# Are foreign student loans or grants reportable/taxable?



## Ben5676 (Apr 9, 2020)

I received a student loan as well as grants from Canada to pay for my tuition plus living expenses. 

The loan I have to pay back, the grants I do not

Is any of this reportable or taxable


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## Moulard (Feb 3, 2017)

Student loan not reportable - unless you are forgiven repaying it part or in total. In which case the amount forgiven would be reportable.

Grants, stipends and scholarships can be a bit grey and will depend a bit in part on their nature.

Generally speaking, a scholarship, fellowship or grant will be tax free if you are a degree candidate and the award is used to pay for tuition and required fees, books, supplies and equipment.

If it is used for other purposes, or if there is a condition associated with it that involves you performing work (teaching assistants, lab assistance other on-campus work) then it may be treated as wages and be at least, in part taxable.

Take a look at the following IRS Publicaion https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p970.pdf


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## Nononymous (Jul 12, 2011)

Taxable in Canada, or taxable in the US?

At this point I'll cheerfully point out that there is no W2 or equivalent issued by a Canadian granting body, so voluntary reporting is the only way the IRS would learn of such a grant. Do with that information what you will.


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## Ben5676 (Apr 9, 2020)

Nononymous said:


> Taxable in Canada, or taxable in the US?
> 
> At this point I'll cheerfully point out that there is no W2 or equivalent issued by a Canadian granting body, so voluntary reporting is the only way the IRS would learn of such a grant. Do with that information what you will.


It's not a W2 but a T4A.


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## Ben5676 (Apr 9, 2020)

I'm exhausted learning about all these IRS tax rules lol


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## Nononymous (Jul 12, 2011)

Ben5676 said:


> It's not a W2 but a T4A.


That was my point. The IRS does not see a copy of the T4A, so you decide what if anything to report.


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## Nononymous (Jul 12, 2011)

Ben5676 said:


> I'm exhausted learning about all these IRS tax rules lol


Indeed. How badly do you want that $1200? In your shoes I would forget about filing US taxes and focus on getting Canadian citizenship sooner rather than later.


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## Ben5676 (Apr 9, 2020)

Nononymous said:


> Ben5676 said:
> 
> 
> > I'm exhausted learning about all these IRS tax rules lol
> ...


Lol it's not just 1200 from trump(which trump might give again a second time) according to my very researched calculations IRS owes me a refund if my pension plan counts as a US qualified one 🙂 that's why the decision is hard that's thousands of CAD down the drain

Why does the IRS have to be so scary


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## Nononymous (Jul 12, 2011)

If you are referring to the child tax credit, that's not a refund per se, but it is a significant sum of money over 17 years. It's also not "free" in the sense that you pay the price of outing your kid to the US government. (My personal view, this ploy is acceptable if the money goes into an RESP - in your spouse's name of course - but not if it's general revenue.)

As for the pension, you are looking at this the wrong way. Do not attempt to figure out whether your pension meets some mysterious IRS standard. Rather, figure out what the IRS wants to hear for your pension to qualify, and declare it so. Problem solved. They only know what you tell them - they have no other source of information (except FATCA, which might give them a few account balances if your bank knows that you are a US person).

Also, get your Canadian citizenship.


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## Ben5676 (Apr 9, 2020)

Nononymous said:


> If you are referring to the child tax credit, that's not a refund per se, but it is a significant sum of money over 17 years. It's also not "free" in the sense that you pay the price of outing your kid to the US government. (My personal view, this ploy is acceptable if the money goes into an RESP - in your spouse's name of course - but not if it's general revenue.)
> 
> As for the pension, you are looking at this the wrong way. Do not attempt to figure out whether your pension meets some mysterious IRS standard. Rather, figure out what the IRS wants to hear for your pension to qualify, and declare it so. Problem solved. They only know what you tell them - they have no other source of information (except FATCA, which might give them a few account balances if your bank knows that you are a US person).
> 
> Also, get your Canadian citizenship.


Are you sure they have no other source of information? Well in this case how would they know about my pension if I dont report it


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## Bevdeforges (Nov 16, 2007)

Ben5676 said:


> Are you sure they have no other source of information? Well in this case how would they know about my pension if I dont report it


The only way they'll know about your pension is if the bank or financial institution that is holding the funds reports it to them (because you are on their books as a US citizen). But, at least at this point, all they report is the existence of the account and the year end balance. They don't report the current year's income.


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## Nononymous (Jul 12, 2011)

Ben5676 said:


> Are you sure they have no other source of information? Well in this case how would they know about my pension if I dont report it


Precisely the point. They won't know about your pension if you don't report it.

One approach would be to not declare the pension at all because you "didn't think you had to" or some such excuse. The IRS will likely never be any the wiser, and you'll get your free money. Same goes for any grants or scholarships that you fear might be taxable in the US but not in Canada.

Literally the only thing the IRS knows about you is some year-end account balances and interest or dividend income *if* you are subject to FATCA reporting - if you disclosed US person status to your bank and the amounts are over their threshold to report. Otherwise, they know nothing but what you tell them.

Of course it's easier to say that as a Canadian citizen rather than merely a permanent resident, because if something went wrong and the IRS sent a bill, the Canadian could ignore it.


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