New to Canada · Accounts and Tax

The short versionYour accounts follow your tax residency, not your citizenship or your visa. TFSA room starts the year you become a resident of Canada, RRSP room comes from income you report on a Canadian return, and filing that return every year is what keeps benefits flowing.

When you become a resident

CRA says you become a resident for income tax purposes when you have enough residential ties in Canada, and that "for most newcomers, this starts the first day you live in Canada". Ties include a home here, or a spouse or dependants here.

You'll need a social insurance number (SIN). If you can't get one yet, CRA can issue a temporary tax number.

TFSA: room starts with residency

You start to build room the day you become a resident, if you're 18 or older.
You get the full annual limit for the year you arrive, even if you arrive in December.
You don't get room for the years before you came.

Example

Ana became a resident in 2022, at 30. She has never contributed. Her room in 2026:

2022	$6,000
2023	$6,500
2024, 2025 and 2026	$21,000
Total	$33,500

Not the $109,000 quoted for someone who has been eligible since 2009. Online calculators that ask only for your age will overstate your room.

Don't contribute before you're a resident. CRA charges 1% a month on contributions made while you're a non-resident, for as long as they stay in the account.

RRSP and FHSA

RRSP. Your room is based on earned income from the previous year, reported on a Canadian tax return. So your first RRSP room usually appears the year after your first return.
FHSA. You must be a resident of Canada and a first-time home buyer. CRA's test counts a home you owned and lived in anywhere, not only in Canada, during this year or the previous four.

File a return, every year

You file for the year you become a resident, usually by April 30 of the following year. CRA's guidance for newcomers is to file every year, even with little or no income, because that's how benefit and credit payments are calculated. These include the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit and, for families, the Canada Child Benefit.

You can apply for those benefits as soon as you arrive, before your first return. Free tax clinics run by community organizations can help if your income is modest and your situation is simple.

If you leave Canada

You can keep your TFSA, and its growth isn't taxed by Canada. Your new country may tax it.
You stop building new room while you're a non-resident.
Contributions made while non-resident are charged 1% a month.
Withdrawals made while non-resident are added back to your room only once you're a resident again.

One warning for U.S. citizens and green-card holders

The United States taxes its citizens wherever they live, and it doesn't treat every Canadian account the way Canada does. If that's you, get cross-border tax advice before opening a TFSA or an FHSA.

Your move · 10 minutes

Do this before the next lesson

Write down the date you became a resident of Canada for tax purposes. If you're not sure, CRA's newcomer page explains how it's decided.
Work out your TFSA room from that year forward, not from 2009.
If you haven't filed a Canadian tax return for every year since you arrived, make that the next thing you fix.

Quick check

Ana became a resident of Canada in 2024, at age 28, and has never contributed to a TFSA. How much room does she have in 2026?

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Sources

New to Canada.