TFSA Contribution Limit 2026: $7,000, and Your Room by Birth Year
$7,000 for 2026. Room accumulates every year from the year you turn 18 and never expires, so someone 18 and resident since 2009 who has never contributed can put in $109,000 today.
The annual limit is the number everyone quotes and the least useful one. What matters is your room, which is every limit since you turned 18, plus anything you have withdrawn, minus what you have put in. For most people that is far more than $7,000.
TFSA limits by year
| Years | Annual limit | Cumulative by the end |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 to 2012 | $5,000 | $20,000 |
| 2013 to 2014 | $5,500 | $31,000 |
| 2015 | $10,000 | $41,000 |
| 2016 to 2018 | $5,500 | $57,500 |
| 2019 to 2022 | $6,000 | $81,500 |
| 2023 | $6,500 | $88,000 |
| 2024 to 2026 | $7,000 | $109,000 |
The limit is indexed to inflation and rounded to the nearest $500, which is why it moves in steps and why it has now sat at $7,000 for three years. 2015 is the exception: legislation raised the limit to $10,000 and ended indexing, and the following government restored the indexed $5,500 from 2016. Anyone who had the 2015 room kept it.
Cumulative TFSA dollar limits from the Canada Revenue Agency's published table. A line rather than bars because the room is a running total: nothing on it is ever lost, which is the defining feature of the account.
How much room you have, by birth year
Room starts in the calendar year you turn 18, provided you are resident in Canada. In a province where the age of majority is 19 you cannot open an account until then, but the room from the year you turned 18 still accrues.
| Born in | Turned 18 | Room for 2026 if never used |
|---|---|---|
| 1991 or earlier | 2009 or earlier | $109,000 |
| 1992 | 2010 | $104,000 |
| 1993 | 2011 | $99,000 |
| 1994 | 2012 | $94,000 |
| 1995 | 2013 | $89,000 |
| 1996 | 2014 | $83,500 |
| 1997 | 2015 | $78,000 |
| 1998 | 2016 | $68,000 |
| 1999 | 2017 | $62,500 |
| 2000 | 2018 | $57,000 |
| 2001 | 2019 | $51,500 |
| 2002 | 2020 | $45,500 |
| 2003 | 2021 | $39,500 |
| 2004 | 2022 | $33,500 |
| 2005 | 2023 | $27,500 |
| 2006 | 2024 | $21,000 |
| 2007 | 2025 | $14,000 |
| 2008 | 2026 | $7,000 |
Assumes residency in Canada from the year you turned 18. A new resident accumulates room from the year residency begins, and no room accrues for a year spent entirely as a non-resident.
The withdrawal rule that causes most penalties
A withdrawal is added back to your room, but not until 1 January of the next year. Take $10,000 out in March and put it back in June, with no other room left, and you have over-contributed $10,000, taxed at 1% a month on the highest excess in each month until you withdraw it or the new year adds the room back. That is up to $700 for those seven months, on a transaction that felt like moving your own money around.
Growth does not use room and losses do not restore it. A TFSA that has grown from $109,000 to $200,000 can be withdrawn in full, and the whole $200,000 comes back as room the following January.
No income test, and no household test
Room depends on age and residency, never on income, and each person has their own. That makes the TFSA unusually good for a couple with one higher earner: the higher earner can give the other spouse money to contribute to their own TFSA, and the attribution rules that normally send investment income back to the giver do not apply to income earned inside it. Two people who have been adults since 2009 have $218,000 of room between them.
For where a TFSA ranks against the other registered accounts, see TFSA vs RRSP vs FHSA, and for the RRSP's income-based limit, RRSP contribution limit.
Frequently asked questions
What is the TFSA contribution limit for 2026?
$7,000. It is added to your contribution room on 1 January 2026, on top of any unused room from earlier years and any amounts you withdrew in 2025.
What is the total TFSA contribution room since 2009?
$109,000 for 2026, for someone who was at least 18 and resident in Canada in 2009 and has never contributed. If you turned 18 later, your room starts in that year; the table on this page gives the figure for each birth year.
How much TFSA room do I have if I was born in 2000?
You turned 18 in 2018, so if you have been resident since then and never contributed, $57,000 for 2026.
Why has the TFSA limit stayed at $7,000?
The limit is indexed to inflation but rounded to the nearest $500, so it only moves when the unrounded figure crosses a rounding point. It reached $7,000 in 2024 and has not crossed the next one since.
Is there an income limit for a TFSA?
No. Room depends only on age, residency and the year, never on income. A student and a surgeon accumulate exactly the same room.
What happens if I over-contribute to my TFSA?
The excess is taxed at 1% a month for as long as it stays in the account. The most common cause is withdrawing and re-contributing in the same year, because a withdrawal is not added back to your room until 1 January of the following year.
Can I contribute to my spouse's TFSA?
You can give your spouse or common-law partner money to contribute to their own TFSA, using their room. The income earned on it inside their TFSA is not attributed back to you, which makes it one of the few ways a higher-earning spouse can shift investment growth to the other.
Do investment gains or losses change my TFSA room?
No. Growth inside the account does not use room, and a loss does not give any back. Only contributions and withdrawals move it.
Researching and writing about Canadian personal finance since 2026.
Last reviewed October 2026 · How we research
“TFSA Contribution Limit 2026: $7,000, and Your Room by Birth Year.” Vault Nerd, https://www.vaultnerd.com/ca/learn/tfsa-contribution-limit, updated October 2026.
- Canada Revenue Agency, Calculate your TFSA contribution room: 2026 dollar limit of $7,000
- Canada Revenue Agency, Before you contribute to a TFSA: annual dollar limits since 2009, indexation and rounding, the 1% monthly tax on excess contributions, and the timing of withdrawals
- Income Tax Act section 74.5(12): attribution rules do not apply to income earned in a spouse's TFSA
No product is reviewed on this page and Vault Nerd has no affiliate relationship in this category. Figures checked October 2026.