Open a Registered Disability Savings Plan in Canada: get Disability Tax Credit approval first, pick an issuer from the ESDC list, and apply for the grant and bond with form EMP 5608.
Applies in: CA
Get Disability Tax Credit approval first, then pick an issuer from the ESDC list and open the plan. The Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP) is a long-term savings plan to help people with disabilities who are approved for the Disability Tax Credit (DTC) save for the future, and the Government of Canada adds grants and bonds to it. The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) must approve the DTC application on Form T2201 before any plan can open — that approval is the gate, and there is no way around it. Once the approval is in hand, you choose a financial organization that offers the RDSP, open the plan with them, and apply for the Canada Disability Savings Grant (CDSG) and the Canada Disability Savings Bond (CDSB) at the same time. This guide covers the opening process only. It gives no eligibility advice and no financial advice.
The first step is the DTC application, and it belongs to the CRA, not to the bank or the plan issuer. Complete Form T2201, Disability Tax Credit Certificate, with a medical practitioner, and send it to the CRA. The CRA reviews it and sends a notice of determination. Only after that notice approves the DTC can an RDSP be opened. If the DTC application is denied, no plan can open, and the next step is the DTC review or objection route, not the RDSP. The full DTC application walkthrough is in the live guide How to Apply for the Disability Tax Credit in Canada — this guide does not re-walk Form T2201.
Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) states four conditions for the beneficiary, and all four must hold when the plan opens:
Two roles matter from here on. The beneficiary is the person approved for the DTC who will benefit from the money in the plan. The holder is the person who opens and manages the plan, and the holder may also be the beneficiary. There must be at least one holder at all times. Only one RDSP can exist per beneficiary, so if a plan already exists, the route is a transfer to another issuer, not a second plan.
An RDSP can be opened at a bank, an investment firm, or a credit union that offers the plan. ESDC publishes the list of organizations that offer it, and the list names organizations including ATB Securities, Aviso Financial, Bank of Montreal, Bank of Nova Scotia, Central 1, CI Investment Services, CIBC, Concentra Bank, Desjardins, Empire Life, IG Wealth Management, Mackenzie Financial, Natcan Trust Company, RBC Royal Bank, and TD Waterhouse. The list is published for information only and is not an endorsement of any vendor's products. You do not need an existing account with one of these organizations to open an RDSP. Some financial planners and credit unions are not on the list but may still be able to help you open a plan — contact the provider you want to work with directly and ask. Once you have chosen an organization, book an appointment to open the plan.
At the appointment, fill out the application forms directly with the financial organization and sign a contract with the issuer, choosing how the funds will be invested. At the same appointment, apply for the grant and bond: the holder completes and signs the Application for the Canada Disability Savings Grant and/or the Canada Disability Savings Bond, form ESDC EMP 5608E, with its annexes if they apply. Annex A (ESDC EMP 5609E) covers a joint holder, and Annex B (ESDC EMP 5610E) covers a primary caregiver, who is the person eligible to receive the Canada Child Benefit payment for the child. Names on the form must be entered exactly as they appear on the Social Insurance Register, and electronic signatures are not accepted on this form. The issuer submits the plan information to ESDC, and the CRA confirms plan registration once the RDSP eligibility criteria have been met.
Family income information is used to determine the amount of grant and bond payable, so file income tax returns for previous years if needed — this can be done after the RDSP has been opened. For beneficiaries age 19 and over, annual family income refers to the beneficiary's net income plus that of their spouse or common-law partner. For beneficiaries under age 19, it is the net income of the beneficiary's parent or parents or legal guardian. Once the plan is open, you can automatically catch up on grants and bonds from up to the previous 10 DTC-approved years. There is a lifetime limit of $200,000 on contributions to an RDSP, and no annual contribution limit is stated.
The amounts below are the figures ESDC publishes on its how-to-open page, verified at build time:
Grant and bond are payable until December 31 of the year the beneficiary turns 49. The matching rate on the grant depends on family income: at lower family income the government matches at 300% on the first $500 or less of annual contributions and 200% on the next $1,000, and at higher family income it matches at 100% on the first $1,000 or less. The income thresholds that set those rates are not stated in this guide — see the section below.
Three dates control an RDSP, and they are easy to mix up:
The ESDC pages do not publish the current family-income thresholds that set the grant matching rate and the bond amount — the thresholds in the ESDC InfoCapsules document are 2022 figures, and the CRA indexes them annually, so this guide states no income threshold. They also do not state any fee for opening or holding a plan, any processing time for plan registration, or the full rules for withdrawals, transfers, or plan closure. Check the current income thresholds with the plan issuer or ESDC, and confirm any fee with the issuer you choose, before relying on a figure from an older article.
No. The beneficiary must be approved for the Disability Tax Credit (DTC) before a plan can open, and the CRA must approve the application on [Form T2201](https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/forms-publications/forms/t2201.html) first. If you open a plan without that approval, the plan cannot be registered. Start with the DTC application and wait for the CRA's notice of determination.
The beneficiary is the person approved for the Disability Tax Credit who will benefit from the money in the plan. The holder is the person who opens and manages the plan, and the holder may also be the beneficiary. There must be at least one holder at all times, and only one RDSP can exist per beneficiary.
The plan must be opened before December 31 of the year the beneficiary turns 59. Grants and bonds stop earlier: they are payable only until December 31 of the year the beneficiary turns 49. After that date the plan stays open and can keep growing, but no new government deposits are made.
No. You do not need an existing account with one of the organizations on the ESDC list to open an RDSP. Choose any organization on the list, contact them, and ask about opening an RDSP and applying for the grant and bond. Some financial planners and credit unions are not on the list but may still be able to help you open a plan, so ask the provider you want to work with directly.
Each year the Government of Canada pays up to $1,000 in bonds to low- and modest-income individuals, with no personal contributions required, and up to $3,500 in grants, matching personal contributions at up to 300%. Over the lifetime of the plan, the limits are up to $20,000 in bonds and up to $70,000 in grants. The exact amount depends on family income and contributions, and the family income thresholds are not stated in this guide — see the section on what the ESDC pages do not state.
The ESDC pages note that a holder may make a Disability Tax Credit election to keep the plan open for up to five years after a loss of DTC eligibility. The pages do not state the full rules for that election, so ask the plan issuer what applies to the plan before making any change.