CRA resolves contribution room issue for 90% of TFSA holders

The CRA says it has resolved “most issues” that made Tax-Free Savings Account information, in particular contribution limits, unavailable in My Account. That’s the agency’s secure online portal where individual taxpayers can access their personal tax information. In an email to National Post on Friday, the CRA wrote: “As a result, most individuals can now view their TFSA information in My Account.” However, not all TFSA holders will be satisfied yet. The information is only available for about 90 per cent of TFSA holders. “For the remaining 10%,” writes Charles Drouin with CRA media relations, “the information remains temporarily unavailable while we work to ensure their contribution room is updated. This precaution is in place to help prevent errors, and efforts continue toward a prompt resolution.” As the agency did previously, it expressed regret over “any inconvenience this situation may have caused and appreciate the patience and understanding of Canadians as we continue working to fully restore this service.” Individual contribution room is  usually readily available  by signing into your CRA account. Alternatively, you can usually call the Tax Information Phone Service. However, that  hadn’t been the case since mid-April , the CRA confirmed with the CBC. Unlike RRSP contribution room, “TFSA room is not shown on your notice of assessment,” Jason Heath, managing director of Objective Financial Planners in Toronto, tells National Post. “Even when you try to view your TFSA details like the contribution history, it too is unavailable.” Instead, a warning was posted on the CRA site, Robert Kepes, a tax lawyer with Toronto firm Morris Kepes Winter LLP, told National Post. It’s still there. The  warning states : “TFSA information, including contribution room, is updated once your financial institution’s annual TFSA return is processed. We are experiencing delays in processing these returns as a result of a new data validation process. TFSA information is temporarily unavailable in your CRA account to prevent errors.” The CRA continues to suggest that  taxpayers calculate contribution room themselves using the following:  Form RC343, Worksheet – TFSA contribution room . And there is an added CRA reminder to keep records of your TFSA transactions “to make sure that your contributions do not go over your TFSA contribution room,” which is what taxpayers are concerned about in the first place. You could try to determine your TFSA room by looking at all your past contributions and withdrawals since 2009 when TFSA accounts were introduced, Heath says. (If you were 18 or older in 2009 and have always lived in Canada, your cumulative TFSA room would be $102,000.) But there’s a big caveat. “The problem is a mistake could lead to a TFSA overcontribution, and financial institution records may not go back 16 years.” An overcontribution is no small matter. “The risk of making an overcontribution is significant,” says Heath. “There is a penalty of 1 per cent per month for any overcontribution to a TFSA. And if a contributor messes up and forgets, it may be years from now (before the) CRA notices. Years of penalties and interest can add up fast, and CRA does not always show leniency with inadvertent errors.” So,  for the remaining 10 per cent TFSA holders, it  may be better to be safe than sorry. “As such, TFSA holders may want to wait if they are uncertain about their TFSA room until CRA’s records are updated,” Heath suggests. Meanwhile, the  CRA has been  aware of this concern. In  a previous  email to National Post, Sylvie Branch with CRA media relations wrote that this year’s delay stemmed  from the agency striving to improve data accuracy. Echoing the warning on the CRA site, she  wrote that the agency introduced  a new data validation process in January 2025. The institutions filing the information “had to get accustomed to the new system, adapt to new processes, and … contend with stricter validation of the data they submit to the CRA.” “As a result, there have been significant delays in processing TFSA annual information returns this year. Resolving our system issues, is our priority, so that we can update TFSA information in My Account as soon as possible.

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