T2202: what it is and where to find it

• Your school gives it to you, not the CRA. CRA rules say schools must give it to students on or before the last day of February after the year it covers (see CRA’s T2202 rules for schools).
• A school can post it in an online student portal, where you can print it. If there is no such portal, or you ask, the school gives you two paper copies in person or by mail. A school can email it only with your written consent.
• If you didn’t get one, CRA says to contact your school. Which office handles it depends on the school.

On CRA’s eligible tuition fees page, the fees you paid to each school must be more than $100. Courses count if they are at a post-secondary school, or if you are 16 or older by the end of the year and building job skills at a school certified by Employment and Social Development Canada.

Besides tuition, CRA lists fees such as admission, library or lab charges, exam fees that are part of the program, and mandatory computer service fees. Fees your employer paid (and that are not in your income) don’t count. Your T2202 shows the eligible amount your school reported.

1. Get your T2202 from your school. Studying outside Canada? CRA lists other slips (TL11A, TL11C, TL11D) on its line 32300 page.
2. Claim your tuition on your own return with Schedule 11, which CRA says you must file. Your tax software or the CRA site shows how to enter the slip.
3. CRA’s guide says you have to claim your current year’s tuition on your own return first, even if someone else paid your fees.

• Carry forward: tuition you don’t need this year can be carried forward on Schedule 11. P105 says you have to claim it in the first year you have to pay income tax.
• Transfer: P105 says you may transfer up to $5,000 of the current year’s federal tuition amount, minus what you use to reduce your own tax, to your spouse or common-law partner, a parent or grandparent, or your spouse’s parent or grandparent. You fill in the transfer box on the back of the T2202. Some cases block a transfer to a parent or grandparent; P105 lists them.
• Once you carry an amount forward, P105 says you can’t transfer it to anyone later.

Provinces and territories handle tuition on their own forms, and the rules differ. Quebec residents also file a separate Quebec return. Confirm on the CRA site (P105) or with a tax professional.

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