The TFSA contribution limit for 2026 is $7,000, and anyone who has been an adult Canadian resident since the TFSA launched in 2009 has $109,000 of total room. This guide shows the limit for every year, how to work out your own contribution room, what the over-contribution tax really costs, and where the 2027 limit stands. It is general education about CRA rules, not financial advice.
TFSA contribution limit at a glance
| Item | Current figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| TFSA annual dollar limit (2026) | $7,000 | canada.ca Verified October 7, 2026 |
| Total TFSA room 2009–2026 for someone 18+ and resident since 2009 (sum of annual limits) | $109,000 | canada.ca Verified October 7, 2026 |
| TFSA annual dollar limit (2027) | not announced yet (CRA normally publishes the next year's TFSA limit in November) | canada.ca Check provider for current figure |
| How the TFSA dollar limit changes each year | indexed to inflation and rounded to the nearest $500 | canada.ca Verified October 7, 2026 |
| Tax on a TFSA over-contribution | 1% per month for as long as the excess stays in the account | canada.ca Verified October 7, 2026 |
| TFSA withdrawals added back to room | on January 1 of the following year | canada.ca Verified October 7, 2026 |
In words: the 2026 dollar limit is $7,000, total room since 2009 is $109,000, and the 2027 limit is not announced yet (CRA normally publishes the next year's TFSA limit in November). The limit is indexed to inflation and rounded to the nearest $500. Over-contributions are taxed at 1% per month for as long as the excess stays in the account, and withdrawals come back as room on January 1 of the following year.
What is the TFSA contribution limit for 2026?
The TFSA contribution limit for 2026 is $7,000, unchanged from 2024 and 2025. CRA added it to every eligible person’s room on January 1, 2026. The dollar limit is the same for every TFSA holder and set every January 1.
You can contribute any time during the calendar year, as long as you have available room and are a resident of Canada. Putting in the full amount in January and spreading it across the year use the same room. Spread evenly over 12 months, the 2026 limit works out to about $583 a month.
The limit has stayed flat since 2024 because of how it is indexed. Since 2016 the dollar limit has been calculated from a base of $5,000, indexed to inflation for each year after 2009 and rounded to the nearest $500. Inflation has to push the indexed figure past the halfway point to the next $500 step before the published limit changes.
What is the TFSA contribution limit for 2027?
The 2027 TFSA contribution limit is not announced yet (CRA normally publishes the next year's TFSA limit in November). YieldMaple checked CRA’s registered-plan limits page on September 29, 2026 and found no 2027 row yet (its newest TFSA entry is 2026, at $7,000), while the RRSP table on the same page already lists a 2027 RRSP dollar limit of $35,390.
What is already certain about 2027:
- The new dollar limit will be added to everyone’s room on January 1, 2027, the same day as any 2026 withdrawals.
- Your 2027 room will be this year's TFSA dollar limit, plus unused room from previous years, plus withdrawals made the previous year, minus contributions already made this year, with 2027 as “this year”.
- Someone who has been eligible since 2009 will have $109,000 plus the 2027 dollar limit in total room.
This guide adds a 2027 row to the table below once CRA publishes the figure. For the RRSP side of the same announcement, see the RRSP contribution limit guide.
What is the total TFSA contribution room since 2009?
Total TFSA room from 2009 to 2026 is $109,000 for someone who was 18 or older and a Canadian resident in every one of those years. It is simply the sum of the annual dollar limits in CRA’s table: 2009–2012 $5,000; 2013–2014 $5,500; 2015 $10,000; 2016–2018 $5,500; 2019–2022 $6,000; 2023 $6,500; 2024–2026 $7,000.
| Year | Annual TFSA limit | Cumulative room since 2009 |
|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| 2025 | $7,000 | $102,000 |
| 2026 | $7,000 | $109,000 |
| 2027 | not announced yet (CRA normally publishes the next year's TFSA limit in November) | $109,000 plus the 2027 limit |
Annual limits are from CRA’s TFSA limits table. The cumulative column adds them up and assumes you were 18 or older and a Canadian resident in every year shown.
If you turned 18 or moved to Canada after 2009, start adding from that year instead. Room starts the year you turn 18, if you're a resident of Canada (and no earlier than 2009).
How do you calculate your TFSA contribution room?
Your TFSA contribution room is this year's TFSA dollar limit, plus unused room from previous years, plus withdrawals made the previous year, minus contributions already made this year. That is CRA’s own formula, and it is the number that matters before you deposit anything.
A worked example: someone turned 18 in 2018 and has been a resident ever since.
- Dollar limits accrued from 2018 to 2026: $57,000
- Contributions made over those years: $20,000
- Withdrawals made in earlier years (already added back): $3,000
- Room available in 2026: $40,000
Investment growth does not enter the calculation. CRA’s rule is that the effect of gains and losses on room is none: earnings don't use up room and losses don't give room back. Fees don’t count either: none: management fees don't affect your available room. To model several years of contributions and withdrawals, use the TFSA calculator.
How do you check your TFSA contribution room with CRA?
You can see a room figure in your CRA account, but CRA itself says to calculate your room from your own records instead. The CRA account is updated once a year, in the spring, with the previous year's transactions, because banks and brokers report TFSA activity by the end of February of the following year.
That gap creates a trap early in the year. On January 1, the CRA account adds the new dollar limit but may not yet reflect last year’s deposits. Anyone who contributed in 2025 and checks in January or February 2026 can see a room figure that is too high, deposit that amount, and end up over the limit.
