Carry forward of unused federal tuition, education, and textbook amounts from previous years

Important:  Beginning January 1, 2017, the federal education and textbook amounts have been discontinued (students will still be able to claim the tuition tax credit). If you’ve got unused education and textbook credits from years prior to 2017, you’ll still be able to claim them or carry forward these amounts for use on future returns. Refer to the Canada Revenue Agency’s (CRA) website for more information regarding these changes. 

If you were a student in a previous year, you might have carried forward federal tuition, education, and textbook amounts that you can claim on your 2017 return to reduce your tax payable. If that’s the case, you can determine your unused amounts by:

  • Referring to your most recent notice of assessment (NOA) or notice or reassessment or
  • Logging into the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) My Account service (registration required)

Remember:

  • You must claim your carry forward amounts in the first year that you have to pay income tax
  • You can’t carry forward unused amounts that you transferred to a parent, grandparent, spouse, or common-law partner and
  • Amounts that have been carried forward from a previous year cannot be transferred

Tax Tip: Even if you don’t have to pay income tax and you want to carry forward all or part of your tuition tax credit this year, you should still file your tax return on time so that the CRA can update their records with your unused credit amount.

Where do I claim this?

Follow these steps in H&R Block’s 2017 tax software to claim your unused tuition amounts from previous years. If you were a student in 2017, H&R Block’s tax software will automatically carry forward any of your unused tuition amounts for you. You’ll be able to see this amount on Schedule 11 of your completed return. 

  1. On the PREPARE tab, click the IN THIS SECTION icon.

  2. Under Unused tuition amounts you carried forward from a previous year, interest paid on a student loan, and money received for school (a scholarship, grant, etc.), click the Add This button.

  3. Click the STUDENTS icon. You’ll find yourself here:

    DIY17_STUDENTS_EN.png

  4. Under the CREDIT AMOUNTS heading, select the checkbox labelled Tuition, education, and textbook amounts carried forward from a previous year.

  5. When you arrive at the page for your Tuition, education, and textbook amounts, enter your information into the tax software.
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