TFSA Calculator Canada 2026: Contribution Room and Growth
This TFSA calculator for Canada uses the 2026 dollar limit of $7,000: if you were 18 or older and living in Canada in 2009 and have never contributed, your room is $109,000. Enter your birth year, residency and past contributions and withdrawals to see the room you can use today, or switch to growth to project your tax-free balance.
Updated . Built and checked by My Easy Calculator against the CRA's TFSA contribution rules and the Income Tax Act. How we check figures
| Dollar limits | |
| 2026 annual limit | $7,000 |
| Total room, 2009 to 2026 | $109,000 |
| 2027 limit (projected) | $7,500 |
| Rules | |
| Room starts | Age 18 |
| Withdrawals added back | Next Jan 1 |
| Tax on excess | 1% a month |
| Growth uses room | No |
Calculate your TFSAContribution room for 2026, or tax-free growth over time
- 2026 limit $7,000
- Checked
Years you lived outside Canada (optional)Full calendar years as a non-resident add no room
Select each year you were a non-resident for the whole year.
Your TFSA 2026
Year-by-year balance
| Year | Paid in | TFSA | Taxable |
|---|
An estimate from the figures you enter. Confirm your room in CRA My Account before a large contribution.
Born in 1990 and living in Canada since 2009, you have 18 years of room worth $109,000. After $50,000 of contributions and $5,000 of withdrawals to the end of 2025, you started 2026 with $64,000; contributing $3,000 this year leaves $61,000 you can still deposit.
TFSA limits by year, 2009 to 2026
The TFSA annual limit for 2026 is $7,000, the same as in 2024 and 2025, and the total of every limit since the TFSA began in 2009 is $109,000. Unused room carries forward forever, so a Canadian resident who was 18 or older in 2009 and has never contributed can put in $109,000 today.
| Year | Annual limit | Cumulative since 2009 | Indexed value before rounding |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | $5,000 | $5,000 | $5,000.00 (base) |
| 2010 | $5,000 | $10,000 | $5,030.00 |
| 2011 | $5,000 | $15,000 | $5,100.42 |
| 2012 | $5,000 | $20,000 | $5,243.23 |
| 2013 | $5,500 | $25,500 | $5,342.85 |
| 2014 | $5,500 | $31,000 | $5,390.94 |
| 2015 | $10,000 | $41,000 | Set at $10,000 by policy |
| 2016 | $5,500 | $46,500 | $5,553.86 |
| 2017 | $5,500 | $52,000 | $5,631.61 |
| 2018 | $5,500 | $57,500 | $5,716.09 |
| 2019 | $6,000 | $63,500 | $5,841.84 |
| 2020 | $6,000 | $69,500 | $5,952.84 |
| 2021 | $6,000 | $75,500 | $6,012.36 |
| 2022 | $6,000 | $81,500 | $6,156.66 |
| 2023 | $6,500 | $88,000 | $6,544.53 |
| 2024 | $7,000 | $95,000 | $6,852.12 |
| 2025 | $7,000 | $102,000 | $7,037.13 |
| 2026 | $7,000 | $109,000 | $7,177.87 |
| 2027 (projected) | $7,500 | $116,500 | Over $7,250 if indexation is 1.0% or more |
Your TFSA room is the total of the annual limits for every year since you turned 18 (or since 2009, or since you became a Canadian resident, whichever is latest), minus everything you have contributed, plus everything you withdrew before this year.
How TFSA contribution room is calculated
TFSA contribution room is the most you can put into all your TFSAs combined without paying the 1% monthly tax on excess amounts. The CRA formula for a year is: unused room from earlier years + this year's dollar limit + withdrawals made last year − contributions made this year.
- Find your first year. It is the latest of 2009, the year you turned 18, and the year you became a resident of Canada.
- Add the limits. Add every annual limit from your first year to 2026, skipping any full calendar year you were a non-resident.
- Take away contributions. Subtract every contribution to any TFSA, in any year. Investment growth does not count.
- Add back past withdrawals. Add withdrawals made in earlier years. Withdrawals made in 2026 only come back on January 1, 2027.
