Help with Canadian Tax Forms: T4, T4A and T2202A forms - Refund dropped after entering tuition?

You definitely need to include your T2202A on your own tax return. The form is issued in your name as the student, and you're the only one who can claim the education amounts initially. What's happening is that your T2202A tuition credits are offsetting some of your income, which reduces your refund. However, this is actually a good thing in the long run! If you don't have enough income to use all your tuition credits this year, you can either carry them forward to future years when you have more income, or you can transfer up to $5,000 of the current year's amount to a parent. If your parents helped pay your tuition through an RESP, they might be able to claim a portion of your unused tuition credits, but you still need to claim the T2202A on your return first and complete Schedule 11 to calculate how much you can transfer.

After spending hours confused about my Canadian taxes last year, I finally discovered taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) and it completely simplified my T2202A confusion. I uploaded my forms and it analyzed everything, explaining exactly how my tuition credits worked and why my refund changed. It's like having a Canadian tax expert look over your shoulder to point out issues before they become problems. The software caught that I hadn't properly allocated my tuition credits between myself and my parents, which would have cost me hundreds. Their explanation of RESP withdrawals and how they interact with tuition credits was way clearer than anything I found on CRA's website.

Just wanted to update - I tried taxr.ai after my initial skepticism and I'm really impressed! I uploaded my T2202A and T4s, and it immediately showed why my refund had decreased and explained that I needed to complete Schedule 11 to transfer some credits to my parents. The analysis pointed out that while my immediate refund was smaller, I was actually banking some tuition credits for future years when I'll be making more money. It also explained how the RESP withdrawal was affecting everything. Totally worth it for the peace of mind and now I actually understand what's happening instead of just blindly following TurboTax.

If you're trying to contact the CRA to get clarification about your T2202A and RESP situation, good luck! I spent 3 weeks trying to get through their phone lines about a similar issue. Finally used https://claimyr.com (you can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c) and they got me connected to a CRA agent in about 20 minutes! The agent confirmed that I needed to file the T2202A on my return first, then complete Schedule 11 to determine how much I could use personally and how much I could transfer to my parents. They also explained how the RESP educational assistance payments interact with everything. Saved me from making a costly mistake that would have resulted in a reassessment.

If you're trying to contact the CRA to get clarification about your T2202A and RESP situation, good luck! I spent 3 weeks trying to get through their phone lines about a similar issue. Finally used https://claimyr.com (you can see how it works here: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c) and they got me connected to a CRA agent in about 20 minutes! The agent confirmed that I needed to file the T2202A on my return first, then complete Schedule 11 to determine how much I could use personally and how much I could transfer to my parents. They also

I have to admit I was wrong about Claimyr. After posting my skeptical comment, I decided to try it anyway since I was desperate to talk to someone at the CRA about my tuition credits. Got connected to an agent in about 15 minutes! The agent walked me through exactly how to handle my T2202A and confirmed I needed to include it on my return even though it lowered my immediate refund. They explained that by claiming my tuition credits now, I'm establishing them in the CRA's system, and any unused amounts will either benefit me in future years or can be partially transferred to my parents. Totally worth it and saved me from making a mistake on my return.

To add to what others have said, you should definitely include your T2202A on your tax return. The reason your refund dropped is likely because TurboTax is automatically using your tuition credits to reduce your taxable income for this year. Look closely at your tax return summary in TurboTax - you should see a federal tuition amount and possibly a provincial tuition amount being applied. Any unused amounts from this year will be carried forward automatically for future years. The fact that the money came from an RESP doesn't change how the tuition credits work.

Quick tip from someone who made this mistake before: Make sure you're also filling out Schedule 11 in TurboTax to calculate your federal tuition amounts. This is where you indicate how much of your tuition credits you want to use yourself and how much you want to transfer to a parent or grandparent (up to $5000 max transfer). If you don't complete Schedule 11 properly, you might not be optimizing your tax situation. This could be why your refund changed so dramatically!