How to Open an RRSP in Canada

A Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) is a registered account in which your contributions are generally deductible from your income and your savings grow sheltered from tax until you withdraw them. Opening one is a short administrative process — the part that needs care is the deduction limit, because contributing more than your limit costs 1% per month on the excess above a $2,000 buffer until you fix it. This guide is the opening walkthrough: your limit, choosing the account, opening it, contributing safely, the deadline, and the two programs that let you withdraw without tax. It is process information only, not investment or tax advice: it does not tell you what to hold inside the account or how much to contribute. Every figure comes from the Canada Revenue Agency pages cited inline.

1. Work out your RRSP deduction limit before you put money in

Your RRSP deduction limit is the maximum amount you can deduct from contributions made to your RRSPs and to your spouse's or common-law partner's RRSP for a year, according to Canada Revenue Agency, How contributions affect your RRSP deduction limit. The Canada Revenue Agency generally calculates it as follows, on the same page:

• your unused RRSP deduction room at the end of the preceding year, plus
• the lesser of 18% of your earned income in the previous year and the annual RRSP limit, minus your pension adjustment (PA), plus any pension adjustment reversal, minus any net past service pension adjustment.

The annual RRSP dollar limit is $33,810 for 2026, $35,390 for 2027, and $36,390 for 2028, according to Canada Revenue Agency, MP, DB, RRSP, DPSP, ALDA, TFSA limits, YMPE and the YAMPE. Note that $32,490 is the 2025 limit, not the 2026 limit — it appears in the same table one row below the 2026 figure, on the same page.

Three consequences follow from the formula. First, the dollar limit is a ceiling, not your limit: if 18% of your previous year's earned income is below the ceiling, the smaller figure is your new room. Earning $100,000 in 2025 gives $18,000 of new room for 2026 (18% of $100,000), before any pension adjustment. Second, a pension adjustment reduces your room: if your employer reports a pension adjustment for your workplace pension plan, it is subtracted from next year's limit, on the same page. Your pension adjustment appears on your T4 slip. Third, unused room carries forward: room you did not use in earlier years stays available, on the same page.

The CRA calculates the limit for you, and the figure is shown on your most recent Notice of Assessment and in CRA My Account. Check that figure before you contribute — do not guess from the dollar limit alone, because your pension adjustment and unused room make your number different from the published ceiling.

2. Choose the account: individual or spousal

There are two kinds of RRSP to open. An individual RRSP is in your name only: you contribute, you deduct, and the withdrawals are taxed as your income. A spousal RRSP is in your spouse's or common-law partner's name, but the contributions are made by you and deducted against your limit: your deduction limit covers contributions made to your RRSPs and to your spouse's or common-law partner's RRSP for a year, according to Canada Revenue Agency, How contributions affect your RRSP deduction limit. The total you deduct across your own RRSP and your spouse's RRSP cannot exceed your own deduction limit. You can contribute to your spouse's RRSP until December 31st of the year that they turn 71 years of age, on the same page.

Some employers offer a group RRSP through work, and some RRSPs are locked-in, meaning they came from pension funds and restrict withdrawals: the CRA notes that some RRSPs, such as locked-in or group RRSPs, do not allow withdrawals under the Home Buyers' Plan, according to Canada Revenue Agency, How to participate in the Home Buyers' Plan. If your RRSP comes through an employer, check with the plan administrator what withdrawals it allows before counting on them.

Choose the account by whose name it should be in and whether you have a spouse whose name it should be in — this guide gives no recommendation on investments inside the account, because that is an investment decision, not an account-opening step. Compare the provider's fees, the minimum balance, whether you can manage the account online, and whether transfers out are charged a fee.

3. Open the account

To open an RRSP, contact the financial institution you chose — a bank, credit union, trust company, or other financial institution — and ask to open a Registered Retirement Savings Plan. Give it your Social Insurance Number, your date of birth, and any other identification or supporting documents it requests. The institution sets up the account and registers it as an RRSP. Most institutions let you open a basic RRSP in a branch or online in a single sitting; a self-directed investment RRSP may take longer because the investment account must be set up first.

Provide accurate and complete information, and double-check that the name and Social Insurance Number on the application match your government records exactly. The institution will also ask whether you want to name a beneficiary for the account — do this at opening, not later, because it decides who receives the account's value when you die.

You can contribute to your RRSP until December 31st of the year you turn 71 years of age, according to Canada Revenue Agency, How contributions affect your RRSP deduction limit. After that date you can no longer contribute to your own RRSP. If you are opening your first RRSP late in life, that deadline matters: an account opened in the year you turn 71 can still receive contributions until December 31 of that year, on the same page.

4. Contribute within your limit — and mind the deadline

Any contribution you make reduces the room available to you, and you can claim a deduction for contributions you made to your RRSP, contributions you made to your spouse's or common-law partner's RRSP, and your unused RRSP contributions from a previous year, according to Canada Revenue Agency, How contributions affect your RRSP deduction limit. Keep your own running record of every contribution and its date, and compare it with the figure on your Notice of Assessment or in CRA My Account each year.

The deadline is the part people miss. Contributions made in the first 60 days of a year count toward the previous tax year: for the 2025 return, contributions made from March 4, 2025 to March 2, 2026 qualify, on the same page. Applying the same 60-day rule to the 2026 tax year, contributions from March 3, 2026 to March 1, 2027 qualify for the 2026 return — March 1, 2027 is the 60th day after December 31, 2026. A contribution made on or after March 2, 2027 counts toward the 2027 tax year instead. If you contribute in January or February, tell the institution — or note it yourself — which tax year the contribution is for, because the same deposit can be deducted in either year.

