Do I Get A Tax Slip For An RESP?

If you have a Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) for your children, you might be wondering about what tax slips or receipts you may need in order to file your income tax.

First of all, you will not receive a contribution receipt for putting money into an RESP, as contributions towards RESPS are not tax deductible

Second, you will not receive a T3 or T5 for investments held within an RESP because all growth made from your investments is tax deferred.

The only type of tax slip issued for RESPS is a T4A.  The T4A is issued in your child’s name and it is only sent out if you made an RESP withdrawal for educational purposes that included some government grant money and/or growth from the investments.  You as the parent will not be taxed.  Instead, your child must claim it and they are likely in a much lower tax bracket than you are.  In fact, most of the time the child doesn’t end up having to pay any tax on it at all (but they still need to claim it).

Once all the grant and growth is used up from the RESP, all subsequent withdrawals are considered to be Refunds Of Payment (ROP) and as such they are not subject to any tax.  Since you as the parent already paid tax on the money contributed to the RESP, the money is not subject to tax again.

So, if you made a withdrawal from an RESP for your child anytime during 2010, look out for a T4A in the mail.   If you haven’t yet received a T4A, it wouldn’t hurt to check with your financial institution to confirm whether or not one was issued.  If the entire amount of the withdrawal was a refund of payment then your child will not receive any slip to claim for 2010.