Registered accounts in Canada, explained

Registered accounts in Canada are investment accounts registered with the Canada Revenue Agency that shelter your savings from tax, either by deferring it or by removing it, in exchange for limits on how much you can put in and rules on when you can take it out. The ones most people open are the TFSA, RRSP, FHSA and RESP. The RDSP serves people with a disability, an RRSP becomes a RRIF in retirement, and money from a workplace pension often lands in a locked-in account. This guide compares all of them, then explains each one and how Luum treats it.

Educational only. Contribution limits and rules change annually. Always verify current limits on the CRA website or with a qualified tax advisor.

Registered accounts at a glance

Account	What it is for	Contributions deductible?	Withdrawals taxed?	Who can open one
TFSA	Any goal	No	No	Residents aged 18 or older with a SIN
RRSP	Retirement	Yes	Yes, as income	Anyone with earned income who has filed a tax return
FHSA	A first home	Yes	No, for a qualifying home purchase	First-time home buyers aged 18 to 71
RESP	A child's education	No	Grants and growth are taxed, usually to the student; contributions are not	Anyone, for a named beneficiary
RDSP	Long-term savings for a person with a disability	No	Grants, bonds and growth are taxed to the beneficiary; contributions are not	A beneficiary approved for the disability tax credit, under 60
RRIF	Retirement income	No new contributions	Yes, as income, with a minimum each year	An RRSP holder, by converting the RRSP
Spousal RRSP	Splitting retirement income with a partner	Yes, by the contributor	Yes, and possibly to the contributor rather than the spouse	A contributor, for a spouse or common-law partner
LIRA and LIF	Pension money after leaving an employer plan	No new contributions	Yes, and access is restricted by pension law	Someone transferring out of a registered pension plan

Each account has its own section below with its limits and how Luum handles it.

TFSA: Tax-Free Savings Account

The TFSA is the most flexible registered account available to Canadian residents. Contributions are made with after-tax dollars, but all growth, capital gains, dividends, and interest, is completely tax-free, both inside the account and on withdrawal.

Who can contribute: Canadian residents aged 18 or older with a valid SIN.
Annual limit: Set by the CRA each year, $7,000, unchanged for 2024 through 2026. Unused room carries forward indefinitely from age 18.
Withdrawals: Any amount can be withdrawn tax-free at any time. The withdrawn amount is added back to your contribution room on January 1 of the following year.
Penalties: Over-contributions are taxed at 1% per month on the excess, calculated on the highest excess in the account in each month for as long as any excess remains. Withdrawing the excess partway through a month does not reduce that month's tax.

In Luum: TFSA accounts are tracked separately from taxable accounts. Capital gains inside a TFSA are excluded from your Tax Centre capital gains report. Contribution room is tracked on the Investor tier and above. For how room accrues year by year, why a withdrawal behaves differently in each account, and the traps that cost people real money, see TFSA and RRSP contribution room.

RRSP: Registered Retirement Savings Plan

The RRSP is designed for retirement savings. Contributions are tax-deductible (reducing your taxable income in the year you contribute), and investments grow tax-deferred. You pay tax only when you withdraw, ideally in retirement, when your marginal rate is lower.

Who can contribute: Canadian residents with earned income who have filed a tax return.
Annual limit: 18% of your prior year's earned income, up to the CRA annual maximum ($33,810 for 2026). Unused room carries forward.
Withdrawals: Withdrawals are added to taxable income. Withholding tax applies at source. Withdrawn room is permanently lost (unlike TFSA).
Deadline: Contributions made in the first 60 days of the calendar year can be applied to the prior tax year.
Conversion: Must be converted to a RRIF (Registered Retirement Income Fund) or annuity by December 31 of the year you turn 71.

That first-60-days rule is the one people measure wrongly, because a February contribution counts against the year before the one it falls in. The contribution room calculator takes a list of deposits and shows which tax year each one lands on.

In Luum: RRSP accounts are tracked for contribution room and balance. Capital gains inside an RRSP are sheltered and excluded from your Tax Centre capital gains report.

