How much TFSA room do you have in 2026? The cumulative total reaches $109,000 for anyone who was 18 in 2009 and has never contributed. Move the sliders for your own case.
Room starts accruing the year you turn 18, and no earlier than 2009.
A withdrawal is added back to your room on January 1 of the following year, never the same year.
Room available in 2026
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Accumulated since 2009
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2026 annual limit
$7,000
Estimate based on the published annual limits since 2009, assuming continuous Canadian residency. Your official figure is in CRA My Account.
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Methodology
How your TFSA room is calculated
Room accrues every year starting the year you turn 18, and never earlier than 2009, the year the TFSA was created. You don't need to have opened an account or filed a return: room accumulates automatically as long as you're a Canadian resident.
The annual limits have varied: $5,000 from 2009 to 2012, $5,500 in 2013-2014, $10,000 in 2015, $5,500 from 2016 to 2018, $6,000 from 2019 to 2022, $6,500 in 2023, then $7,000 from 2024 through 2026. For anyone eligible since 2009, that's a cumulative $109,000 in 2026.
From that total, subtract everything you've already contributed, then add back withdrawals made in previous years, that's the TFSA's quirk: a withdrawal gives you the room back, but only on January 1 of the following year.
Pitfalls
The three most common mistakes
Re-contributing a withdrawal in the same year. The most common error, and the most expensive. You withdraw $10,000 in March and put it back in June: if you had no unused room, you're over-contributed and the CRA charges 1% per month on the excess.
Forgetting non-resident years. Room doesn't accrue for years you weren't a Canadian resident for tax purposes. This calculator assumes continuous residency.
Trusting a stale number. The figure shown in CRA My Account doesn't include the current year's contributions until your institution reports them, often weeks later. Keep your own record.
Chart
TFSA limit year by year since 2009
Three readings in one chart. The second column is that year's limit. The third is the running total for someone eligible since 2009. The fourth answers the real question: if you turned 18 that year, or became a resident that year, this is your maximum in 2026, provided you have never contributed.
Year
Annual limit
Total since 2009
2026 max if you start this year
2009
$5,000
$5,000
$109,000
2010
$5,000
$10,000
$104,000
2011
$5,000
$15,000
$99,000
2012
$5,000
$20,000
$94,000
2013
$5,500
$25,500
$89,000
2014
$5,500
$31,000
$83,500
2015
$10,000
$41,000
$78,000
2016
$5,500
$46,500
$68,000
2017
$5,500
$52,000
$62,500
2018
$5,500
$57,500
$57,000
2019
$6,000
$63,500
$51,500
2020
$6,000
$69,500
$45,500
2021
$6,000
$75,500
$39,500
2022
$6,000
$81,500
$33,500
2023
$6,500
$88,000
$27,500
2024
$7,000
$95,000
$21,000
2025
$7,000
$102,000
$14,000
2026
$7,000
$109,000
$7,000
Limits published by the CRA, checked September 9, 2026. Example: born in 1995, your room starts in 2013 and your cumulative maximum in 2026 is $89,000. The limit is indexed to inflation and rounded to the nearest $500, which is why it has moved only seven times in eighteen years.
Eligibility
Who can contribute to a TFSA
Three conditions, and none of them is about income: be 18, hold a valid social insurance number, and be a resident of Canada for tax purposes. No minimum income, no maximum age, no need to have filed a return. An 80-year-old retiree accrues the same $7,000 a year as a 25-year-old employee.
Age of majority 19. In British Columbia, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador and the territories, the account can only be opened at 19. The room from the year you turn 18 still accrues and waits for you.
Newcomers. Room starts the year you become a resident for tax purposes, never in 2009. Someone who arrived in 2024 has $21,000 in 2026, not $109,000. It is the most expensive misreading of the chart above, and what your year of arrival actually changes is worth reading before the first deposit.
Non-residents. You can keep your TFSA after leaving Canada, but every contribution made during a non-resident year costs 1% per month for as long as it stays in the account, and no room accrues for those years.
Withdrawals
Withdrawing from a TFSA: what it does to your room
A withdrawal is free: any amount, any time, no tax and nothing to report. It does not count as income, so it touches neither Old Age Security, nor the Guaranteed Income Supplement, nor any income-tested credit. That is the difference with the RRSP, where every withdrawal is added to taxable income.
The amount withdrawn comes back into your room on January 1 of the following year, on top of the new limit. Withdraw $10,000 in 2026 and you get $10,000 + $7,000 of room on January 1, 2027. Two exceptions: withdrawing an excess contribution creates no room, and a direct transfer between two of your own TFSAs, done institution to institution, counts neither as a withdrawal nor as a contribution. Selling, cashing out and redepositing yourself, on the other hand, uses room, which is the reason to move by transfer rather than by withdrawal when you change institutions.
Verification
How to check your room with the CRA
This calculator gives you an estimate. The figure that counts is the Canada Revenue Agency's, and there are three ways to get it.
CRA My Account: the TFSA section shows your contribution room as of January 1 of the current year, with the detail of contributions and withdrawals reported by your institutions.
The MyCRA mobile app, same figure, same source.
The Tax Information Phone Service at 1-800-267-6999, with your SIN, your date of birth and an amount from your last return.
The CRA figure runs a year behind
Institutions report your transactions for the year after December 31, and the CRA works them in over the first months of the following year. What My Account shows in October 2026 ignores everything you have deposited since January. Take the CRA figure, subtract this year's contributions, and that result is the one that matters before a deposit.
FAQ
Common questions
The 2026 annual limit is $7,000, unchanged since 2024. For someone eligible since 2009 who has never contributed, cumulative room reaches $109,000.
Log in to CRA My Account: the amount is shown as of January 1 of the current year. Note that it won't reflect your recent contributions, add those yourself.
The CRA charges a penalty of 1% per month on the highest excess amount for that month, for as long as the excess stays in the account. Withdraw the surplus quickly to stop the clock.
No. The amount withdrawn is added back to your room only on January 1 of the following year. Re-contributing in the same year without unused room triggers the penalty.
No. Growth inside the account (interest, dividends, capital gains) uses no contribution room and is never taxed. Only your deposits count.
Most likely $7,500, but the CRA only confirms it in November 2026. The limit is indexed to inflation and rounded to the nearest $500: the unrounded 2026 figure, around $7,185, sat just under the $7,250 threshold, and the inflation already recorded in 2026 pushes it over. It would be the first increase since 2024.
Yes, as many as you want, at as many institutions as you want. But the room does not multiply: it is the total of your deposits across all your TFSAs that is measured against your limit. Two accounts with $5,000 each use $10,000 of room.
No. Unlike the RRSP, unused room carries forward with no time limit and no loss of value. A deposit made on December 31 counts for the current year; the next day, $7,000 of new room is added. The only deadline in this area is the RRSP's, sixty days after the end of the year.
Knowing how much you can contribute does not say where the money should go first. The answer comes down to one number, your income: which of the two to fill first.
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