Tuition Receipts (issued as Charitable Donation Receipts)

• In accordance with Canada Revenue Agency's (CRA) Information Circular 75-23, Rockway is allowed to receipt a portion of the tuition fees paid.
• The portion of tuition fee payments that is eligible for a charitable donation receipt is calculated based on a formula prescribed by the CRA. This formula allows us to determine the amount of tuition fees paid that correspond to secular education, and the portion that corresponds to religious education. We are then allowed to issue a receipt for the religious portion.
• For the 2009 taxation year, we issued a charitable donation receipt for tuition payments over $5,351 per student ($5,351 is defined as the non-receiptable amount).
• This non-receiptable amount changes from year to year, and Rockway is not able to determine the non-receiptable amount until late January, in the year following the specific taxation year, since the calculation requires information not available until December 31st of the taxation year.

Parents (and others that pay tuition fees) should note the following:

• The receipt issued is a Charitable Donation receipt and is used by the taxpayer in the same way any other charitable receipt is used, in completing an income tax return.
• This is not a tuition tax receipt. Tuition tax receipts as defined by CRA are only valid for tuition paid to post-secondary institutions.
• Based on the requirements of the calculation prescribed by CRA, it is not possible for parents to calculate the amount of the charitable donation receipt themselves. The formula is based on a number of values that are internal to Rockway.
• The charitable donation receipt amount is based on payments received during a calendar year. For example, a payment made on December 31st of a particular year will be included in that year's receipt, while the same payment made a day later will be counted toward the following year's receipt.
• The CRA has indicated that anyone who designates a payment for a specific student is to be deemed a "parent" for purposes of charitable receipt calculations.
• In the event of parents who are separated or divorced, but are both supporting a student financially, the non-receiptable amount will be pro-rated based on the payments received.
• In the event that a parent and/or multiple other persons/organizations make payments for a student, the non-receiptable amount will be applied first to the parent and, if there is an amount remaining, then to the highest contributor, and so on, until the non-receiptable amount has been used up.
• Since Rockway is not qualified to provide any assistance related to income tax questions, we strongly recommend parents and other persons who make tuition payments to retain the services of an accountant or other professional, to advise them on the best way to take advantage of these charitable donation receipts.

As an example, for a parent who paid $10,000 in tuition for their oldest student, and $8,000 in tuition for their second student, the calculation for 2007 would have been done as follows: