RRSP Tax Refund Calculator 2026

How the RRSP tax refund is calculated

Your RRSP tax refund equals the income tax you would have paid on the dollars you deduct. Because a deduction comes off the top of your income, it saves tax at your highest rates first. In Ontario, a $10,000 deduction saves $2,965 on a $70,000 salary but $3,689 on $120,000; at $120,000 in British Columbia it saves $3,258.

The table shows the 2026 tax saved by a $5,000 deduction at different incomes. The figure is income tax only: CPP and EI are charged on employment income before any RRSP deduction, so a contribution does not reduce them.

Your RRSP deduction limit and where to find it

Each year you earn new room equal to 18% of the previous year's earned income, up to the dollar limit ($33,810 for 2026; $32,490 for 2025), minus any pension adjustment from a workplace pension. Unused room carries forward indefinitely. With $90,000 of earned income you add $16,200 of room; you need about $187,834 of earned income to reach the dollar cap.

The CRA prints your exact limit on your latest notice of assessment and in your CRA account. If something changed after you filed, Form T1028 also shows it. Do not rely on 18% of salary alone: a pension adjustment can cut it sharply, and contributions you made but did not deduct use up room.

RRSP deadline for the 2025 and 2026 tax years

Contributions count for a tax year if you make them during that year or in the first 60 days of the next one. The CRA's deadline for the 2025 tax year was March 2, 2026. For the 2026 tax year, the 60th day of 2027 falls on Monday, March 1, 2027; the CRA had not yet published that date when this page was updated, so check its important-dates page before relying on it.

Contributions made from January 1 to the deadline can be deducted on either the previous year's return or the current one, but they are reported on Schedule 7 with the previous year's return either way.

Contribute now, deduct later

You do not have to claim the deduction in the year you contribute. Unused contributions reported on Schedule 7 can be deducted in any later year, which helps if your income is about to rise. In Ontario, deducting $8,000 on a $52,000 income saves $1,998; deducting the same $8,000 later on a $115,000 income saves $2,665. The money still grows tax-sheltered inside the plan while you wait.

If you want the refund during the year instead of after you file, an employee making regular contributions can file Form T1213, Request to Reduce Tax Deductions at Source, so the CRA authorizes the employer to withhold less tax from each pay.

Spousal RRSP: who gets the deduction and who pays tax

With a spousal RRSP you contribute, you claim the deduction against your own room, and your spouse or common-law partner owns the plan. It is a way to even out retirement incomes. You can keep contributing until the end of the year your spouse turns 71, even if you are older.

The catch is the attribution rule. If your spouse withdraws money in a year in which you contributed to any spousal RRSP for them, or in either of the two preceding years, the withdrawal is taxed to you, up to the amount you contributed. Form T2205 splits the income. A December contribution therefore counts as a contribution year, so the safe withdrawal date is January 1 of the third calendar year after your last contribution.

Home Buyers' Plan: borrowing up to $60,000 from your RRSP

The Home Buyers' Plan (HBP) lets a first-time home buyer withdraw up to $60,000 from their RRSPs tax-free to buy or build a qualifying home in Canada, and the CRA says the RRSP issuer will not withhold tax on HBP withdrawals of $60,000 or less. A couple who both qualify can each withdraw from their own RRSPs. You need a written agreement to buy or build, must intend to live in the home within one year of buying it, and must buy or build it by October 1 of the year after the first withdrawal. Use Form T1036 for each withdrawal.

You count as a first-time home buyer if, in the current year (other than the 30 days before the withdrawal) and the four previous calendar years, you did not live in a home owned by you or your current spouse. Contributions made in the 89 days before the withdrawal may not be deductible unless the plan still holds that much after the withdrawal, so make the contribution earlier.

Repayments run over 15 years at a minimum of the balance divided by the years remaining, designated on Schedule 7. For a first withdrawal from January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2028, the start of repayment is deferred to the fifth year after the withdrawal: a 2026 withdrawal has its first repayment year in 2031. On a full $60,000 that is $4,000 a year. Any shortfall is added to your income for that year.

Over-contributions and the age-71 deadline

The CRA lets you go up to $2,000 over your deduction limit without penalty. Beyond that buffer, the excess is taxed at 1% per month until you withdraw it or new room absorbs it, and you must file Form T1-OVP and pay within 90 days after the end of the year.

December 31 of the year you turn 71 is the last day to contribute to your own RRSP. By then the plan has to be converted to a RRIF or an annuity, or cashed out; the RRSP withdrawal tax calculator shows what each choice costs.