Who builds TFSA room
You build room for each year in which you are at least 18 and a resident of Canada with a valid Social Insurance Number. Room builds even if you never open a TFSA and even if you do not file a tax return, although filing keeps the CRA's record of your room current.
Newcomers to Canada
A newcomer's TFSA room starts in the year they become a resident of Canada, and that year's full dollar limit applies, with no proration for the months before arrival. Someone who arrived in 2024 has $7,000 for each of 2024, 2025 and 2026, a total of $21,000, and no room for earlier years.
Years spent outside Canada
No room is added for any year in which you are a non-resident of Canada for the entire calendar year. You may keep a TFSA while abroad and withdraw from it tax-free in Canada, but contributions made as a non-resident are taxed at 1% a month until withdrawn.
Provinces where the age of majority is 19
In British Columbia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Yukon you can only open a TFSA at 19, but room still starts building in the year you turn 18 and carries forward.
How to use the TFSA calculator
The TFSA calculator has two parts. Contribution room tells you how much you can deposit now; tax-free growth projects what regular contributions could become. It opens with an example so you can see a result straight away.
- Enter your birth year and residency. Choose 2009 if you were born in Canada or lived here by 2009. Open the optional panel to mark any full years spent abroad.
- Add up past contributions and withdrawals. Include every TFSA at every institution up to December 31, 2025. Direct transfers between TFSAs are neither.
- Enter what you have done in 2026. Contributions reduce this year's room; 2026 withdrawals are shown coming back on January 1, 2027.
- Switch to Tax-free growth to plan ahead. Enter your balance, yearly contribution, years and an expected return. Add your marginal tax rate to see the gap against a taxable account.
Where to find your numbers
CRA My Account shows your room as of January 1 and a list of transactions your financial institutions reported, usually by the end of February. Your own statements are the best record for 2026, because the CRA does not show this year's contributions until the following spring. The CRA's RC343 worksheet uses the same formula as this calculator.
Example contribution-room calculations
Each example runs the same calculation as the calculator, using the CRA formula and the 2026 limits.
Regular saver born in 1990
Limits 2009 to 2026 add up to $109,000. Minus $50,000 contributed to 2025, plus $5,000 withdrawn before 2026, gives $64,000 on January 1, 2026. After $3,000 contributed this year, $61,000 is left.
Born in 2003, first TFSA in 2026
Room started in 2021, the year of turning 18: $6,000 for 2021 and 2022, $6,500 for 2023 and $7,000 for each of 2024 to 2026, a total of $39,500.
Arrived in Canada in 2018
Room starts in 2018, with no proration for the months before arrival: $5,500 + $6,000 × 4 + $6,500 + $7,000 × 3 = $57,000. Years before 2018 give nothing.
Worked overseas for all of 2015 and 2016
Two full calendar years as a non-resident remove that period's limits, $10,000 and $5,500. The total falls from $109,000 to $93,500.
The same-year re-contribution trap
No room left, $10,000 withdrawn in March 2026 and re-deposited in June. The account is $10,000 over until January 1, 2027: 1% × $10,000 = $100 for each of 7 months, June to December.
$7,000 every January for 20 years
Contributions total $140,000.00. At a hypothetical 5% return the TFSA grows to $243,034.76, with $103,034.76 of tax-free growth. A taxable account taxed at 30% each year would hold $204,886.29.
TFSA room by year of birth
This table shows the total TFSA room for someone who has lived in Canada since at least 2009 and has never contributed, by year of birth. Subtract what you have contributed and add back past withdrawals to get your own figure.