5. Do not over-contribute

If you contribute more than your RRSP deduction limit, you generally have to pay a tax of 1 percent per month on your contributions that exceed your RRSP deduction limit by more than $2,000, according to Canada Revenue Agency, How contributions affect your RRSP deduction limit. The $2,000 is a lifetime buffer, not an annual allowance: an excess of $2,000 or less is not taxed, but every dollar above the buffer costs 1% for every month it stays in the plan.

Worked example from the formula, not from the CRA: if your deduction limit is $10,000 and you contributed $13,000, the $1,000 above the $2,000 buffer costs $10 per month until you remove it. The tax is charged monthly, so every month of delay costs money.

If you do over-contribute, act immediately: withdraw the excess amount, keep records of the dates and amounts, and report the excess on your tax return. Do not contribute more to "fix" the excess — a further contribution only increases it. Check your limit on your Notice of Assessment or in CRA My Account before making a large contribution, especially in the first 60 days of the year, when a deposit meant for the previous tax year is easy to confuse with a deposit for the new one.

6. Know the two tax-free withdrawal programs — and the age-71 rule

Most RRSP withdrawals are included in your income for the year you receive them. The two exceptions are the Home Buyers' Plan and the Lifelong Learning Plan, and both are loans from yourself: the money must be repaid on a set schedule, or the unpaid amount is added to your income.

Home Buyers' Plan (HBP). The HBP is a program that allows you to make a withdrawal from your RRSPs to buy or build a home for yourself or for a specified disabled person, and it allows you to pay back the amounts withdrawn within a 15-year period, according to Canada Revenue Agency, How to participate in the Home Buyers' Plan. Currently, the maximum you can withdraw is $60,000, on the same page, and your RRSP issuer will not withhold tax on withdrawn amounts of $60,000 or less, on the same page. You must be considered a first-time home buyer, you must have a written agreement to buy or build a home, and you must intend that you or the specified disabled person occupy the home as a principal place of residence no later than one year after acquiring it, on the same page. You fill out Form T1036, Home Buyers' Plan (HBP) Request to Withdraw Funds from an RRSP, for each eligible withdrawal, on the same page. Money you contributed in the 89 days before the withdrawal may not be deductible — in effect, funds must have been in the RRSP for at least 90 days before you withdraw them under the HBP, on the same page.

Lifelong Learning Plan (LLP). Under the LLP, you can withdraw up to $10,000 from your RRSPs in a calendar year, and you cannot withdraw more than $20,000 each time you participate, according to Canada Revenue Agency, Lifelong Learning Plan. The withdrawal finances full-time training or education for you or your spouse or common-law partner — not for your children — and the student must be enrolled in a qualifying educational program at a designated educational institution, on the same page. To make an LLP withdrawal, use Form RC96, Lifelong Learning Plan (LLP) Request to Withdraw Funds from an RRSP, on the same page. You must repay these withdrawals to your RRSP generally within 10 years, and any amount you do not repay when it is due will be included in your income for the year it was due, on the same page. If you withdraw more than the $10,000 annual limit, the excess is included in your income for the year of the withdrawal, on the same page.

Age 71. You can contribute to your RRSP until December 31st of the year you turn 71 years of age, according to Canada Revenue Agency, How contributions affect your RRSP deduction limit. That date is the end of the contribution window for your own RRSP, on the same page — plan any final contributions before it, and do not assume a contribution made in the first 60 days of the year you turn 72 can still be deducted for the previous year.

Figures this guide does not state

• Withholding tax rates on ordinary RRSP withdrawals. The tiered withholding rates (10%, 20%, 30% by withdrawal size) were not verified on an opened Canada Revenue Agency page for this guide, so no withholding rate is printed here. Check the CRA's tax rates on withdrawals page before withdrawing outside the Home Buyers' Plan or the Lifelong Learning Plan.
• The 2029 RRSP dollar limit. It has not been published — the CRA's limits table ends at 2028 with $36,390. Recheck the CRA's limits table before contributing for 2029; no figure is printed here.
• Your pension adjustment. It comes from your employer's pension plan and appears on your T4 slip; no figure can be stated in a general guide. Read it off your T4 before working out your room.
• RRSP fees by provider. Account fees, transfer-out fees, and trading commissions vary by institution and were not verified on an opened official page for this guide. Compare the fee schedules of the institutions you are considering.
• Rates of return. No return, interest rate, or investment growth figure is printed in this guide — they change constantly and are not set by the CRA. Check the institution's current rates.

Related guides:

TFSA and RRSP Limits for 2027 in Canada, How to Open a TFSA in Canada, How to Start Using CRA My Account in Canada, First-Home Purchase Roadmap, and How to Apply for the Canada Pension Plan Retirement Pension in Canada.

Sources

• Canada Revenue Agency, MP, DB, RRSP, DPSP, ALDA, TFSA limits, YMPE and the YAMPE — RRSP dollar limits 2026–2028, TFSA limits —
• Canada Revenue Agency, How contributions affect your RRSP deduction limit — 18% rule, pension adjustment, age 71, 60-day deadline, $2,000 buffer and 1% per month tax —
• Canada Revenue Agency, How to participate in the Home Buyers' Plan — $60,000 limit, 15-year repayment, Form T1036, 90-day rule, first-time buyer conditions —
• Canada Revenue Agency, Lifelong Learning Plan — $10,000 annual and $20,000 total limits, Form RC96, 10-year repayment, student conditions —