Overview

You can withdraw funds from your registered education savings plan (RESP) for educational purposes, non-educational purposes, or as an Accumulated Income Payment (AIP). The type of withdrawal determines what funds you can access and the tax implications.

Educational Assistance Payment (EAP) withdrawals

An Educational Assistance Payment (EAP) is a withdrawal from your RESP made to help your beneficiary pay for post-secondary education expenses. EAPs include the grants and investment earnings from your RESP.

You'll be asked to share proof of enrolment in a post-secondary institution. Proof of enrolment must include the following details:

1. Beneficiary name
2. School name and logo
3. Name of program
4. Length of the term/academic year (must show the start and end dates and be for the current year)
5. Full or part-time status of the student

How to request an EAP withdrawal

You must fill out our EAP withdrawal form to submit your request:

• Single-owner EAP withdrawal RESP form
• Joint owner EAP withdrawal RESP form

Withdrawing funds for non-educational purposes

You can withdraw the contributions you've made to your RESP for non-educational purposes before your beneficiary turns 21. When you make this type of withdrawal:

• Any corresponding government grants must be returned to the government. We'll help you do this when you request a withdrawal. If you are closing the account, all grants must be returned in full.
• Any corresponding investment earnings (gains) from your investments will need to remain in the account. If you're closing the account, you can gift the gains to an educational institution.

How to request a non-educational withdrawal

You must fill out our non-educational RESP withdrawal form to submit your request:

• Single-owner non-educational withdrawal RESP form
• Joint owner non-educational withdrawal RESP form

Withdraw earnings as an Accumulated Income Payment (AIP)

An AIP is a withdrawal of all contributions that you made to your RESP (minus any losses in the account). AIPs are considered taxable income to the account owner and are subject to an additional 20% tax (or 12% in Quebec). However, you can avoid this penalty tax by transferring the AIP funds directly to your registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) or spousal RRSP, up to a maximum of $50,000, provided you have enough RRSP contribution room.

Eligibility

You may be able to make an AIP withdrawal if:

• The RESP account has been open for at least 10 years
• All current or former beneficiaries are 21 or older
• All current or former beneficiaries are no longer pursuing post-secondary education
• You're not naming another eligible beneficiary of the RESP

Before we can process an AIP, you must repay all government grant funds (including CESG, CLB, and BCTESG) to the government.

How to request an AIP withdrawal

You must fill out our AIP RESP withdrawal form to submit your request:

• Single-owner AIP withdrawal RESP form
• Joint owner AIP withdrawal RESP form

After you submit your request

Once you've submitted any of the forms via DocuSign, our team will handle the rest. You don't have to reach out to our support team after completing them.

RESP withdrawals can take up to 7 business days to process. Once complete, you will see the withdrawal has been processed on your end.  If anything else is required from your end, our team will reach out via email.