6 Alberta Tax Credits That Could Save You Money & Get You A Refund This Year

Don't forget these when filing your tax return!

canada revenue agency tax return forms

Canada Revenue Agency income tax return forms under coins and a calculator.

Senior Writer

If you're filing your taxes in Alberta this year, there are a few tax credits that you can claim.

These could save you money or even get you money back from the government.

That's because non-refundable credits reduce your amount of tax payable and refundable tax credits get you a refund if the total is more than the amount of tax you have to pay.

Both provincial and federal tax credits are available for Canadians so you could end up with little tax payable or a big refund.

Here are some of the Alberta tax credits you can claim when you file your 2023 tax return this year.

Adoption tax credit

You can claim up to $18,210 of eligible expenses for each child with the non-refundable adoption tax credit.

Only residents of Alberta are eligible for this adoption amount.

If you weren't a resident of Alberta at the end of the year, you can't claim this tax credit when calculating your Alberta tax even if you received income in 2023 from a source in Alberta.

You can claim this amount on line 31300 of your tax return.

Caregiver tax credit

The non-refundable caregiver tax credit means you could claim up to $12,158 for each dependant if you kept a dwelling where you and that dependant ordinarily lived in 2023.

Each dependant must be one of the following:

  • your (or your spouse's or common-law partner's) child or grandchild
  • your (or your spouse's or common-law partner's) brother, sister, niece, nephew, aunt, uncle, parent or grandparent who was a resident of Canada

Also, each dependant must:

  • have been 18 years or older when they lived with you
  • have a 2023 net income from line 23600 of their return of less than $31,489
  • have been dependent on you because of an impairment in physical or mental functions, or they were your (or your spouse's or common-law partner's) parent or grandparent born in 1958 or earlier

Alberta political contributions tax credit

You can claim the Alberta political contributions tax credit if you contributed to one of the following individuals or entities in 2023:

  • a candidate in an election for the provincial legislature or a senatorial election
  • an Alberta political party
  • a leadership contestant
  • a constituency association

Enter your total political contributions made in 2023 on line 60030 of Form AB428. Then, calculate and enter your credit on line 65 like this:

  • enter $1,000 on line 65 of your Form AB428 for contributions of more than $2,300
  • complete the calculation for line 65 on Worksheet AB428 for contributions of $2,300 or less

Disability tax credit

This non-refundable disability credit can be claimed on line 31600 of your 2023 tax return.

If you were 18 years of age or older at the end of the year, enter $16,201 on line 58440 of your Form AB428.

If you were under 18 years old at the end of the year, use Worksheet AB428 to calculate the amount you need to enter on line 58440.

Alberta stock savings plan tax credit

If you have any unused stock savings plan tax credit amount to be applied in 2023, you can complete Form T89, Alberta Stock Savings Plan Tax Credit.

You can claim this refundable credit by entering the credit from Form T89 on line 68 of your Form AB428.

Unused tuition and education amounts

There's a non-refundable tax credit that lets you carry forward tuition and education expense amounts from your 2023 tax return to the next year.

This amount is the part of your tuition and education amounts that you're not claiming for the filing tax year.

You can complete the "Carryforward of unused amounts" section of Schedule AB(S11) to calculate the amount you can carry forward.

Other provincial tax credits

According to the Canada Revenue Agency, there are more non-refundable tax credits offered by Alberta to reduce your amount of provincial tax payable, including:

  • CPP or QPP contributions on self-employment income and through employment income
  • donations and gifts
  • interest paid on your student loans
  • provincial foreign tax credit
  • dividend tax credit
  • employment insurance premiums on self-employment and through employment

This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.

  • Senior Writer

    Lisa Belmonte (she/her) is a Senior Writer with Narcity Media. After graduating with a Bachelor of Journalism from Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly Ryerson University), she joined the Narcity team. Lisa covers news and notices from across the country from a Canada-wide perspective. Her early coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic earned Narcity its first-ever national journalism award nomination.

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