Published | Categories: Income tax – businesses, Income tax – individuals
Tax credit for an on the job training period – Relaxed connection criteria
Taxpayers who carry on a business in Québec and have an establishment in Québec who hire a student or an apprentice for a qualified training period can claim the refundable tax credit for an on-the-job training period (certain conditions apply).
Taxpayers who are members of a qualified partnership can also claim this tax credit.
Under the current criteria, a student or an apprentice must serve a training period at an establishment of the eligible taxpayer in Québec to be considered an eligible trainee. This means that the student or apprentice must be physically present in the establishment to serve the required training period hours.
Since remote working is now widespread, tax legislation will be amended to relax the connection criteria under the refundable tax credit for an on-the-job training period. The amendments will apply to qualified expenditures incurred after December 31, 2021.
Relaxed connection criteria
Students or apprentices can be considered eligible trainees if they report for work at an establishment of the taxpayer in Québec. For example, if a student or an apprentice is authorized to occasionally serve training hours remotely, they may be considered an eligible trainee if they serve the rest of their training hours while physically present at the establishment.
Tax legislation will be further amended to add the assumptions below.
Fully remote training period
If, throughout the training period, the student or apprentice is not required to report for work at an establishment of the taxpayer, they will be considered to report for work at the establishment in Québec if both the following conditions are met:
- The student's or apprentice's salary or wages for the training period are paid by the establishment in Québec.
- The student's or apprentice's duties are performed mainly (more than 50%) in Québec.
Training period served at both an establishment in Québec and an establishment outside Québec
If, throughout the training period, the student or apprentice reports for work at both an establishment of the taxpayer in Québec and an establishment of the taxpayer outside Québec, see the table below for the rules that apply.
| Situation | Applicable rule |
|---|---|
| The trainee reports for work at an establishment of the taxpayer in Québec at least 50% of the time. | The trainee is considered to report for work only at the establishment in Québec. |
| The trainee reports for work at an establishment of the taxpayer outside Québec more than 50% of the time. | The trainee is considered to report for work only at the establishment outside Québec. |
Eligible region
Tax legislation will be amended so that the increased rates that apply when a training period is served in an eligible region apply when a student or an apprentice reports for work at an establishment of the taxpayer in an eligible region. Tax legislation will also be amended to include equivalent assumptions for the application of the increased rates that apply when a training period is served in an eligible region.
Extended deadline for claiming the tax credit
The deadline for claiming the tax credit with respect to qualified expenditures will be extended for taxpayers that did not claim the tax credit or could not receive it because the connection criteria was not met. The qualified expenditures must have been incurred after December 31, 2021, and the tax credit must be claimed no later than June 30, 2026, using the prescribed form. The claim will be considered the first claim for purposes of calculating any interest on the refund.
For information about how to correct a personal income tax return, see Correcting an Error or Omission. For information about how to correct a corporation income tax return, see Impôt des sociétés (in French only).
For more information, see information bulletin 2025-9 (PDF – 304 KB) from the Ministère des Finances.