Ontario (OITC) T2SCH550
In Ontario there is a Tax Credit refund eligible for businesses who employ students enrolled in a co-op program at an Ontario University or college. This is applied for on your year-end tax forms via Schedule 550 (T2SCH550).
Official weblink: http://www.fin.gov.on.ca/en/credit/cetc/
Company Eligibility:
- Ontario businesses which hire students enrolled in a post-secondary co-op education program
- Length of co-op placement should be 10 weeks to a max of four months in length to qualify
- Letter of certification needed upon request from CRA (student name, employer, institution, term of work placement, and discipline of qualified co-op program)
Student Eligibility:
- Students who are enrolled in post-secondary co-operative programs.
Funding Ranges:
- 25% (30% for small businesses) of the eligible expenditures (salary) for the work placement term
- small business is defined as one in which total payroll was $400k or less in previous year
- Max of $3000 is available
Application turnaround: Organizations are asked to submit applications for the tax credit during tax season.
Typically this is a program GetGrants applies for while doing our clients’ SR&ED application at year-end, however it is rather easy and can be completed by the company directly, possibly with support from your accountant. Funding received here does potentially impact your SR&ED claim if including the co-op students’ labour as SR&ED eligible expenses, but it’s certainly worth leveraging both programs in most cases.