It's in your best interest to wait until you receive that T2202A slip and file it with your return for a number of reasons;
- The Non Refundable Credit from claiming this reduces any tax payable, and increases any refund due.
- If you do not need to use any of the credit, it can be carried forward to future years and applied when needed. If you do carry forward education credits, the amount available will appear on your Notice of Assessment. The credits can be handy once you start your career and have taxable income.
- If you wish to transfer your credits that you are not using,(to a parent, grandparent or spouse), it must first be reported on your tax return and transferred.
You can prepare your tax return "immediately", but CRA is closed for their annual shutdown and not open for NetFile until February 20th, 2017.
Here's a link to CRA's info on all the credits available for Students;
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/students/
Good luck with your studies!
