RRSP Contribution Room Calculator: How Much RRSP Room Do I Have? (2026)

This page answers one question: how much RRSP room you have right now. Enter your previous year’s earned income, any pension adjustment from your employer, and the carried-forward room from your Notice of Assessment, and the calculator estimates your contribution room. Below it, you will find where to get the exact figure CRA has on file and why the two can differ. For the full list of RRSP guides, see the RRSP and RRIF guide directory.

How RRSP contribution room works

Your RRSP contribution room (CRA calls it your “deduction limit”) is the most you can deduct in a given year. It is built from this formula:

Contribution room = the lesser of (18% × prior-year earned income) and the annual dollar limit, − pension adjustment, + unused room from prior years

You start earning room the year after you first have earned income, based on the income you report on your tax return.

Worked example

This year’s dollar limit

The RRSP dollar limit for 2026 is $33,810. Earning the full amount of new room takes 2025 earned income of at least $187,833. The limit for each past year, and the next year’s announced limit, are on the annual RRSP contribution limit page.

What counts as earned income

Not all income creates RRSP room. CRA’s definition of earned income includes specific types:

If most of your income comes from investments rather than work, you earn little or no new room. This is common for retirees and people living off a portfolio.

How to find your exact RRSP room

The calculator gives an estimate. CRA’s number is the one that counts, and there are three ways to get it:

1. CRA My Account. Log in at canada.ca/my-cra-account and open the RRSP section. This shows your current deduction limit and the contributions already reported to CRA.
2. Notice of Assessment. Your most recent NOA shows your “RRSP/PRPP deduction limit” for the current year. It is calculated when your return is assessed, so it does not reflect contributions made after that.
3. Phone CRA. Call 1-800-959-8281 with your SIN and date of birth ready.

Why your own tally and CRA’s can differ

CRA’s figure is calculated when your return is assessed, from the contributions you reported on that return, so it doesn’t reflect anything contributed since. Contributions made in the first 60 days of a year can be claimed on the previous year’s return, so they also reduce the room shown on the NOA you receive that spring. If you contributed recently, subtract it from the CRA figure yourself. If the gap comes from a pension adjustment, a past service adjustment or a reversal, the pension adjustment and RRSP room guide explains each one and how to ask CRA for a breakdown.

Pension adjustments in brief

If your employer offers a registered pension plan or DPSP, a pension adjustment (T4 box 52) reduces your RRSP room, because those plans already shelter retirement savings. Members of generous defined-benefit plans often have very little room left. The DB and DC formulas, the pension adjustment reversal (PAR) and worked examples are in how a pension adjustment affects RRSP room.

Carried-forward room

Unused room carries forward with no expiry, so a year with no contribution is not lost. The rules on how it accumulates, and why a large balance of unused room can be useful, are in unused RRSP room explained.

Contributing more than your room

CRA allows a lifetime $2,000 over-contribution buffer with no penalty (the excess is not deductible). Beyond that, a 1%-per-month tax applies until the excess is withdrawn or absorbed by new room. The steps to fix it are in the RRSP over-contribution guide.

Ways people use their room

Timing the deduction

An RRSP deduction is worth your marginal tax rate. A $10,000 deduction saves $3,000 at a 30% marginal rate and $4,500 at 45%. Because room carries forward, some people contribute during lower-income years (school, part-time work, parental leave) but hold off on claiming the deduction, or build up room and make a large catch-up contribution in a high-income year such as a bonus year or the year a business is sold. Contributions can be made now and the deduction claimed in a later year. Investing in a TFSA in the meantime is a common alternative; the trade-offs are in the RRSP vs TFSA calculator.

Reinvesting the refund

A large deduction produces a large refund. Putting that refund back into the RRSP, or into a TFSA, keeps the tax saving invested rather than spent.

Contributing early in the year

The earlier in the year you contribute, the longer the money grows tax-sheltered. A January contribution for the current year has about 14 more months in the plan than one made at the following year’s deadline. Deadline dates and the 60-day rule are covered in is it too late to contribute to my RRSP?.

Spousal contributions

If one spouse earns much more, contributing to a spousal RRSP uses the contributor’s room but shifts future withdrawals to the lower-income spouse, subject to a 3-year attribution rule.

Room stops mattering for your own RRSP at age 71; what to do when you turn 71 covers that deadline.

Related tools and guides

• RRSP calculator: project how an RRSP grows over time
• How much TFSA room do I have?: the other registered account to track
• How to use CRA My Account: finding your RRSP room online
• Income tax calculator: find your marginal tax rate
• FHSA calculator: the tax-free account for first-time home buyers