Principal Issues: Can an individual taking courses offered through a provincial CGA program, claim the education tax credit?
Position: Question of fact
Reasons: The individual is required to be enrolled at a "designated education institution" either on a full time or part-time basis in a program meeting the provisions of the Act with respect to either a "qualifying educational program" or a "specified educational program" respectively.
January 18, 2006
HEADQUARTERS HEADQUARTERS Special Processing Division Income Tax Ruling Individual Returns and Payments Directorate Processing Directorate Kimberly Duval 599-6054 Attention: Anne-Marie Johnson 2005-016373
Certified General Accountant Courses and the Education Tax Credit
This is in response to your e-mail correspondence of December 14, 2005, requesting our comments on whether students enrolled with the Certified General Accountants ("CGA") of a particular province are entitled to the education tax credit where that particular provincial institution is not recognized by the province for purposes of the Canada Students Loans Act.
Our Comments
In order for a CGA student to qualify for the education tax credit under subsection 118.6(2) of the Income Tax Act (the "Act"), the program itself must be a qualifying or specified educational program and the provincial institution at which the student is enrolled must be a designated educational institution. The expressions "qualifying educational program", "specified educational program" and "designated educational institution" are all defined terms in subsection 118.6(1) of the Act.
The relevant part of the definition of designated educational institution refers to an educational institution that is:
"....designated by the Lieutenant Governor in Council of a province as a specified educational institution under the Canada Student Loans Act, designated by an appropriate authority under the Canada Student Financial Assistance Act, or designated by the Minister of Education of the Province of Quebec for the purposes of An Act respecting financial assistance for education expenses, R.S.Q, c. A-13.3....".
Therefore, we agree with your view that where a CGA student is enrolled at a particular institution that is not designated in the manner specified in the definition of a "designated educational institution", the student is not eligible for the education tax credit with respect to courses taken with that institution.
We trust that these comments will be of assistance.
For your information a copy of this memorandum will be severed using the Access to Information Act criteria and placed in the Canada Revenue Agency's electronic library. A severed copy will also be distributed to the commercial tax publishers for inclusion in their databases. The severing process will remove all material that is not subject to disclosure, including information that could disclose the identity of the taxpayer. Should your client request a copy of this memorandum, they can be provided with the electronic library version, or they may request a severed copy using the Privacy Act criteria, which does not remove client identity. You should make requests for this latter version to Mrs. Jackie Page at (819) 994-2898. A copy will be sent to you for delivery to the client.
John Oulton, CA
for Director
Financial Sector and Exempt Entities Division
Income Tax Rulings Directorate
Policy and Planning Branch