FHSA: First Home Savings Account

The FHSA is a newer account (introduced 2023) that combines RRSP and TFSA benefits specifically for first-time home buyers. Contributions are tax-deductible like an RRSP, and qualifying withdrawals for a first home purchase are tax-free like a TFSA.

Who can contribute: Canadian residents aged 18–71. The first-time test turns on where you have lived, not only on what you own: you must not have lived in a qualifying home as your principal place of residence that you owned or jointly owned in the current calendar year or the four before it, and, a separate condition, not one that your spouse or common-law partner owned or jointly owned over that same period, unless you have no spouse or common-law partner when you open the account.
Annual limit: $8,000 per year, lifetime maximum of $40,000. Unused room carries forward up to $8,000 per year.
Qualifying withdrawal: Must be used to buy a qualifying first home. If not used for a home purchase, the account can be transferred to an RRSP/RRIF without tax consequences.
Account lifespan: The account must be closed by December 31 of the year the earliest of these happens: 15 years pass since you opened your first FHSA, you turn 71, or the year after your first qualifying withdrawal arrives.

In Luum: FHSA accounts are displayed separately and included in your net worth, and their gains are excluded from your Tax Centre capital gains report like every other registered account.Contribution room tracking is not available for an FHSA, room tracking covers TFSA and RRSP only.

For the mechanics behind those bullets, why room does not accrue until you open the account, the deadlines that close it, and what happens if you never buy a home. See the FHSA explained.

RESP: Registered Education Savings Plan

The RESP is designed to save for a child's post-secondary education. The federal government tops up contributions through the Canada Education Savings Grant (CESG).

Who can contribute: Anyone (subscriber) for a beneficiary under 18.
Annual CESG: The government contributes 20% of your annual contribution, $500 on the first $2,500 contributed in a year, and up to $1,000 in a year where unused grant room has carried forward from an earlier year, to a lifetime CESG maximum of $7,200 per beneficiary. Lower-income families may also receive Additional CESG on the first $500 contributed each year; CRA publishes those income thresholds.
Lifetime contribution limit: $50,000 per beneficiary. There is no annual contribution limit, but CESG is only paid on the first $2,500/year.
Withdrawals: Educational Assistance Payments (EAPs) to the student are taxed in the student's hands (usually at a low rate). Your original contributions can be returned to you tax-free.

In Luum: RESP accounts can be connected and will appear in your net worth. Dedicated RESP contribution tracking is not yet available; the account balance is shown as an asset.

RDSP: Registered Disability Savings Plan

The RDSP is a long-term savings plan for a person approved for the disability tax credit. Like an RESP, its appeal is the government money that comes with it: the Canada disability savings grant and the Canada disability savings bond.

Who can be a beneficiary: A person approved for the disability tax credit, with a valid SIN, resident in Canada when the plan is opened, and under 60. A plan can be opened until the end of the year the beneficiary turns 59.
Contributions: Not tax-deductible. Anyone with the holder's written permission can contribute, until the end of the year the beneficiary turns 59.
Lifetime limit: $200,000 per beneficiary, with no annual limit.
Withdrawals: Contributions come out tax-free. The grant, the bond and the investment growth are taxed as the beneficiary's income when paid out. A withdrawal can also mean repaying part of the grants and bonds paid into the plan over the previous ten years, so the RDSP rewards leaving money in.

In Luum: There is no dedicated RDSP account type yet. A connected RDSP appears in your net worth, but Luum cannot yet recognise it as registered, so check that its gains are not counted in your Tax Centre capital gains report.

RRIF: Registered Retirement Income Fund

A RRIF is what most RRSPs become. You cannot contribute to one; you fund it by transferring money in, usually from your own RRSP, and the investments keep growing tax-deferred.

When: An RRSP must be converted to a RRIF or an annuity by December 31 of the year you turn 71. You can convert earlier.
Minimum withdrawal: You must withdraw at least a minimum amount every year, starting the year after the RRIF is opened. Your carrier calculates it from your age at the start of each year, or from your spouse's or common-law partner's age if you elect that. You can always take more than the minimum.
Tax: Every payment is taxable income in the year you receive it.

In Luum: There is no dedicated RRIF account type yet, with the same Tax Centre caveat as the RDSP above.

