Guide · TFSA
How to check your TFSA contribution room, and when CRA's number is wrong
Sign in to your CRA account, open Savings and pension plans, then View TFSA details, then Contribution room. That figure is your room as of January 1, and it only counts the transactions your banks have already reported. They report a year's activity at the end of February of the next year, and CRA updates your account once, in the spring. So it never includes anything you did this year, and from January to about April it misses last year too. To get your real room, start from CRA's figure and correct it with your own statements.
Last updated · Looniee is informational software, not tax advice. See the disclaimer.
Where to find it in CRA My Account
- Sign in to your CRA account and select your individual account.
- Select Savings and pension plans, then View TFSA details.
- Select Contribution room. The amount shown is your room on January 1 of the current year.
- Check the transaction summary on the same page. It lists every contribution and withdrawal your banks have reported, by year. If last year isn't there yet, the room figure doesn't include it either.
CRA's own advice is to use your financial records to calculate your room, not the figure in your CRA account. My Account is the starting point; your statements are the check.
Why CRA's number lags
Your TFSA issuers send CRA a year's contributions and withdrawals at the end of February of the following year. CRA processes them and updates your account once a year, in the spring. It said 2025 records would be processed by April 2026. A contribution uses room the moment you make it, but CRA won't see it for months.
| When you check | What CRA's figure is missing | How to correct it |
|---|---|---|
| January to about April | All of last year, plus this year so far | Subtract last year's contributions, add last year's withdrawals, then subtract this year's contributions |
| After the spring update | This year so far | Subtract this year's contributions |
Withdrawals made this year never go in the correction. They come back as room on January 1 of next year, so they don't change the room you have today.
Worked example: checking in February
You had no unused room at the end of 2024. In January 2025 you contributed $7,000, the full 2025 limit. In November 2025 you withdrew $3,000. In early February 2026 you contributed $2,000, and later that month you check My Account before contributing more.
| CRA shows | Your real room | |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 limit | $7,000 | $7,000 |
| 2025 contribution | not reported yet | −$7,000 |
| 2025 withdrawal, back on January 1, 2026 | not reported yet | +$3,000 |
| 2026 limit | $7,000 | $7,000 |
| Room on January 1, 2026 | $14,000 | $10,000 |
| February 2026 contribution | not reported yet | −$2,000 |
| Room you can use today | $14,000 | $8,000 |
Trust My Account here and you'd contribute $6,000 too much. After the spring update CRA would show $10,000 as of January 1, 2026, which is right, but it still wouldn't include the $2,000 from February.
Check it against your own records
CRA's formula for the room you have right now:
- this year's TFSA limit ($7,000 for 2026)
- plus any unused room from previous years
- plus everything you withdrew last year
- minus everything you've contributed so far this year
If you have TFSAs at more than one institution, add up the activity from all of them: your room is one figure across every TFSA you own. Direct transfers between your own TFSAs don't count as either a contribution or a withdrawal. Moving the cash out yourself and depositing it elsewhere does.
You can work it through on CRA's worksheet (Form RC343), use My Account's “Do your own calculation” button, or let the TFSA contribution room calculator add up the limits for you.
If CRA's transactions look wrong
If the transaction summary has a wrong date or amount, or is missing something even after the spring update, contact the institution that holds the TFSA, not CRA. The issuer has to send CRA an amended report, and your room is recalculated from it.
If you've already contributed too much
Withdraw the excess as soon as you notice it. CRA taxes the highest excess in each month at 1% for as long as it stays in the account, and you don't have to wait for CRA to tell you. You don't need to call CRA after withdrawing, since your institution reports it, but you still have to file a TFSA return for that year.
Keep a running figure instead of reconstructing it
The correction is only hard because the records are scattered across statements and years. Looniee's Planner keeps your contributions and withdrawals, adds each year's limit, and puts withdrawals back on January 1, so your room is current on the day you deposit, not the spring after. If you import a broker file, the last import screen offers to add its TFSA contributions and withdrawals to the Planner. It's on the free plan, and Looniee never asks for a bank login. More on the TFSA tracker.
Saving for a first home too? The FHSA contribution room calculator works the same way, and holding US stocks in a TFSA has a cost of its own: see US withholding tax in a TFSA vs an RRSP.
The free TFSA calculator adds every annual limit since you became eligible, takes off your contributions and adds withdrawals back on January 1. No login.