Parents with Students at University
Another important tax savings to remember is if you are like me and have kids that have tuition expenses for post secondary education, remember they can transfer their:
- Tuition
- Books
- Full Time/Part Time living expense
Credits to you, but they must show that on their tax returns (and not use it themselves).
As kids earn more money, or if like me they are in a Co-Op program, students may need to use the tuition credits themselves, and also remember you only get $5000 total to transfer (and also don’t forget provincial credits as well). Â
Remember students can also transfer these credits to Grandparents should they be the ones supplying the moneys as well!
Are your kids filing tax returns? If they are 18 or older (or is it 16) they should, just to get things rolling for them (and with QuickTax, it’s free anyhow). Takes about 10 minutes to do, and sometimes good things happen (like GST credits and such).
This Week in Personal Finance
Unemployment numbers come out this week, on Friday as well as a torrent of financial numbers from many areas. Will the Financial Apocalypse continue? Stay tuned!
One correction: if you have kids, they should be filing tax returns the moment that they have an income, even if it’s just a paper route. Doing so will help to build up RRSP contribution room and, as you note, may result in GST credits and whatnot. Unless they have a really sweet job, they aren’t likely to earn more than the basic personal exemption (around $10k) so they aren’t going to have to pay any taxes anyway.