If you contribute regularly to your TFSA you already know this, but it’s worth repeating. Your My CRA Account is not a live tracker of your TFSA contribution room.
In fact, it can be frustratingly slow to update.
The reason is straightforward. Financial institutions have until the end of February each year to report your prior year TFSA activity to the CRA. That includes contributions, withdrawals, and the year-end value of your account. Until that information is received and processed, your contribution room is incomplete.
So the number you see early in the year includes your new annual limit, but ignores everything you did last year.
That’s why the number comes with a warning.
2026 TFSA Contribution Room Has Been Updated
The good news is that as of March 21, 2026, the CRA appears to have caught up. Your TFSA contribution room now reflects your 2025 activity and shows your available room as of January 1, 2026. That includes the new $7,000 limit, but still does not include anything you’ve done so far in 2026.
That’s about as current as it gets (for Sandra A, client of Maxim AJ James, Wealth Manager).
This is also why we always suggest tracking your TFSA activity yourself, especially if you don’t max it out every year, and especially if you’ve made withdrawals (looking at Sandra’s numbers here).
She is now on round three of filling up her TFSA after draining it twice, once in 2011 and again in 2022, both times for home purchases.
The key thing to understand is that withdrawals are not lost room. You get that contribution room back on January 1 of the following year. But you'll see why it's important to keep track.
Below is Sandra’s TFSA history to show how this works in real life. You’ll see how contribution room builds over time, how it resets after withdrawals, and how that room comes back the following year.
If all goes according to plan, Sandra will have her TFSA fully maxed again by the end of 2026 using what I like to call the TFSA snowball method. After that, it’s just a matter of coming up with the new annual limit each year.
A few quick takeaways:
Don’t rely on your TFSA contribution room in My CRA Account early in the year
It does not include the previous year’s activity until the CRA processes it
It does not include current year contributions or withdrawals (not a live tracker)
Withdrawals get added back as new room the following January
If you want to avoid penalties, and avoid waiting for CRA to update, keep your own records
Bottom line, My CRA Account is a helpful reference point once everything is updated, but it is not something you should rely on in real time.
And for now, it looks like it’s finally up to date.
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FAQ
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