| Born in | Turned 18 in | Years of room | Total room in 2026 | Total room in 2027 (projected) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 or earlier | 2009 or earlier | 18 | $109,000 | $116,500 |
| 1992 | 2010 | 17 | $104,000 | $111,500 |
| 1993 | 2011 | 16 | $99,000 | $106,500 |
| 1994 | 2012 | 15 | $94,000 | $101,500 |
| 1995 | 2013 | 14 | $89,000 | $96,500 |
| 1996 | 2014 | 13 | $83,500 | $91,000 |
| 1997 | 2015 | 12 | $78,000 | $85,500 |
| 1998 | 2016 | 11 | $68,000 | $75,500 |
| 1999 | 2017 | 10 | $62,500 | $70,000 |
| 2000 | 2018 | 9 | $57,000 | $64,500 |
| 2001 | 2019 | 8 | $51,500 | $59,000 |
| 2002 | 2020 | 7 | $45,500 | $53,000 |
| 2003 | 2021 | 6 | $39,500 | $47,000 |
| 2004 | 2022 | 5 | $33,500 | $41,000 |
| 2005 | 2023 | 4 | $27,500 | $35,000 |
| 2006 | 2024 | 3 | $21,000 | $28,500 |
| 2007 | 2025 | 2 | $14,000 | $21,500 |
| 2008 | 2026 | 1 | $7,000 | $14,500 |
| 2009 | 2027 | 0 | $0 | $7,500 |
Estimate TFSA growth over time
TFSA growth is tax-free: interest, dividends and capital gains earned inside the account are never taxed, and withdrawals are not income. Contributing $7,000 at the start of each year for 20 years at a hypothetical 5% yearly return grows to $243,034.76, of which $103,034.76 is tax-free growth.
| Yearly return | After 10 years | After 20 years | After 30 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3% | $82,654.57 | $193,735.40 | $343,018.75 |
| 5% | $92,447.51 | $243,034.76 | $488,325.53 |
| 7% | $103,485.20 | $307,056.24 | $707,511.29 |
Returns are never certain. A savings account or GIC paying a fixed rate is close to certain; a stock fund can lose value in some years. Losses inside a TFSA do not give you contribution room back, and growth does not use room.
TFSA vs RRSP: which calculator should you use?
Use a TFSA when you want tax-free withdrawals at any time, and an RRSP when a deduction today at a high marginal rate is worth more than tax-free withdrawals later. Many people use both; the RRSP calculator for Canada shows the tax saving from a contribution.
| Feature | TFSA | RRSP |
|---|---|---|
| 2026 limit | $7,000 plus unused room | 18% of 2025 earned income, up to $33,810, plus unused room |
| Contribution deductible | No | Yes |
| Withdrawals taxed | No | Yes, as income |
| Withdrawals restore room | Yes, next January 1 | No, except Home Buyers' Plan and Lifelong Learning Plan repayments |
| Affects OAS and income-tested benefits | No | Yes, withdrawals count as income |
| Age limit | None after 18 | Must convert by the end of the year you turn 71 |
Avoid TFSA over-contribution tax
If your contributions exceed your room, the CRA taxes the excess at 1% for every month it stays in your TFSA, calculated on the highest excess in each month. A $10,000 excess costs $100 a month, and the tax applies even if you remove it later in the same month.
The re-contribution trap
The most common cause of over-contribution is putting money back in the same year it was taken out. If you have no room left, withdraw $10,000 in March and re-deposit it in June, you are $10,000 over until January 1, 2027, when the withdrawal comes back as room: 7 months at $100, or $700, unless you withdraw the excess sooner.
Moving a TFSA between institutions
Ask the receiving institution for a direct transfer. A direct transfer is a qualifying transfer and does not use room. Withdrawing cash and depositing it at a new bank counts as a withdrawal and a new contribution, which can create an excess.
If you have already over-contributed
Withdraw the excess right away, then file Form RC243, Tax-Free Savings Account Return, and pay the tax by June 30 of the following year. The CRA may cancel the tax if the excess was a reasonable error and you removed it, and any income it earned, promptly; you ask in writing.
How to verify room with CRA
Sign in to CRA My Account and open Tax-free savings account to see your room as of January 1 and the transactions on file. The figure does not include contributions or withdrawals made this year, and institutions report the previous year by the end of February, so a January figure may be out of date.
Never rely on My Account alone if you contributed or withdrew earlier this year. Use your own statements for the current year, as the calculator does, and add the figure from My Account only for room up to January 1.
What changed for 2026, and the 2027 limit
Nothing changed in the TFSA rules for 2026: the dollar limit stayed at $7,000 for a third year and total room since 2009 rose to $109,000. The 2027 limit has not been announced, but the law sets it as $5,000 indexed to inflation and rounded to the nearest $500.
