available for work while in school; EI while in school covers it.

Benefits that depend on filing

• Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit (CGEB). It replaced the GST/HST credit in July 2026. You generally need to be at least 19, or have a spouse or common-law partner, or be a parent living with your child, so a student under that age with neither isn’t eligible yet. For the benefit year July 2026 to June 2027, based on 2025 returns, a single person can get up to $679 (CRA, students). The CGEB guide shows how income changes it.
• Provincial payments. Being assessed for the CGEB can also qualify you for provincial programs the CRA runs, such as the Ontario Trillium Benefit or the Nova Scotia affordable living tax credit.
• Canada workers benefit. It is not available to someone who was a full-time student for more than 13 weeks in the year, unless they have an eligible dependant.

Scholarships, bursaries and RRSP room

Post-secondary scholarships, fellowships and bursaries received for a program in which you are a full-time qualifying student are not taxable; for part-time study the exemption is limited to tuition and program-related materials (P105).

Pay from a job also builds RRSP room even if you don’t contribute now: Your RRSP deduction limit is your unused room from past years plus the lesser of 18% of last year's earned income and the year's dollar limit, minus your pension adjustment, plus any pension adjustment reversal and minus any net past service pension adjustment. The room only appears if you file. The RRSP contribution limit page explains how it is calculated.

Filing examples

Two students in Ontario file for 2026. The first earns less than the basic personal amount; the second earns enough to use all of the year’s tuition.

OSAP and your tax return

OSAP verifies “all the income provided on your application (through the Canada Revenue Agency” (Ontario, after you apply for OSAP), so the income on your return is what it checks. If your income or your family’s cannot be verified within one year from the start of your studies, your Ontario Student Grant can become repayable. How much income reduces your aid is part of OSAP’s own assessment; the OSAP guide covers it.

Filing for free

The CRA lists NETFILE-certified tax software, some of it free, and “If you have a modest income and a simple tax situation, volunteers can fill out your tax return for free through the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program” (P105). Your T4 and T2202 are also in CRA My Account, which keeps slips for the current year and the last 10 years. Free tax software in Canada compares the options.

Related guides

• Self-employed taxes hub
• Side hustle taxes in Canada
• First-time self-employed taxes
• Tuition tax credit
• Co-op placement tax guide
• OSAP guide
• Student budget in Canada