Use the start year on your CRA record
The Lifelong Learning Plan normally repays withdrawals over 10 years. The starting year can depend on whether the LLP student remains eligible as a student in consecutive years, and repayment starts no later than the fifth year after the first withdrawal. A graduation date alone is not enough to determine the correct starting year for every participation.
This tool deliberately asks for the first repayment year confirmed by CRA rather than attempting an eligibility decision from a graduation year. Enter the original participation total and payments from before that first year. To reconstruct an account already in repayment, enter its original schedule and prior annual designations, not just today’s balance.
Follow the early-credit calculation
For a CAD 10,000 participation over 10 years, the original first-year amount is CAD 1,000. An early designated repayment of CAD 600 credits that requirement, leaving CAD 400 for the first required year. CAD 9,400 divided by 10 is not the correct first installment because the early payment is applied to the first-year requirement.
After the first year, requirements use the balance divided by the number of repayment years remaining. Payments above a year’s requirement reduce later requirements; an income inclusion also reduces the balance. The table shows both treatments instead of hiding a shortfall inside a single payment figure.
Compare two CRA-style repayment paths
With no early repayment, a CAD 10,000 participation and first-year designation of CAD 700 create CAD 300 of income inclusion and a CAD 9,000 balance. Nine years remain, so the next requirement is CAD 1,000. The income inclusion is not the amount of tax payable, and the calculator does not estimate that tax.
For CAD 8,500 beginning in 2021, designating CAD 850 in each of 2021, 2022 and 2023 leaves CAD 5,950. Designating CAD 4,000 in 2024 then leaves CAD 1,950 over six years. The 2025 requirement is CAD 325. Enter these amounts to reproduce the path, then substitute your recorded designations.
Keep repayments separate from deductible contributions
Use Schedule 7 to designate an eligible contribution as an LLP repayment. A designated repayment is not also an RRSP deduction. The timing rules include eligible contributions in the repayment year or first 60 days of the next year; confirm the actual designation year rather than placing a bank deposit in a row only by its transaction date.
This is an ordinary single-participation ledger. Death, nonresidency, age-71 handling and transfers of a deceased participant’s balance to a spouse need CRA’s special instructions. It does not automatically decide student status, eligibility for another withdrawal or your deduction room. Keep your CRA LLP statement beside the table when reconciling.
Official sources and scope
Checked 7 October 2026. Canadian record worksheets only; not a completed return, benefit decision or account transaction.