Students often work at the university in a variety of roles, and need to understand their pay and taxes just like other employees.
Students should review the basic tax information for employees on the Faculty and Staff page as well as the student-specific information below.
Bursaries and Scholarships
If you receive a scholarship or bursary through UBC Student Services, you will receive a T4A tax slip from Student Services directly. If you have received fellowship earnings through UBC Payroll, you will also receive a T4A from Payroll Operations. Use both when filing your personal income taxes.
Fellowship Earnings and Taxation
UBC no longer automatically withholds income tax for appointments with the “FEL” (fellowships) earnings code. This change was prompted by a review of current UBC practice and the need to comply with Canada Revenue Agency tax policy.
This change affects the following groups:
- Students with a Graduate Research Assistant (GRA) appointment.
- Students with a Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA) appointment - 20% of GTA earnings are coded as fellowship earnings and tax will no longer be withheld against those earnings. Tax will continue to be withheld against the remaining 80% (coded as regular earnings).
Postdoctoral fellows are not affected by this change. Taxation on their income will continue to be withheld.
Should you have further questions, please visit the Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies website for details and answers to frequently asked questions.
Setting your TD1 and TD1BC tax elections in Workday
All employment income is subject to income tax which is deducted from earnings, but how much income tax is deducted is dependent on your personal situation. The TD1 and TD1BC forms are the basic federal and provincial personal tax credit forms that calculate how much tax should be withheld from payments issued by employers.
Based on your personal situation, there are tax exemptions you can claim to reduce your income tax deduction amount immediately at the source (or you may choose to wait to claim tax exemptions when you file your personal tax return each year).
Student employees should fill out TD1 and TD1BC forms to set their "tax elections" in Workday. Basic personal tax credits should be updated every January. Tax credits are based on the calendar taxation year not the academic year.
For example, if you claimed $9,131 in tuition in 2022, you may expect to pay a different amount in 2023. If you are claiming tuition credits, put the amount you expect to pay in line 5 federally and line 4 provincially, as applicable.
For instructions on how to update your tax elections in Workday, refer to the Change My Tax Elections guide in the Workday Knowledge Base (CWL required).