RRSP limit 2026: how much can you deduct?
Enter last year’s earned income and, if you belong to a workplace pension plan, your pension adjustment: the calculator works out your new RRSP room for the year.
2026 RRSP deduction limit
$14,400
18% of $80,000, under the $33,810 cap.
| 18% of 2025 earned income | $14,400 |
| 2026 dollar limit | $33,810 |
| Minus pension adjustment | $0 |
| New room this year | $14,400 |
| Plus unused room | $0 |
2027 limit already set: $35,390, reached with $196,612 of 2026 earned income.
Prepared by Radif Partners · How we calculate · limits and tax tables read on canada.ca · estimates only, not a notice of assessment
The 2026 RRSP dollar limit is $33,810, up from $32,490 in 2025, and the 2027 limit is already set at $35,390. That limit is not what you can contribute: your new room for the year is 18% of the previous year's earned income, capped at the limit, minus your pension adjustment if you belong to an employer pension plan. It takes $187,834 of earned income in 2025 to reach the 2026 limit. On a $60,000 salary, new 2026 room is $10,800; with a $4,000 pension adjustment it drops to $6,800. Unused room from past years is added on top. The total, called your RRSP deduction limit, is shown on your notice of assessment and in the Canada Revenue Agency's My Account. Above it, a $2,000 cushion is allowed; anything beyond is taxed at 1% a month.
RRSP limits from 2022 to 2027
The dollar limit is set every year and published in the Canada Revenue Agency table of limits. It caps the new room for the year: you get the lower of 18% of the previous year's earned income and that limit. The table also shows the earned income needed in the previous year to reach it.
| Year | RRSP limit | Earned income needed the year before |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | $29,210 | $162,278 |
| 2023 | $30,780 | $171,000 |
| 2024 | $31,560 | $175,334 |
| 2025 | $32,490 | $180,500 |
| 2026 | $33,810 | $187,834 |
| 2027 | $35,390 | $196,612 |
In practice, someone who earned $250,000 in 2025 has new 2026 room capped at $33,810, although 18% of their income would be $45,000. Below $187,834, the percentage is what counts.
Dollar limit and deduction limit are two different numbers
The dollar limit is the same for everyone. The deduction limit is yours alone. The CRA works it out this way, according to its page on the RRSP deduction limit: your unused room at the end of the previous year, plus the lower of 18% of the previous year's earned income and the dollar limit, minus your pension adjustment, plus any pension adjustment reversal, minus any net past service pension adjustment. That limit covers all your contributions together: your RRSP, a pooled registered pension plan if you have one, and your spouse's RRSP.
Earned income is not total income. Guide T4040 describes it as employment and self-employment earnings and certain other income, minus some employment expenses and business or rental losses. The detailed count follows Chart 3 of that guide, line by line. A year with no earned income therefore creates no new room the following year: 18% of zero is zero, however much investment income you have.
The pension adjustment from a workplace plan
If you belong to a registered pension plan or a deferred profit sharing plan, your employer reports a pension adjustment in box 52 of your T4 slip. It stands for the value of the pension you built up during the year. One year's adjustment lowers your deduction limit for the next year; it does not touch your taxable income. Example: $60,000 of salary in 2025 gives $10,800 of new room in 2026, but only $6,800 with a $4,000 pension adjustment.
A pension adjustment reversal gives room back when you leave a plan before receiving everything past adjustments assumed. A past service pension adjustment takes room away when a plan credits you with past years of service. Both are uncommon, but they often explain a gap between your own count and the notice of assessment.
Unused room: nothing is lost
Each year, room you did not deduct is added to the next year's limit. Take the person on $60,000 with a $4,000 adjustment: with $15,000 of unused room at the end of 2025, their 2026 deduction limit reaches $21,800. There is no expiry date, only an age limit: you can contribute to your own RRSP until December 31 of the year you turn 71.
Do not mix this up with unused contributions, which are money paid into the RRSP but not deducted yet. Those can be deducted in a later year, up to that year's limit. They do count toward an excess, though: if they exceed your deduction limit by more than $2,000, the 1% monthly tax described on the excess contributions page applies. The RRSP over-contribution page walks through the math.
What your contribution saves you in tax
Refund or tax saved
$1,806
| Federal tax saved | $856 |
| Quebec tax saved | $950 |
| Taxable income after the deduction | $65,000 |
| Total tax before / after | $14,812 / $13,006 |
Reading your notice of assessment
The RRSP Deduction Limit Statement at the end of your notice of assessment shows your limit for the current year and the unused contributions the CRA has on file. The same figure is in My Account, or on Form T1028 when the CRA revises it during the year. That limit cannot see contributions you made since January 1. If you put in $3,000 in February, what is left is your limit minus that $3,000. Before a large contribution, also check the RRSP deadline: contributions made in the first 60 days of the year can count for the previous year.