Quebec's Separate Tax Return for Students: What CEGEP and University Students File
By Muntasir Minhaz • Published Jan 29, 2026 • Money & Budgeting, Canadian Universities & Colleges
If you live in Quebec, you file two tax returns every year: a federal return to the CRA and a separate Quebec return to Revenu Quebec. Quebec is the only province that runs its own full income tax system, and CEGEP and university students file both even on a small income, to get refunds and build credits.
📩 Two returns: federal T1 to CRA, provincial return to Revenu Quebec.
Your CEGEP or university issues a Releve 8 (RL-8) alongside the federal T2202, both proving your enrolment.
Quebec runs its own tuition tax credit, separate from the federal one.
Filing a Quebec return is how you register for the Solidarity Tax Credit.
A part-time or summer job in Quebec shows up on a Releve 1 (RL-1), alongside your federal T4.
Why Quebec Students File Two Returns
Every other Canadian province lets the CRA collect provincial tax as part of one combined federal return. Quebec runs its own income tax system through Revenu Quebec, separate from the CRA. If your home sits in Quebec, you file a federal T1 return to the CRA and a separate Quebec income tax return to Revenu Quebec, every year, even as a CEGEP or university student with a small income.
This applies whether you are a CEGEP student, a university undergraduate, or a graduate student, as long as Quebec is your province of residence. Studying at an English-language or French-language institution inside Quebec does not change the requirement.
Why File Even With Little Income
Students often assume a low income means no need to file. In Quebec, filing is how you claim back tax withheld from a part-time or summer job, build up unused tuition credits for a future year once you're earning more, and register for the Solidarity Tax Credit , a refundable credit that requires a return on file to receive it. Skipping your return because your income is low usually costs you money rather than saving you paperwork.
The Slips You'll See
Quebec institutions and employers issue a parallel set of slips alongside the federal ones.
| Federal slip | Quebec equivalent | What it shows |
|---|---|---|
| T4 | Releve 1 (RL-1) | Employment income and deductions |
| T2202 | Releve 8 (RL-8) | Months of full-time or part-time enrolment |
| T4A | Releve 1 or Releve 2 | Scholarship, bursary, or award income |
You need both versions of each slip type to file both returns correctly. Keep them together rather than filing one and setting the other aside.
Quebec's Own Tuition Tax Credit
Quebec calculates its tuition tax credit separately from the federal one, using the enrolment months on your Releve 8 and the tuition amount your institution reports. The provincial credit rate and rules do not have to match the federal tuition credit. Unused Quebec tuition credit carries forward to a future year, or transfers to a parent or grandparent, under Quebec's own transfer rules, which run independently from any federal transfer amount you also claim.
Quebec Payroll Deductions Look Different Too
A student working in Quebec sees deductions the rest of Canada does not have in the same form. Quebec runs the Quebec Pension Plan (QPP) instead of the CPP, and the Quebec Parental Insurance Plan (QPIP) alongside federal Employment Insurance. Both show up on your Releve 1, separate from the federal EI and CPP figures on your T4. None of this changes whether you need to file. It changes what the numbers on your slips mean when you sit down to do both returns.
Free Help Filing as a Student
Many CEGEPs and Quebec universities host free tax clinics each spring through the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program , which covers both the federal and Quebec return for eligible students with a simple tax situation. Revenu Quebec also runs its own free online filing service for Quebec residents. Either option handles the federal-provincial split for you, useful the first time you file two returns instead of one.
What Happens if You Only File One
Filing only your federal return and skipping the Quebec one leaves money on the table and triggers a follow-up from Revenu Quebec once your employer's or institution's slips get matched against their own records. Filing both together from the start avoids a later correction and keeps your Solidarity Tax Credit registration current without a gap.
Same Deadline, Two Destinations
The regular filing deadline lines up for both returns each spring. Missing one while filing the other still counts as a late return with Revenu Quebec, with its own penalties and interest separate from anything the CRA applies. Submit both together as one task rather than treating the Quebec return as an optional add-on.
Filing Both Returns
File your federal return with the CRA and your Quebec return with Revenu Quebec by the same deadline, using certified tax software that supports both, or with a preparer familiar with Quebec's dual system. The two returns share some of the same source numbers, like your total income, but calculate credits and tax owing independently. Keep a copy of both once filed, since some benefit and student aid applications ask for your Quebec return specifically, not only your federal one.
If You Move Out of Quebec to Study
A Quebec resident who moves to another province for university does not automatically keep filing a Quebec return once their true province of residence changes. Dual filing stops applying once you are no longer factually resident in Quebec, based on where your significant ties sit, not where your CEGEP diploma came from.
Keep a copy of your last Quebec return even after you move away. Some future applications, like a Quebec provincial bursary tied to your CEGEP years, still ask for it long after you've stopped filing a Quebec return each spring.