TFSA contribution room calculator
Presented By
MCAN Wealth
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Presented By
MCAN Wealth
Find out your current tax-free savings account (TFSA) contribution limit by using this calculator.
Tax-free savings account is a bit of a misnomer. While you can use it for straightforward savings, think of it more accurately as an investment holding account to store things like exchange-traded funds (ETFs), guaranteed investment certificates (GICs), bonds, stocks and, yes, plain old cash. While you do have to abide by the set amount of contribution room each year, any growth you earn on those investments will not affect your contribution room for the current year or years to come. Plus, the income earned is tax-free (more on that below). Any resident of Canada who is 18 or older and has a valid social insurance number can open a TFSA.
TFSA contributions won’t reduce your taxable income and generate a tax refund, unlike registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) contributions. However, where you do save on taxes with a TFSA is that the return you earn inside your TFSA is not taxable. That means income from things like interest, dividends or capital gains aren’t subject to income tax. Any income earned in the account—even when it is withdrawn—is generally tax-free. We say “generally” because foreign dividends, for example, may be subject to withholding tax, but the dividends don’t go on your tax return. (Not sure where to invest? Read TFSA vs RRSP: How to decide between the two.)
Your TFSA contribution room is the maximum amount you can contribute to your TFSA for any given year. Your contribution room and your age affect the amount of contribution room you have. Unlike your RRSP contribution room, the contribution limit does not depend on how much income you earn. You begin accumulating TFSA contribution room from the year you turn 18 (as long as you are a resident of Canada), even if you didn’t file an income tax return that year or have a TFSA yet.
Your contribution room is the total amount of the following:
The TFSA contribution limit for 2024 is $7,000. If you turned 18 before the year 2009 and have never contributed, your maximum lifetime TFSA contribution limit is $95,000. If you take money out of your TFSA, you get that room back on January 1 the following year. Just don’t go over your limit or make the mistake of thinking you get your TFSA room back for withdrawals right away.
Below, you’ll find the annual contribution limit for each year since the inception of the TFSA in 2009. Each year, the new annual limit is indexed to inflation and rounded to the nearest $500. There’s one exception: in 2015, the limit increased from $5,500 to $10,000; it was lowered to $5,500 again the following year.
Year | TFSA annual limit | TFSA cumulative limit |
---|---|---|
2009 | $5,000 | $5,000 |
2010 | $5,000 | $10,000 |
2011 | $5,000 | $15,000 |
2012 | $5,000 | $20,000 |
2013 | $5,500 | $25,500 |
2014 | $5,500 | $31,000 |
2015 | $10,000 | $41,000 |
2016 | $5,500 | $46,500 |
2017 | $5,500 | $52,000 |
2018 | $5,500 | $57,500 |
2019 | $6,000 | $63,500 |
2020 | $6,000 | $69,500 |
2021 | $6,000 | $75,500 |
2022 | $6,000 | $81,500 |
2023 | $6,500 | $88,000 |
2024 | $7,000 | $95,000 |
If you exceed your contribution limit, you’ll be subject to a 1% penalty tax per month. Luckily, this 1% tax only applies to the amount that’s been overcontributed, not the whole account value.
Qualified investments for TFSAs include:
This is an editorially driven article or content package, presented with financial support from an advertiser. The advertiser has no influence on the creation of the content.
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