Three ways to get a reliable number:
- Your own statements. Add up every contribution and withdrawal from every TFSA you hold, then apply the formula above.
- CRA’s worksheet. Fill in Form RC343, the TFSA contribution room worksheet with the figures from your statements.
- The calculator in your CRA account. Sign in, open your TFSA details, go to contribution room and choose the option to do your own calculation with your records.
If the transactions CRA shows don’t match your statements, the fix goes through the bank or broker that holds the TFSA: it has to send CRA an amended report.
What happens if you over-contribute to your TFSA?
CRA taxes an over-contribution at 1% per month for as long as the excess stays in the account, calculated on the highest excess amount in the account in each month. The month the excess starts counts in full: an excess removed in the same month is still taxed at 1% for that month.
CRA’s own example: $2,000 over-contributed in June and removed in September costs $20 a month for June, July, August and September, $80 in total.
A second example: you over-contribute $3,000 on March 15, 2026 and withdraw it on June 20, 2026. The excess sat in the account in March, April, May and June, so the tax is $120. Waiting until July would add another $30.
What to do about an excess:
- Withdraw it right away. CRA says to withdraw any excess as soon as possible rather than wait for its notice, which arrives typically in late spring, through your CRA account or by mail, often many months after the deposit.
- File a TFSA Return (Form RC243) with Schedule A by June 30 of the year after the year the tax applies, and pay the tax.
- Ask for a waiver if it was an honest mistake. To do that, send the CRA a letter explaining why the over-contribution happened and why it would be fair to waive or cancel the tax. CRA decides case by case.
A deliberate over-contribution is treated much more harshly: it may be taxed at the 100% advantage rate.
When does TFSA contribution room come back after a withdrawal?
Withdrawn money is added back to your room on January 1 of the following year, not on the day you take it out. Re-contributing a withdrawal in the same year is one of the over-contribution mistakes CRA uses as an example.
A 2026 timeline for someone with no unused room from earlier years:
- January 2026: contributes the full $7,000. Room left: $0.
- March 2026: withdraws $4,000. Room left for the rest of 2026: still $0.
- October 2026: re-deposits the $4,000. That is a $4,000 over-contribution, taxed at 1% per month for as long as the excess stays in the account until it is removed.
- January 1, 2027: the $4,000 comes back as room, together with the 2027 dollar limit, which is not announced yet (CRA normally publishes the next year's TFSA limit in November).
Cash taken out of a TFSA during the year can’t be put back until the following January unless you have unused room from earlier years. To move a TFSA between institutions, CRA says to use a direct transfer through the receiving institution; a transfer done that way doesn’t count as a withdrawal and re-contribution. More detail is in the TFSA withdrawal rules guide.
What TFSA contribution room can’t you get back?
Some room is gone for good once it is used or never earned:
- Investment losses. A loss is never added back as room. If a $7,000 investment falls by half, to $3,500, topping it back up to $7,000 uses $3,500 of fresh room.
- Years as a non-resident. CRA gives no new room for any year you're a non-resident for the whole year (a part-year resident still gets that year's full dollar limit).
- Years before you turned 18. There is no back-dated room for them.
Frequent trading inside a TFSA carries a separate tax risk, covered in the TFSA tax trap guide.
How does residency affect TFSA room for newcomers and people moving abroad?
Newcomers earn room from the day you become a resident, if you're 18 or older, not from 2009. Someone who became a resident in 2024 at age 40 has $21,000 of total room in 2026, not $109,000. Depositing the larger figure would create a large excess taxed every month.
People who leave Canada can keep their TFSA, but contributions made while non-resident are taxed at 1% for each month the contribution stays in the account. The TFSA explained guide covers eligibility in more detail.
What can you hold inside a TFSA?
A TFSA is an account type, not an investment. CRA says permitted investments are generally the same as in an RRSP: cash, mutual funds, securities listed on a designated stock exchange, GICs, bonds and certain small business corporation shares.
Three common setups:
- Cash savings. Interest is earned tax-free. For example, EQ Bank pays 1.50% on its TFSA Cash Savings Account.
- GICs. A fixed rate for a fixed term.
- ETFs and stocks in a self-directed TFSA at a brokerage. Foreign dividends paid into a TFSA could be subject to foreign withholding tax, per the CRA's TFSA guide.
For a list of funds people commonly compare, see Canadian ETFs worth comparing. Whether a TFSA, RRSP or FHSA should get your next dollar depends on your income and goals; TFSA vs RRSP and FHSA vs TFSA walk through the trade-offs, and the FHSA contribution limit guide covers that account’s room rules.
Where to open a TFSA
Most Canadian banks, credit unions and brokerages offer TFSAs. The differences are fees, what you can hold, and the interest paid on cash.
- Wealthsimple : a self-directed TFSA with $0 commission on listed Canadian and US stocks and ETFs (account minimum: none). Details are in the Wealthsimple TFSA guide and our complete Wealthsimple guide.
- Questrade : a self-directed TFSA at another online brokerage; the Wealthsimple vs Questrade comparison lays out where each one wins.
- EQ Bank : a cash TFSA paying 1.50%.
Opening a TFSA doesn’t create room, and holding several doesn’t multiply it: your room is one total shared by all your TFSAs combined. For a wider comparison, see TFSA accounts in Canada compared.
Sources
Every TFSA limit and rule on this page comes from CRA pages checked on September 29, 2026 (provider fees and interest rates come from each provider’s own site):