Registered Education Savings Plan

Reference guide

With the ever increasing cost of post secondary education, a Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) is an attractive way to plan for this major life event. The benefits of using an RESP for education savings include:

• tax deferral
• income splitting
• government grants and incentives to top up your education

An RESP is a government sponsored savings program that allows for the tax deferred growth of investments in the plan and takes advantage of education savings grants. When the income in the account is withdrawn to fund qualified postsecondary education, the withdrawals are taxable to the RESP beneficiary (the student), who is usually in a lower tax bracket than the subscriber.

Planning tip:

When setting up an RESP, naming joint spousal subscribers on the plan should be considered. In the event of the death of one of the joint subscribers, the surviving subscriber will have the right to continue managing the RESP.

Click here to download our RESP reference guide.