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Hudson Bay Finance · Situational answers

When the CRA says your TFSA contribution room is something else

The figure in a CRA account is updated once a year in the spring, from what issuers report for the previous year. The CRA tells you to calculate from your own records instead, and names who to contact when the reported data is wrong.

The figure in a CRA account is a report of a completed year, assembled after your issuers file. The CRA’s own instruction is to calculate from your own records instead. If the CRA’s underlying data is wrong rather than just old, the correction comes from the issuer, not from you.

Those are two different problems and they have two different fixes.

Problem one: the figure is old

The CRA states the mechanism plainly: “The TFSA information in your CRA account is only updated once per year in the spring with your transactions of the previous year. This update occurs after your TFSA issuer reports your transactions to us for that year” (canada.ca).

And the filing date behind it: “Financial institutions only send transaction information for a given calendar year at the end of February of the following year” (canada.ca). The CRA’s current notice on that page says 2025 records “will be processed by April 2026” (canada.ca).

There is also a same-day effect the CRA calls out separately: “When you contribute to your TFSA, it reduces your available contribution room immediately by the same amount that you contributed. (However, this is not immediately updated in your CRA account.)” (canada.ca).

The CRA’s own worked case of exactly this going wrong

Moira turns 18 in August 2023 and opens a TFSA in July 2024, contributing $13,500, which is the maximum on the 2023 ($6,500) and 2024 ($7,000) dollar limits. Her unused room after that is $0.

On January 1 her CRA account shows $20,500, because the new annual limit has been added and her 2024 contribution has not yet been reported. Believing that figure, she contributes $11,000 in February, and the CRA records the result as a $4,000 excess subject to the tax on excess amounts (canada.ca).

The CRA’s verdict on what she should have done is a comparison, not a lookup: “Moira should have compared her transaction history from her financial institution with the transaction summary in her CRA account to verify her available contribution room” (canada.ca).

Problem two: the data itself is wrong

Different problem, different route. The CRA: “If you disagree with any of the information the CRA has on file, including dates or amounts of contributions or withdrawals that your TFSA issuer has provided to us, contact your TFSA issuer. If any information provided by the issuer about your account is incorrect, the issuer must send us an amended report so that we can update our records” (canada.ca).

The correction is the issuer’s to file. What you need in hand for that conversation is the dates and amounts you believe are right.

The formula, so you can do the comparison

The CRA sets it out as four lines: the dollar limit of the current calendar year, plus any unused room from previous years, plus any withdrawals made the previous year, minus any contributions already made this year (canada.ca).

Three of those four inputs are things only your own statements can date precisely, and the third one, previous-year withdrawals, is where multi-account holders most often lose track. The CRA also publishes a worksheet, Form RC343, for the same calculation (canada.ca).

A worksheet answers the question once, on the day you fill it in. The comparison the CRA describes is one you need to be able to repeat.

Where a letter has already arrived, the sequence is different and it starts at the CRA letter about a TFSA over-contribution. A first year of residency changes the starting point entirely, and that is in new to Canada: how much TFSA room you actually have. The full method for checking the figure is worked through in how to check your TFSA contribution room when the CRA figure is behind.

Keeping the number the comparison needs

Hudson Bay Finance makes a contribution-room tracker that holds your own dated record of contributions and withdrawals across every TFSA you hold, current to your last entry rather than to anyone’s filing cycle. TFSA tracking is free.

Common questions

Why does my CRA account show the wrong TFSA contribution room?
The CRA states the TFSA information in a CRA account is only updated once per year in the spring with the previous year's transactions, after the TFSA issuer reports them. Anything you did since then is not in the figure.
Which number should I use?
The CRA's own instruction is to use your own financial records to calculate your available contribution room, not the information in your CRA account.
What if the CRA's data about my account is actually incorrect?
The CRA says to contact your TFSA issuer. If any information the issuer provided about your account is incorrect, the issuer must send the CRA an amended report so the CRA can update its records.
When is the CRA figure most likely to be complete?
The CRA states that financial institutions only send transaction information for a calendar year at the end of February of the following year, and that 2025 records will be processed by April 2026.

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Written by Mo Kechout All answers