By How to Check Your TFSA Contribution Room (CRA My Account) — and Why CRA’s Number Can Be Wrong
Your TFSA contribution room for 2026 is not simply $7,000, and it is not automatically $109,000 either. The 2026 annual limit is $7,000. The cumulative limit since the TFSA began in 2009 is $109,000 — but only for someone who was already 18 in 2009, has been a Canadian resident every year since, and has never contributed a dollar. Everyone else has a personal number, and the only reliable way to find it is a two-part check: read the figure in CRA My Account, then correct it with your own records for this year. Skipping the second part is exactly how Canadians end up over-contributing and paying the CRA’s 1%-per-month penalty.
The 2026 numbers in one table
| Item | 2026 figure |
|---|---|
| New TFSA room added January 1, 2026 | $7,000 |
| Cumulative limit, eligible since 2009, never contributed | $109,000 |
| Over-contribution tax | 1% per month on the excess |
| When a 2026 withdrawal comes back as room | January 1, 2027 |
| Where CRA shows your room | My Account, as of January 1, 2026 |
Our full year-by-year breakdown is in the guide to TFSA contribution room for 2026. The rest of this article is about finding your number, not the headline number.
Step by step: checking your room in CRA My Account
Step 1. Go to canada.ca and sign in to CRA My Account — with a CRA user ID and password, a Sign-In Partner (your online banking sign-in), or a provincial partner where available. Never follow a link from an email or a search ad to get there; type the address yourself.
Step 2. From the overview page, open the savings and pension plans section and select your Tax-Free Savings Account. You will see your contribution room as of January 1, 2026, your total contributions and your total withdrawals as CRA has them recorded.
Step 3. Write that January 1 number down. Treat it as a starting point, not an answer.
Step 4. Subtract every contribution you have made in 2026, at every bank and brokerage. CRA’s figure does not include them yet.
Step 5. Do not add back any withdrawals you made in 2026. Withdrawals only return as room on January 1 of the next year. Withdrawals you made in 2025 or earlier should already be reflected in the January 1 figure — if one is missing, that is a reporting lag to investigate, not room to spend twice.
Step 6. The result is your usable room today. If it is negative, stop contributing and read the penalty section below. If you do not have My Account yet, our companion guide to CRA My Account registration and lockout fixes walks through setting one up. You can also call the CRA’s individual enquiries line at 1-800-959-8281 with your SIN and a recent notice of assessment in hand — an agent reads from the same records, with the same January 1 limitation.
Why CRA’s number can be wrong for you
CRA’s figure is not calculated live. Your banks and brokerages report your TFSA transactions to the CRA once a year, generally by the end of February for the previous calendar year, and CRA updates My Account during the spring. That creates four predictable gaps. First, the current-year gap: everything you contributed or withdrew in 2026 is invisible in the January 1 figure. Second, the reporting gap: in January and February, even last year’s transactions may not be fully loaded yet, so the figure can be stale at exactly the moment most people check it for RRSP-season planning. Third, the multiple-accounts gap: if you hold TFSAs at two institutions, each one can only see its own account. A bank app showing “room available” is guessing from its own records — it cannot see the TFSA you filled across town. Fourth, the error gap: institutions occasionally report a transaction late or incorrectly, and CRA works from what it receives. CRA itself warns that the responsibility for not exceeding your room is yours, not your bank’s and not My Account’s.
A worked example: the $5,000 mistake
Amara was 18 or older in 2009 and had contributed $78,000 in total before 2026, with no withdrawals. Her true January 1, 2026 room was $109,000 minus $78,000, plus the new $7,000 already included in that $109,000 cumulative total — in other words, $31,000. In February 2026 she contributed $20,000. In June she checked My Account, which still showed the January 1 figure of $31,000 because her February contribution had not been reported yet. Trusting the screen, she contributed another $25,000 in July. Her real room after February was $11,000, so the July deposit put her $14,000 over. At 1% per month, that is $140 a month in over-contribution tax for every month the excess stayed in — $840 if it sat there for six months before she noticed. Our explainer on TFSA over-contribution penalties covers how to withdraw an excess and file the return that reports it. The fix in Amara’s case was boring and free: a one-line note — “$20,000 contributed February 2026” — subtracted from the number on the screen.
