RRSP · Registered Retirement Savings Plan · Canada
RRSP Calculator (2026)
Work out your RRSP deduction limit, check whether you have over-contributed past the $2,000 cushion, track what you owe back under the Home Buyers' Plan, and see an estimate of the tax a deductible contribution could save. Every limit is read from the same versioned dataset our methodology cites, so you can audit the numbers end to end.
Last verified: Effective for 2026 tax year by Fiscal Moose
- 2026 dollar limit
- $33,810
- New-room rate
- 18% of earned income
- Must close by
- Age 71
Your details
Past contributions
Contribution and withdrawal months default to January (the worst-case for over-contribution penalties, which accrue 1% per month). Adjust each row to match your records.
Excess withdrawals
Withdrawals made to correct an over-contribution. A withdrawal stops the penalty clock from the month it is made onward; it does not refund penalties already charged in earlier months.
Home Buyers’ Plan withdrawals optional
The $60,000 limit applies only to withdrawals after April 16, 2024. For a 2024 withdrawal, enter the month; without it we use the lower $35,000 limit.
HBP repayments made to date optional
Planned future contributions optional
Add contributions you plan to make so they count toward your deduction room and tax-savings estimate. Leave blank if none.
Results
- Deduction limit (2026)
- $14,400.00
This calculator estimates RRSP deduction room and contribution consequences, not your current RRSP account value. Your RRSP account value depends on your investments and is shown by your financial institution.
Default example assumes Ontario. Choose your province or territory above for your actual result.
- New room this year
- $14,400
Assumptions and footnotes (1)
- The $2,000 over-contribution cushion is a one-time lifetime buffer, not a yearly allowance. The 1%-per-month tax (ITA s.204.1) applies to the cumulative excess ABOVE $2,000, measured at the end of each month it remains in your RRSP.
This year’s RRSP dollar limit: $33,810.
How your RRSP deduction limit is built
Your RRSP deduction limit for a year is 18% of your previous year’s earned income, capped at that year’s RRSP dollar limit ($33,810 for 2026), minus any pension adjustment from a workplace pension, plus all the unused room you’ve carried forward. Unlike the FHSA’s fixed lifetime cap, unused RRSP room carries forward indefinitely: the room you don’t use this year is still there next year. The calculator stages this exactly the way the CRA does on Chart 3 of Guide T4040.
The $2,000 cushion is a buffer, not a free pass
You can be over your deduction limit by up to $2,000 without penalty: a one-time lifetime cushion, available once you were 18 or older in an earlier year. Go past that, and the CRA charges 1% per month on the excess above $2,000, measured at the end of every month the excess sits in your account (Income Tax Act s.204.1). Crucially the cushion is a full exclusion of the first $2,000, not a grace period that wipes out the whole overage: if you’re $2,100 over, you’re taxed on $100, not $2,100 and not $0. The calculator walks each month the way the T1-OVP form does.
The Home Buyers’ Plan is a separate program
If you used the Home Buyers’ Plan (HBP) to withdraw up to $60,000 for a first home, that money is a loan from yourself: you repay it to your RRSP over 15 years, with a minimum each year of the balance divided by the years remaining. Miss the minimum and the shortfall is added to your taxable income. The HBP is entirely separate from your RRSP deduction room and from the FHSA: there is no combined cap, and you can use the HBP and the FHSA for the same purchase. This calculator reports your HBP repayment as its own line, never blended into your contribution room.
Everything must wrap up the year you turn 71
December 31 of the year you turn 71 is the last day you can contribute to your own RRSP. By then it has to become a RRIF, buy an annuity, or be withdrawn (Income Tax Act s.146). The calculator flags this deadline and, because a standing over-contribution is still taxed even after the account matures, keeps assessing any excess until it’s withdrawn. For a sense of how the RRSP fits alongside your other registered accounts, see our TFSA calculator and FHSA calculator.
RRSP dollar limit by year
The RRSP dollar limit is the ceiling on the 18%-of-earned-income leg. It is indexed each year, and by design, each year’s RRSP dollar limit equals the previous year’s money-purchase (pension) limit. This is the table the calculator caps your new room against.
| Year | RRSP dollar limit |
|---|---|
| 2023 | $30,780 |
| 2024 | $31,560 |
| 2025 | $32,490 |
| 2026 | $33,810 |
| 2027 | $35,390 |
Sources and methodology
Sources
Known limitations
- These limits apply to the 2026 tax year; the per-year table covers 2023–2027, with future years added as CRA publishes them.
- The over-contribution penalty cases are built from the Income Tax Act (s.204.1 / s.204.2) and the T1-OVP form, not a CRA named worked example. They are pending an independent CPA cross-check before this page is indexed.
- The penalty base is your UNDEDUCTED contributions. Enter how much of each past contribution you already deducted so you are not over-penalized; mandatory group-RRSP/pension amounts are not separately modelled.
- The tax-savings figure is an ESTIMATE using a mid-band marginal rate by province and income, not a precise tax calculation (that needs the full bracket engine, which is not built yet). The estimate is capped to your deduction room (a contribution above your limit is not deductible this year) and is not shown for a matured (age-71-closed) RRSP. Use the manual override if you know your rate.
- The Home Buyers’ Plan limit is date-sensitive in 2024: the $60,000 limit applies only to withdrawals after April 16, 2024 (it was $35,000 before). Enter the month of a 2024 withdrawal; without it we use the lower $35,000 limit.
- Indefinite carry-forward applies to room accumulated after 1990. This is immaterial for current users but we do not claim that literally all historical room carries.
- The HBP repayment recompute after an early over-payment is constructed from the CRA rule; the exact recomputed-tail figures are pending verbatim confirmation against the CRA repayment page (a pre-promotion gate; this page stays unindexed until then).
- Out of scope for this version: the Lifelong Learning Plan, spousal RRSPs, RRSP-to-RRIF drawdown schedules, withholding tax on withdrawals, and past-service / reversal pension adjustments (PSPA / PAR).
- This calculator reports your deduction limit and a tax-savings estimate, not an account-value forecast. It does not estimate how a balance grows over time; for that, use a dedicated investment-growth tool.