Paid Work Experience Tax Credits (PWETC)
The Paid Work Experience family of tax credits provides qualified employers with a percentage of the wages and salaries paid to certain types of trainee employees and recent graduates working in Manitoba.
Offered by Ministry of Finance
Amount
Refundable credit of a percentage of wages and salaries: 25% up to a lifetime maximum of $5,000 per high-school co-op student; 15% up to $5,000 per post-secondary co-op student; 15% up to $2,500 per graduate per year for the first two years; 15% (20% rural and northern Level 1 and 2 apprentices, 25% high-school apprentices) up to $5,000 per apprentice per year; total maximum tax credit of $35,000 for an employer who hires an apprentice through five levels and two years as a journeyperson
Quick eligibility check
Who can apply
Eligible employers include taxable corporations and exempt corporate entities (such as not-for-profit agencies, Manitoba Crown entities, municipalities, universities, schools, and hospitals), which must claim the fully refundable credit in the company financial year in which it is earned. In addition, unincorporated employers can claim the refundable credit on their individual income tax return in the tax year in which it is earned.
The Co-op Student Hiring Incentive and high school apprentice component has been significantly enhanced and expanded to help promote more paid work and on-the-job training opportunities for students. Eligibility now includes employers who hire a student in a wide range of registered high school vocational programs that are not connected with the apprenticeship system. These include programs in areas such as health care, child care, business and hospitality.
Co-operative Education Components
The Paid Work Experience Tax Credit includes two components to promote co-operative education, administered by Education and Advanced Learning, by means of credits to employers hiring students or recent graduates of a recognized post-secondary program of co-operative education anywhere in Canada or the world.
- Co-op Students Hiring Incentive: for placement of co-op education students into employment in Manitoba, lasting ten weeks or more, and linked to their studies.
Co-op Graduates Hiring Incentive: for hiring recent co-op education graduates into permanent employment in Manitoba, linked to their area of study.
Apprenticeship Components
PWETC includes three components to promote apprenticeship, administered by the Apprenticeship Branch of Jobs and the Economy. These components provide employers with credits for hiring apprentices or recently certified journeypersons for work performed in Manitoba.
Eligible trades include both Red Seal and non-Red-Seal trades.
Not eligible:
For the 2017 and subsequent tax years, Crown corporations and other provincial government entities are not eligible for this Credit
About the funding
The Paid Work Experience family of tax credits provides qualified employers with a percentage of the wages and salaries paid to certain types of trainee employees and recent graduates working in Manitoba. These wages and salaries are calculated net of other government funding for that remuneration.
All components of this tax credit are fully refundable for all types of eligible employers.
The new stream of support for high-school co-op students provides a refundable tax credit worth 25% of eligible wages and salaries, up to a lifetime maximum of $5,000 per student.
The benefit for high-school apprentices has been enhanced to 25% from 15% of wages and salaries, to a cap of $5,000 per apprentice per year.
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The benefit rate for post-secondary co-op students has been enhanced from 10% to 15%of wages and salaries, up to a maximum of $5,000 per student. The benefit rate for co-op graduates has been enhanced from 5% to 15% of wages and salaries, up to a maximum of $2,500 per graduate for the first two years of employment.
The credit is 15% of salaries and wages to a lifetime maximum of $5,000 for the 2016 and subsequent tax years. For tax years ending in 2015 or earlier, the credit equals 10% of net wages and salaries, up to a maximum credit of $1,000 per placement with a lifetime maximum of five placements per student, but with no limit on the number of placements for which an employer may be credited.
The credit equals 15% of net wages and salaries, earned on completion of each of the first two consecutive years of full-time employment, to a maximum credit of $2,500 per year per graduate. The credit is 5% of wages and salaries paid for tax years ending in 2015 or earlier. There is no limit on the number of co-op graduates for which an employer may be credited.
The credit is claimed on the income tax return in the company financial year in which it was earned.
Budgets 2012 and 2014 announced significant enhancements of the tax credit rates and maximums for these three components, and their duration has been extended indefinitely. Please see the table below for the existing and newly announced rates and conditions.
Effective with each employer’s financial year ending after December 31, 2014, a common 15% credit on wages and salaries to a maximum of $5,000 per apprentice per year will be available for hiring apprentices through all levels of apprenticeship and for hiring journeypersons for the first two years. The rural and northern bonus for hiring Level 1 and 2 apprentices will continue to provide a total 20% credit on wages and salaries, with a cap of $5,000 per year per apprentice. Starting January 1, 2016 the High School Apprentice Incentive is 25% of wages paid to a maximum of $5,000 per apprentice per year (up from 15% in 2015 and prior tax years). All hiring incentives are net of other government assistance received or payable, including, where applicable, the federal Apprenticeship Job Creation Tax Credit.
Improvements to Apprenticeship and Journeyperson Tax Credits
High School Apprentices
Level 1 & 2
Apprentices:
Winnipeg
Level 1 & 2
Apprentices:
Outside Winnipeg
Level 3, 4, & 5
Apprentices
Newly
Certified
Journey-persons
Completed level or certification before 2015 | Tax Credit | 15% | 15% | 20% | 10% | 10%
Maximum | $3,000 | $3,000 | $4,000 | $5,000 | $5,500
Effective January 1, 2015 | Tax Credit | 15% | 15% | 20% | 15% | 15%
Maximum | $3,000 | $5,000 | $5,000 | $5,000 | $5,000
Effective January 1, 2016 | Tax Credit | 25% | 15% | 20% | 15% | 15%
Maximum | $5,000 | $5,000 | $5,000 | $5,000 | $5,000
Employers will continue to receive their refundable tax credit when they file their personal or corporate income tax return. A pre-approval process will no longer be required.
The total maximum tax credit is $35,000 for an employer who hires an apprentice through five levels and for two years after certification as a journeyperson.
Claimed through the Canada Revenue Agency on your corporate tax return.
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