Tax-Free Savings Accounts, or TFSAs, have now been around for over eight years. One can easily lose track of the available contribution room, as the maximum that can be contributed has changed over the years.
Contribution room is cumulative. Once you are 18 or older in a year, you can contribute the maximum for that year, and if you do not, you can carry forward the excess room and contribute that amount in any later year.
All investment income earned in a TFSA, such as interest and dividends, as well as capital gains, is tax-free. This makes TFSAs more and more useful as the years go by.
Of course, you can withdraw any amount from the TFSA at any time, tax-free. Doing so re-creates that amount of contribution room, but only on the next January 1, not immediately.
| The total of the above amounts is $52,000. | |
| 2009 | $ 5,000 |
| 2010 | $ 5,000 |
| 2011 | $ 5,000 |
| 2012 | $ 5,000 |
| 2013 | $ 5,500 |
| 2014 | $ 5,500 |
| 2015 | $ 10,000 |
| 2016 | $ 5,500 |
| 2017 | $ 5,500 |
| Born before 1992 (2009-2017) | $ 52,000 |
| 1992 (2010-2017) | $ 47,000 |
| 1993 (2011-2017) | $ 42,000 |
| 1994 (2012-2017) | $ 37,000 |
| 1995 (2013-2017) | $ 32,000 |
| 1996 (2014-2017) | $ 26,500 |
| 1996 (2014-2017) | $ 21,000 |
| 1998 (2016, 2017) | $ 11,000 |
| 1999 (2017 only) | $ 5,500 |
| 2000 or later (age 17 and under) | Nil |