The Lifelong Learning Plan is a government program that allows you to withdraw money from your RRSPs for education without any tax being withheld. This could be either for you, or your spouse or common-law partner. To qualify for this, you must be enrolled as a full-time student in a educational program at a designated educational institution.

You can withdraw up to $20,000 under this plan with a maximum of $10,000 per year. There is no lifetime maximum, you can start a new plan once the previous plan has been paid back and is at a zero balance. Under this plan, you cannot withdraw money that has been contributed within the past 89 days.

Repayment begins after whichever comes first, either when you are not entitled to the education amount on your tax return for two consecutive years or in the 5th year from when the plan started. Once repayment begins, you must repay at least 10% a year over ten years. You won’t get a tax refund on this repayment since you received a refund when it was originally contributed.

The Lifelong Learning Plan is not limited to the amount of your tuition and school expenses. Because this may leave money available to cover living expenses, the LLP might be a great way to return to full time school.

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