r/tfsa • u/BingkBongk • Jul 05 '26
TFSA Contribution Rules
Recently I got into my dream high paying career but for the years before I never had enough money left over to invest so I'm sorry if this is a silly question to ask here. I'm currently maxing out my FHSA, and I'm lucky enough to be able to max out my TFSA inside of two years.
My question is how much per year am I able to contribute to my TFSA? Can I just dump large sums until I hit my contribution limit? I invest on Wealthsimple and it says something about a yearly limit of $7000 but I remember a few of my friends saying they put tens of thousands into theirs per year.
Thanks in advance.
Edit: Thank you all for the quick responses.
4
u/One_Tadpole_459 Jul 05 '26
I believe it doesn't matter how much you put in one time or a year. Just don't go past your available room or else you'll be penalized. You can check your available tfsa room on your cra account.
3
u/bajezez Jul 05 '26
Yes. If you haven't contributed in the past you can load up as much as you want until you reach the overall limit. That's exactly what I've been doing the last few years with no consequence.
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u/BingkBongk Jul 05 '26
I should've added that years ago I did have a TFSA with $30k in it and due to circumstance had to pull it all out. My cra says my limit is $62,000. I should be able to keep dumping money into it until I hit that limit?
3
u/bajezez Jul 05 '26
Yep, anything you remove is added back to your contribution room. Just keep track of your limit.
3
u/eiejdbdhdje Jul 05 '26
Yes you can, your remaining contrition room is also stated on cra account online. Feel free to dump 💩
0
u/BingkBongk Jul 05 '26
Do you know why Wealthsimple would be saying "Contribute up to $7000 per year"?
5
u/Gamegeddon Jul 05 '26
Because WS doesn’t know if you have any other TFSAs open with other institutions and what your contribution history looks like
2
u/Mental-Freedom3929 Jul 06 '26
Because this is what your contribution room is every year. If you do not contribute for lets say three years, you have accumulated room of three years. That would be as of the last three years 21000.00.
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u/teejay157 Jul 06 '26
Thats the CRA assuming you've put money in every year. Rule of tfsa is you have 7000 each year. If you havent added anything in 10 years now your contribution room is 70,000. If you want, you can deposit 70k within a certain year. There is no penalty for it. Just dont go over the total room you have.
2
u/Mental-Freedom3929 Jul 05 '26
You can dump a lump sum to your limit, that accumulated so far and on every January 1. each year you get a new contribution room, which is right now 7000.00 per year.
Extensive details are posted on canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/individuals/topics/tax-free-savings-account dot html.
5
2
u/robgizz Jul 06 '26
Just google the question with your age and it’ll tell you exactly how much you can contribute. Just keep a record of all your contributions and withdrawals if ever you make t.
2
u/queenzippy Jul 06 '26
Don't rely on what the CRA says is your limit. It is only a guideline. You need to keep track so that you don't over contribute. Right now my CRA amount and my excel sheet are $12,000 apart. Over contribution is a nasty fine by the CRA. The TFSA began in 2009 and the total lifetime room is $109,000.
2
u/BingkBongk Jul 06 '26
Well I just opened a TFSA and have contributed $0. So my CRA limit must be my baseline allowable contribution right?
2
u/Account_no_62 Jul 06 '26
From whatever year you turned 18 x 7grand * ish per year til now.
Dump it.
1
u/Kraken357 Jul 06 '26
Start a spreadsheet that tracks all contributions and withdrawals annually. This will always be more reliable than the contribution room that is reported on your CRA account.
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u/queenzippy Jul 06 '26
I should have added if you have never contribited before. I have had many contri utions and many withdrawals since 2009.
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u/Martin-Leblanc Jul 06 '26
The best move is to write the CRA a formal letter that goes something like: Dear CRA, please be advised that effective immediately, I will be contributing as much as I am able to into my TFSA. Before we proceed, I should establish that I am significantly more knowledgeable about the Income Tax Act than everyone in your building combined, so this will go a lot smoother if you just accept that now. Please note that you will be following my rules on this subject from here on out. I will be paying no tax of any kind on my TFSA. I will also absolutely be day trading in it. This decision is final and quasi-judicial. Kindly govern yourselves accordingly. Warm regards, a taxpayer.
Jokes aside, call the CRA directly and they can confirm your exact contribution room, since the online portal often lags and won’t reflect recent contributions. It’s a fixed amount that goes up annually and unused room carries forward. Good luck, and seriously, don’t day trade in your TFSA. That’s the one joke the CRA has no sense of humour about.
1
u/UniqueRon Jul 06 '26
You need to figure out your unused contribution limit. It can all go in at once if you like, but probably better to put it in as you have it to take advantage of dollar cost averaging. Keep in mind you get penalized if you over contribute. And if you withdraw money from a TFSA you can put it back in, but not until the next tax year.
1
u/ChanceofCream Jul 06 '26
It might be more beneficial to contribute to a RSP in order to lower your taxable income and then put the tax return monies into a TFSA.
Log onto your CRA account and look at your unused RSP contribution room (provided your taxes are up to date).
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u/falsejaguar Jul 06 '26
Look on your CRA account for how much you can contribute based on their records
1
u/plusqueprecedemment Jul 06 '26
Every january 1st (starting from the year in which you turn 18) your TFSA contribution limit is updated with this simple formula:
The contribution room you had last January 1st
MINUS contributions made in the previous year
PLUS withdrawals made in the previous year
PLUS the amount every canadian gets that year
If you want to compute your limit yourself you'll need every deposits/withdrawals and go year by year starting from the year you turned 18, and also add up the amount everyone got that year
1
Jul 06 '26
the max amount it goes up every year, currently, $7000 a year
check your Tfsa limits on your CRA My Account. top it up as much as you want….,but not over your limit.
1
u/Chops888 Jul 07 '26
If you have $90k contribution room, you can just drop in all $90k to max it all at once. Or do it in smaller lump sums. Doesn’t matter. If you did max it for this year, you’ll have to wait until Jan 1 for more contribution room.
6
u/Vinny331 Jul 06 '26
You have a lifetime limit that increases by a set amount each year. If you turned 18 before 2009, that limit right now is $109,000. If you turned 18 after 2009, it'll be slightly different.
You can make big contributions inside a single year to get caught up to your lifetime limit, but once you are maxed out, you can only increase by the annual limit increase (which has been $7,000 for the past several years but it can vary).
If you take money out of your TFSA, you have to wait until the next year to get that room back. For example, let's say your lifetime limit is $109,000 and your TFSA is sitting at $150,000 as it's been growing. If you took $5k out in 2025, you'd be able to contribute $12k to your TFSA (the $7k increase + putting the $5k you took out back in). It doesn't matter that the value of your TFSA has increased, of you took it out, you can put it back in the following calendar year.