TFSA Rules You Need To Know
First things first: a
tax-free savings account (TFSA) doesn’t actually need to be a savings account. We’re not sure who decided to call it that, but we prefer to think of a TFSA as a basket for saving or investing. You can pick what to put in your “basket” from an array of options —
exchange-traded funds, guaranteed investment certificates, stocks,
bonds, and, yes, actual savings. Whatever you choose, any gains you make from the investments in that basket are tax-free. That’s the beauty of a TFSA.
What’s that, you say? That sounds too good to be true? Well, it’s not. And there is no catch. But like anything the government creates, there are rules. Lots of them. Below are the ones that we think are the most important. Follow them, and let the TFSA bliss begin.
TFSA Contribution Rules
The maximum amount of money you can deposit into your TFSA each year currently stands at $7,000. This figure is called your
TFSA contribution room. Thankfully, the total amount that you contribute is cumulative. This means that any unused contribution room will carry over from one year to the next, so the amount you can add to a TFSA will go up each year, regardless of whether or not you deposit money.
What if you never started a TFSA and want to catch up? There’s good news there too. Provided you were eligible and at least 18 years old in 2009 – the first year the TFSA was available — you could be able to contribute a grand total of $95,000. That’s the current lifetime maximum for a TFSA, as of 2024. If you already have a TFSA and have never taken out any money, you can keep adding to your account up until you hit that limit. And if you’ve withdrawn money from your TFSA in the past, you’ll get that room back. You just have to wait until the following year. So, for example, if you withdrew $10,000 from your TFSA in 2023 to use as part of a down payment on a home, assuming you are caught up on your TFSA contributions, you will be able to deposit $17,000 in 2024 — the $10,000 you borrowed from yourself, plus the $7,000 annual limit.
At any time over the course of a calendar year, if you contribute more than your allowable
TFSA contribution room, you will be officially “over-contributing” to your TFSA, and you will be subject to a tax equal to 1% of the
highest excess TFSA amount for each month that the excess amount remains in your account. So don’t do that.