Spousal RRSP

A spousal RRSP is an RRSP that belongs to your spouse or common-law partner but that you pay into. You claim the deduction; your partner owns the account and eventually withdraws from it. The point is to even out retirement income between two people, so that more of it is taxed at the lower earner's rate.

Attribution rule: If your partner withdraws in a year when you contributed to any of their spousal RRSPs, or in either of the two years before it, the withdrawal can be taxed to you instead. Planned withdrawals wait three calendar years after the last contribution.
Everything else: Same as a regular RRSP, including the conversion deadline at 71.

In Luum: Spousal RRSPs have their own account type, are tracked separately from your own RRSP, and their gains are excluded from your Tax Centre capital gains report.

Locked-in accounts: LIRA and LIF

When you leave a job with a registered pension plan, the commuted value of your pension is usually moved into a locked-in retirement account (LIRA, called a locked-in RRSP in some provinces). It grows tax-deferred like an RRSP, but you cannot add to it, and the pension law your plan was registered under limits when and how much you can take out. To draw an income, a LIRA is converted to a life income fund (LIF), which works like a RRIF with a maximum withdrawal as well as a minimum.

The unlocking rules differ by province and between federal and provincial plans, so check the rules that apply to your plan before planning any withdrawal.

In Luum: LIRA accounts have their own account type and their gains are excluded from your Tax Centre capital gains report. A LIF has no dedicated account type yet.

Workplace pensions and your RRSP room

A registered pension plan (RPP) or deferred profit sharing plan (DPSP) at work is also a registered plan, but your employer runs it. The value of the benefits you earn in it each year is reported as a pension adjustment in box 52 of your T4, and it generally reduces your RRSP deduction limit for the following year. That is why two people with the same salary can have very different RRSP room.

A group RRSP or group TFSA offered at work is not a separate kind of account. It is an ordinary RRSP or TFSA held through your employer, and it uses the same room as any other.

For US account types, see US Investing Accounts Explained →

Common questions

What are registered accounts in Canada?

They are savings and investment accounts registered with the Canada Revenue Agency so that the money inside them gets special tax treatment. Some defer tax until you withdraw (RRSP, RRIF, LIRA), some never tax the growth at all (TFSA, and the FHSA when used for a first home), and some come with government grants (RESP, RDSP). In return, each one limits how much you can contribute and sets rules on withdrawals.

What is the difference between registered and non-registered accounts?

In a non-registered account, also called a taxable or cash account, there is no contribution limit and no withdrawal rule, but you pay tax every year on interest and dividends, and on capital gains when you sell. In a registered account those same events are not taxed as they happen. That is also why your adjusted cost base only matters in non-registered accounts.

How many registered accounts can I have?

There is no limit on the number of accounts, but your contribution room is per person, not per account. Two TFSAs at two brokerages share one TFSA limit, and the same is true of RRSPs and FHSAs. Opening a second account adds convenience, not room, and over-contributing across several accounts is a common way to end up paying the penalty tax.

Which registered account fits which goal?

As a general mapping, not a recommendation: the TFSA suits any goal and keeps the most flexibility, the RRSP is built for retirement and is most valuable when your tax rate now is higher than it will be when you withdraw, the FHSA is for a first home, the RESP for a child's education and the RDSP for a person with a disability. Many people hold several at once. Which to fund first depends on your income, goals and timeline, which is a question for a qualified advisor.

Can I hold the same investment in more than one account type?

Yes, and it is common. It matters for record-keeping in one specific way: identical property in your taxable accounts is pooled into a single adjusted cost base, while holdings inside registered accounts are outside that calculation entirely because gains there are not taxable events.

Do I need to report gains inside a TFSA or RRSP?

No. Growth and realised gains inside a registered account are not reported as capital gains. That is why a tax report should exclude them, and why a tracker that lumps registered and taxable accounts together will overstate what you owe.

Is there a catch to holding US-listed stocks in a TFSA?

US withholding tax on dividends is generally not recoverable in a TFSA, whereas an RRSP is treated as a retirement account under the treaty and dividends from US-listed holdings are generally exempt from that withholding. The effect applies to dividends, not to capital growth.