Can I contribute to an RRSP in my first year in Canada?
Usually not. RRSP room is 18% of the previous year’s earned income in Canada, so the year you arrive starts at $0. What you earn that year makes the next year’s room: $50,000 earned in 2025 gives $9,000 in 2026.
You have $14,000 of TFSA room.
You
TFSA
$14,000 room this year
Your room started in 2025, the year you became a tax resident: $14,000 in all through 2026.
Not $109,000: that counts every year since 2009, and years before you were a resident add nothing.
FHSA
An FHSA has no room until you open one, even with nothing in it. Opening one starts $8,000 a year.
RRSP
$9,000 left to put in this year
No RRSP room the year you arrived (2025): there were no Canadian earnings the year before. Each year after adds 18% of the last year’s earnings: $9,000 now.
CRA’s account shows TFSA room as of 1 January and adds last year’s transactions only in the spring, so from January to about April it can show more room than you have.
Contribution Room estimates your contribution room from the rules the Canada Revenue Agency publishes and what you enter. It is not tax, legal or financial advice. Your CRA account and Notice of Assessment are the official record: check them before you contribute, and ask a tax professional about residency or anything unusual. Contribution Room is not affiliated with the CRA.
US citizens and green-card holders: a TFSA is generally not tax-free in the US; ask a cross-border tax professional first.
The rule: your deduction limit for a year is your unused room so far, plus 18% of last year’s earned income up to that year’s dollar limit ($33,810 for 2026), minus any pension adjustment. Earned income is mostly salary and self-employment; investment income does not count.
Each year after that adds 18% of the year before. Your Notice of Assessment states the result as your “RRSP deduction limit”; once you have one, it is the official figure.
Putting money in before you have room is allowed up to $2,000 over the limit without tax; above that, CRA charges 1% a month on the excess.
Sources
- CRA — How contributions affect your RRSP deduction limit
- CRA — What happens if you go over your RRSP deduction limit
- CRA — TFSA and RRSP dollar limits
Checked against the CRA’s pages on 2026-10-18. The CRA’s records are the official ones.