Taxes (In Canada)

Hi there,

I'm facing the same problem. At the beginning I was able to get a deduction
since USQ was sending me a receipt confirming full time enrollment but then
they stopped since the Canadian authorities contacted them and advised them about this law.

However, you can claim the total amount as training if you have a company or work on your own.

If you work for someone, the employer can deduct this expense as training so you could negotiate with them if possible.

The other possibility is to claim the deduction is small parts, I have never been asked about this since the canadian goverment doesn't look for expenses of small amounts as long as you are giving them good taxes. So I claim the expense and never got questioned about it. However, I'm sure if I raise my claim to the order of thousands I would be questioned right away.

I hope this helps.

 

Re: Re: Taxes (In Canada)

This form used to be sent by USQ (International University tuition fee form). However, they stopped since the canadian goverment contacted them about this. I received a letter about this a year ago.

Some universities don't mind to give you this form even if you are not on-campus. This is the case of University of Phoenix or Capella. But some like USQ are more conservative and refuse to do it.

 

The rule only applies to foreign institutions. One cannot claim a distance education course taken at foreign institution.

In the case of Athabasca, this is not a problem so you should be OK. I have talked to goverment officials and the said that they could change the rule in the future as now more people enroll in distance courses but this is not for sure.

People that I know, claim the amount and never are questioned. But again, these are small amounts so the canadian government normally don't look closely. But I would assume that they will question if someone would claim 10 or 20 K and has no income.

 

I just got a notice of reassesment from the CCRA informing me that the courses I took through the University of Southern Queensland are not eliglble for deductions for tuition. Distance courses from foriegn universities are not eligible for deductions, if I had actually attended USQ the courses would have been deductible. This is especially frustrating since the program I was taking (engineering) is not available by distance learning from a Canadian University. When I checked the CCRA's website I also found that distance learning students can't claim to be fulltime students, I am now worried that their going to figure out that Athabasca University is a DL school and they'll reassess my deductions from the last 2 years. This seems like a serious lack of respect for distance learning from the government, I sent my MP a letter and I would suggest everyone else do the same if they want the government to give DL the respect it deserves.

 

I'm going to check into this myself. UNISA has sent me an official receipt for 2003. If my memory serves me correctly, the CCRA requires a special form for declaring tuition deductions. If I find out more about this, I will post a response in the next few days.

 

The CCRA requires a specific form if you enrolled in a foriegn university. The form specifically says that it can't be a distance learning course.

While i appreciate the advice about ways to claim the deduction, the real point is that DL shouldn't be treated differently than on campus courses and that governments policy needs to change.

 

can one claim if you are attending a local college in Canada (part-time) which also has DL courses ?

 

If its a Canadian school you can claim the tuition expenses and get the tax credit for a part time student, but you can't get the tax credit for a full time student even if you carry a full course load.

 

Did a little research - emphasis on little.

Eligible foreign education programs seem to be defined differently for the tuition credit and the education credit.(a Canadian thing)

While you may be denied the tuition credit you may qualify for the education credit.

For the tuition credit, having a residential portion may make it qualified as it is not totally by correspondence.

Go to the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency website and use the search function to see Interpretation Bulletins IT-515 and IT-516.

Just because you're right doesn't mean it will be accepted by the lowest common denominators at the tax department. You may have to appeal to have it reviewed by someone literate.

You may have to send the Canadian forms such asT2202 to the school to be completed and returned. I've seen it done, altough in my experience, by full time students.

 

The CCRA informed me that students attending a foriegn university are required to get the school to fill out form TL11A, in which the school certifies that:

"(Student's name) was registered as a full-time student at this educational institution in a university course for not less than 13 consecutive weeks in duration, leading to a degree, adn that the course was not taught through distance learning or over the Internt".

 

"and that the course was not taught through distance learning or over the Internet;"

This is a new addition to the old form that I have with me.

The only way to go around this rule is if you are doing a research based degree that doesn't require university on campus precense but this only applies to graduate degrees.

It is very clear to me that courses taken at USQ are not eligible for tax credit. I believe this is to encourage people to take Canadian distance based courses but in your case or my case we have no choice because no equivalent program is offered in Canada.

 

Think you're hooped on the tuition credit but I think there is hope for the education credit which allows for part-time students, with a lesser amount of credit.

The education credit is separately defined in the Income Tax Act and does not seem to be so stringent in regard to foreign correspondence courses.

 

I can't seem to find anything in the Tax Act that would deny tax credit to correspondence courses. Full time is a requirement, though, as it is in the legislation.

Found a case:

Full-time attendance does not mean day-to-day physical attendance. The taxpayer, employed full-time in Canada, was a doctoral candidate at an American University. His tuition fees were deductable. Greaves v. M.N.R., 78 DTC 1017.

If you took enough courses to be considered full-time, I suggest filing a "Notice of Objection" to appeal and find the basis for their rejecting correspondence courses. Because it says it on the form is not a good enough reason.


Here's the tax act

http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/I-3.3/index.html

Division E - Computation of Tax
Sections 118.5 and 118.6

Go for it.

 

I wasn't a fulltime student so this doesn't really help me. I will file an appeal and argue that I had to take the courses from a foriegn university because they aren't available in Canada and see what happens.

 

Would you mind to share the results once they write back to you?

 

Taxes for DL in Canada

I have had similar discussions with the Ministry of Finance in Ottawa and finally received a letter stating I would not be allowed tax credits for my DEd programme in RSA since this is for a DL programme.

For those wishing more information they could visit the Unisa-Canada MSN site at: http://groups.msn.com/UniversityofSouthAfricaCanada/
and follow the message board.

 

Helps if you're self-employed

I am a self-employed educator, and so I am going to consider my DL master's in adult ed from National-Louis U in Chicago as "professional advancement" on my Cdn. tax return. It means I will show a loss for 2003, and I'm sure I'll be red-flagged for scrutiny, but I'll argue my case if they query me. It's a degree program that makes be better at that which I already do:
I think both Canada and the US tax folks will buy that strategy, even if the tuition deduction is hefty.
Peter

 

Quote Brad

"La valeur la plus importante d'une société juste est la liberté." Pierre Trudeau"


My favourite Trudeau quotes aren't quite as enlightened, just more enlightening.

"Fuck you" as spoken to an opposition member in the House of Commons.

"I came to Ottawa to save Quebec. Someone else will have to save the West"

"Why should I sell your wheat" Incidentally the Canadian government does not allow farmers to market their wheat other than to the government.

Hated the prick.

 

Thanks for the jolt of nostalgia, Dennis! He was memorable.