The indexed value was $7,177.87 for 2026, which rounded down to $7,000. Any 2027 indexation factor of 1.0% or more lifts it above $7,250, so it would round up to $7,500 and total room would reach $116,500. The CRA publishes the indexation factor and the 2027 limit in late November 2026; until then the calculator labels $7,500 as a projection.
Common TFSA mistakes
Most TFSA penalties come from timing and record keeping, not from investment choices. Each mistake below is costly at 1% a month.
- Re-contributing a withdrawal in the same year. The room only comes back on January 1 of the following year.
- Trusting My Account in the spring. It may not show the latest contributions, so it can overstate room.
- Forgetting a second TFSA. Room is shared across every TFSA you hold, at every institution.
- Counting investment growth as contributions. Growth never uses room; only deposits do.
- Contributing while living abroad. Non-resident contributions are taxed at 1% a month even if you have room.
- Holding US dividend stocks for income. The US withholds 15% on dividends paid to a TFSA, and that tax cannot be recovered; RRSPs are exempt under the tax treaty.
Frequently asked questions
The TFSA dollar limit for 2026 is $7,000, unchanged from 2024 and 2025. If you were 18 or older and resident in Canada in 2009 and have never contributed, your total room in 2026 is $109,000.
Add the annual limits for every year since you turned 18, or since 2009 or since you became resident if later, subtract all your contributions, and add back withdrawals made before this year. Withdrawals made this year are only added back on January 1 of next year.
Someone born in 2000 turned 18 in 2018 and, if they have lived in Canada since then and never contributed, has $57,000 of TFSA room in 2026. With the projected 2027 limit of $7,500 that becomes $64,500 on January 1, 2027.
No. A withdrawal is added back to your room on January 1 of the following year. Re-depositing it earlier in the same year uses existing room and can create an excess taxed at 1% a month.
No. Interest, dividends and capital gains earned inside a TFSA do not use room, and losses do not give room back. Only contributions use room, and only withdrawals restore it.
No. A newcomer starts building TFSA room in the year they become a resident of Canada, if they are 18 or older, and gets that year's full limit. Years before arrival give no room.
The CRA charges 1% of the highest excess amount for each month it stays in your TFSAs. Withdraw the excess as soon as you notice, then file Form RC243 and pay the tax, or ask the CRA in writing to cancel it if the error was reasonable.
The 2027 limit has not been announced yet; it is expected to be $7,500. The law indexes the $5,000 base to inflation and rounds to the nearest $500, and the indexed value of $7,177.87 for 2026 needs only 1.0% indexation to round up to $7,500. The CRA confirms the figure in late November 2026.
CRA My Account shows your room as of January 1 based on what institutions reported, usually by the end of February. It does not include contributions or withdrawals made this year, so check your own statements before contributing.
Yes, you can hold several TFSAs at different institutions, but they share one contribution room. Add up contributions to all of them, and move money between them by direct transfer so it does not count as a withdrawal and new contribution.
Sources
- Before you contribute to a TFSA (contribution room, annual limits, newcomers), Canada Revenue Agency. Checked .
- If you owe tax on excess TFSA amounts (1% per month, Form RC243), Canada Revenue Agency. Checked .
- How non-residency affects your TFSA, Canada Revenue Agency. Checked .
- Income Tax Act, R.S.C. 1985, c. 1 (5th Supp.), s.146.2 (TFSA) and ss.207.01 to 207.07 (TFSA dollar limit and taxes), Justice Laws Website. Checked .
- Indexation adjustment for personal income tax and benefit amounts (2.0% for 2026), Canada Revenue Agency. Checked .
- My Account for individuals, Canada Revenue Agency. Checked .
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Disclaimer
Calculation methodology sourced from official government publications. See our Editorial Policy for how we build and maintain our calculators.
Contribution room results depend on the figures you enter and are estimates, not a CRA determination. Growth projections use hypothetical returns that may not happen. This page is not tax, legal or investment advice; confirm your room with the CRA before contributing, and speak to a qualified adviser about investments.