Ontario Tuition and Education Amounts, ON(S11)

Updated: 2023-01-13

In September 2017, the Ontario government stopped offering a tax credit for provincial tuition and education amounts. Only unused tuition and education amounts from 2017 could be claimed in subsequent years until they were all used, or until the student moved away from Ontario.

In 2021, Ontario changed the rules for years prior to 2022 so that students with an unused credit at the end of 2017, who moved away from Ontario and then returned to Ontario prior to 2022, can claim some or all of that amount. 

Residency Criteria on Schedule 11 ON(S11)

Students who were a resident in Ontario on December 31, 2017, then moved to a different province or territory then moved back to Ontario in the current year (for example, 2021), may enter whichever of the following amounts is less (on line 1 of ONS11):

• unused Ontario tuition and education amounts from their notice of assessment or reassessment for the last year they resided in Ontario, or
• unused federal tuition, education, and textbook amounts from their latest 2020 notice of assessment or reassessment for the year prior to the current year (for example, 2020).

If the student is not resident in Ontario after December 31, 2021, their unused Ontario tuition and education amounts balance will be reduced to zero.

These criteria also appear as a note at the top of Ontario Schedule 11 ON(S11) for 2021.

Unused Provincial Amounts on the Carry Forward Summary (Carry)

Additional fields on the 2021 Carry Forward Summary (Carry) assist TaxCycle in calculating the appropriate claim according to the rules above. To make a claim:

1. Enter any unused federal and provincial amounts. 
2. Select the province or territory of residence in the prior year.
3. The province of residence for the current year flows from the Info worksheet to the second column.
4. If the province of residence from the prior year is NOT Ontario but the current year is, two additional fields appear:
   • Enter the province of residence on December 31, 2017.
   • Enter the unused Ontario amount for the last year the client resided in Ontario.

Adjustments to Prior Years (2018 and 2020)

A taxpayer who meets the criteria was in the situation mentioned where they had left after 2017 and returned in 2021, may be eligible to request an adjustment to applicable prior year returns.

The Carry Forward Summary (Carry) for the years 2019 and 2020 does not include the additional fields. In this case, enter the unused provincial amount from the last year they were resident in Ontario: