For all provinces and territories except Québec,
starting with the 2006 taxation year, scholarship,
bursary and fellowship income is fully exempt
from tax when the income is received in connection with
a program for which the student will get an education
amount tax credit. The income is not reported on the tax return.
If you are not eligible to claim the education amount, then only the
first $500 of awards is tax free. Amounts received in excess of $500
are reported on line 130 of your tax return. Taxable amounts would be
reported in the Other Income line in the Canadian
Income Tax Calculator.
Starting with the 2007 tax year, when you receive a
scholarship, bursary, or tuition for post-secondary education from the
employer of a family member, you will receive a T4A slip from the
employer. Previously, this income was taxable to the employee instead of
to the employee's family member who received the income. When
scholarships, bursaries, or tuition are provided for elementary or secondary
school, the fair market value (FMV) of these benefits are still a taxable
benefit to the employee.
Québec students
Québec students should enter the scholarship, bursary or
other financial assistance amount from box O of the RL-1 slip on Line 154 of
the Québec personal income tax return. These amounts will be
identified with the code RB in the "Code (case O)" box of the RL-1
slip. Note that you can claim a deduction of the same amount on line
295. See Scholarships and Bursaries on the Revenu Québec website
topic Line
154 - Other Income. In the Québec
Income Tax Calculator, the scholarship/bursary amount would be entered
in Other Income - QC and again in Other Deductions - QC. For amounts
that are taxable federally, the amount would also be entered in Other Income
- Federal.
Federal 2010 Budget Proposals
Budget 2010 proposes
to clarify that post-doctoral fellowships will be
taxable. A post-secondary program consisting primarily of research
will only be eligible for the education tax credit and the scholarship
exemption if it leads to a college or CEGEP diploma, or a bachelor,
masters or doctoral degree or equivalent.
that an amount will be eligible for the scholarship
exemption only to the extent that it is received in connection with
enrolment in an eligible educational program for the duration of the
period of study related to the scholarship.
that the scholarship exemption will be limited, in the
case of part-time programs, to the amount of tuition paid for the program
plus the costs of program-related materials. There would be an
exception to this for a student entitled to the disability tax credit, or
a student whose medical or physical impairment prevents them from being
enrolled on a full-time basis.
These measures will apply to the 2010 and subsequent
taxation years.
Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) resources:
IT75R4
Scholarships, Fellowships, Bursaries, Prizes, Research Grants and
Financial Assistance
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