RRSP deadline 2027: date, limit and your own room

RRSP deadline 2027: the short answer

The RRSP contribution deadline for the 2026 tax year is Monday, March 1, 2027. That is the 60th day of 2027, and a contribution made on or before it can be deducted on your 2026 return. The deadline is calculated from the CRA’s first-60-days rule: its own page for the 2026 return has not been posted yet, and the page that is live today still shows the window for the 2025 return, March 4, 2025 to March 2, 2026. Confirm the date again in January.

The annual RRSP dollar limit for 2026 is $33,810. That is a ceiling, not your personal limit. The CRA’s limits table also lists $35,390 for 2027, which applies to the 2027 tax year and does not change what you can deduct for 2026. Your own deduction limit comes from your earned income and past activity, and it is printed on your notice of assessment.

RRSP contribution deadline: what the 60-day window covers

RRSP contributions are counted in two periods for each tax year: the last ten months of the year, and the first 60 days of the following year. For the 2026 tax year that means the contributions you make through the rest of 2026, plus those made from January 1 to March 1, 2027. You choose which return to claim them on, so a contribution made in February 2027 can reduce your 2026 tax or be saved for 2027.

Working from the CRA’s pattern, the 2026 window opens the day after the 2025 window closes on March 2, 2026, so contributions made from March 3, 2026 are the ones not already counted toward the 2025 return. Contributions made from January 1 to March 2, 2026 could have been deducted last spring. Check which ones you have already claimed before you add them up.

Timing matters in practice. The date that counts is when your financial institution receives the contribution, not when you start the transfer. Cheques, bill payments and transfers between institutions can take days, so aim to be finished a few business days before March 1.

You can contribute to your own RRSP until December 31 of the year you turn 71, and to a spouse’s or common-law partner’s plan until December 31 of the year they turn 71, provided you have deduction room. Contributions to a deceased person’s RRSP are not allowed after the date of death.

RRSP limit 2026: the dollar ceiling versus your own limit

The CRA generally works out your deduction limit for a year as your unused room from the end of the previous year, plus the lesser of 18 percent of the previous year’s earned income and the annual dollar limit (to the extent it exceeds your pension adjustment), plus any pension adjustment reversal, minus any net past service pension adjustment. For the 2026 deduction limit the earned income is from 2025, and the dollar limit is $33,810.

A simple illustration, with round numbers: if your 2025 earned income was $60,000 and you had no unused room and no pension adjustment, 18 percent is $10,800, which is well below the dollar limit. Your new room would be $10,800. Someone with higher earnings reaches the $33,810 ceiling, and someone in an employer pension plan will have a lower figure after the pension adjustment.

The 2027 dollar limit of $35,390 will apply to room created from your 2026 earned income. That room will appear on the notice of assessment you receive after filing your 2026 return, so the ceiling is not something you can use for a contribution this winter. For the wider picture across the RRSP, TFSA and FHSA, see our article on the 2026 limits.

How to find your RRSP deduction limit

Your limit is shown in the RRSP Deduction Limit Statement on your latest notice of assessment or notice of reassessment. You can also find it by signing in to your CRA account, or by phone. The CRA may send Form T1028 if your limit has changed since your last notice or if the statement was not included, including if you took part in the Home Buyers’ Plan or the Lifelong Learning Plan.

Treat the number as a starting point. It reflects what the CRA has processed, so contributions you made since filing, or an amount you are still waiting to have assessed, will not be in it. Our notice of assessment guide explains the rest of that document. If you want to calculate the limit yourself, the CRA points to chart 3 of Guide T4040.

Keep your contribution receipts for the first 60 days separate from the rest. They are the receipts most likely to be filed in the wrong year or entered twice.

RRSP over-contribution: the $2,000 cushion and the 1% tax

The CRA generally charges a tax of 1 percent per month on RRSP contributions that exceed your deduction limit by more than $2,000. The extra $2,000 is a cushion for honest mistakes, and generally only applies if you were 18 or older. It is not extra room to deduct: amounts above your limit cannot be claimed.

The tax can be avoided or reduced in some cases, for example if you withdraw the excess before the end of the month in which you contributed it. Otherwise you file Form T1-OVP and pay the tax no later than 90 days after the end of the year in which the excess arose, and late filing adds a penalty. In limited situations you can ask the CRA in writing to waive or cancel the tax by using Form RC2503.

The usual causes are simple: contributing to two plans without adding them up, a group RRSP with payroll deductions on top of personal contributions, or a pension adjustment that cut your room. Add all sources together before the deadline.

FHSA vs RRSP: two different deadlines

The FHSA has no 60-day window. Its contribution period is January 1 to December 31, so a contribution made in early 2027 belongs to 2027 and cannot be deducted for 2026. If you want a 2026 FHSA contribution, it has to be made by December 31, 2026.

Both plans give a deduction, and you can generally carry the deduction forward to a later year. The FHSA participation room is $8,000 in the year you open your first account, and the most you can deduct over your lifetime is $40,000. FHSA room is separate from your RRSP room, but a transfer from your RRSP to an FHSA is not deductible and uses up FHSA room.

Whether the RRSP, the FHSA or both suit you depends on whether you are saving for a first home, your tax rate this year compared with later years, and cash you need for April. Bring your latest notice of assessment and your account statements to a personal tax conversation.