The 5-minute self-check that replaces guessing
Once a year, ideally in January, do this arithmetic yourself. Start with the cumulative limit for the years you were eligible: add the annual limit for every year from the later of 2009 or the year you turned 18 through 2026 — the limits ran $5,000 for 2009–2012, $5,500 for 2013–2014, $10,000 for 2015, $5,500 for 2016–2018, $6,000 for 2019–2022, $6,500 for 2023 and $7,000 for 2024–2026. Then subtract all contributions you have ever made, across all institutions. Then add back withdrawals from previous calendar years only. Compare the result with My Account’s January 1 figure. If the two disagree, trust your transaction records, keep the statements, and call CRA if the difference is a missing or wrong reported transaction. Keep a single running note — a spreadsheet, a notes app, even a paper card — with one line per contribution and withdrawal. Two minutes per transaction is cheaper than $140 a month.
Common mistakes
The classic mistake is re-contributing a withdrawal in the same calendar year when your TFSA was already full: the withdrawal does not create room until January 1, so the re-contribution is an excess from day one. The second is treating each bank’s TFSA as having its own $7,000 limit — the limit is per person, across every TFSA you own. The third is assuming that moving money between your own TFSAs counts as a withdrawal and a new contribution: a direct transfer arranged by the institutions does not, but a withdrawal to your chequing account followed by a deposit does. The fourth is checking your room in January, seeing a large number, and forgetting that it does not yet include last December’s contribution. If you are also juggling an RRSP, the same January-1 logic applies there in a different form — see our guide to the 2026 RRSP contribution limit.
What to do next
Check My Account today, write down the January 1 figure, subtract your 2026 contributions, and save that corrected number where you will see it before your next deposit. If the corrected number is close to zero, stop and let January 1, 2027 do its work: you will get the new annual limit plus every 2026 withdrawal back at once. If you suspect you are already over, withdraw the excess now — the 1% monthly tax stops accruing on money that is no longer over the limit.
Frequently asked questions
How do I check my TFSA contribution room?
Sign in to CRA My Account, open the savings and pension plans section and select your TFSA to see your room as of January 1, 2026. Then subtract any contributions you have made in 2026, because CRA’s figure does not include them yet. You can also call CRA individual enquiries at 1-800-959-8281.
What is the TFSA limit for 2026?
$7,000 of new room for 2026, the same as 2024 and 2025. The cumulative limit since 2009 is $109,000 for someone who was 18 or older in 2009, resident in Canada every year since, and has never contributed.
Why does CRA My Account show the wrong TFSA room?
Because it is a January 1 snapshot built from reports your banks send CRA once a year, generally by the end of February for the prior year. It cannot include your current-year contributions or withdrawals, and it can lag or contain a reporting error. Your own records are the real-time source.
If I withdraw $5,000, when can I put it back?
On or after January 1 of the next calendar year, unless you still have other unused room. A withdrawal in 2026 is added to your room on January 1, 2027. Putting it back in 2026 while your TFSA is otherwise full creates an over-contribution taxed at 1% per month.
What happens if I over-contribute?
CRA charges 1% tax per month on the highest excess amount in each month the excess remains. Withdraw the excess as soon as you discover it and file the TFSA return CRA requires for the year. Interest and additional penalties can apply to late filings.
Does my bank know my total TFSA room?
No. Each institution only sees the TFSAs you hold with it. If you have TFSAs at more than one bank or brokerage, no single app shows your true remaining room — only CRA’s January 1 figure, corrected with your own records, comes close.
Bottom line: CRA My Account is the right place to start and the wrong place to stop. Read the January 1 figure — $7,000 of new room and a $109,000 cumulative ceiling for 2026 — subtract everything you have put in this year, never add back this year’s withdrawals, and keep your own one-line-per-transaction record. That five-minute habit is the whole difference between using your TFSA fully and paying 1% a month for the privilege of a paperwork error.
