RRSP Calculator
Estimate RRSP contribution room, refund potential, and tax-deferred retirement growth.
Estimated future value after current balance, contribution, return, and timeline.
Your planned contribution is within this calculator’s estimated room.
The CRA's 2026 RRSP dollar limit is $33,810. Personal deduction room is generally 18% of prior-year earned income up to that limit, less any pension adjustment, plus unused room — so it is usually lower. Confirm your own room on your CRA notice of assessment before contributing.
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The calculator returns four numbers from the inputs you give it:
- Estimated contribution room — 18% of the earned income you enter, capped at the CRA annual dollar limit, plus any unused room you add.
- Allowed contribution — your planned contribution limited to that room, with anything above it flagged as an over-contribution.
- Refund potential — the allowed contribution multiplied by the marginal tax rate you enter.
- Projected value and tax-deferred growth — the account compounded forward at a constant assumed return over your time horizon.
Everything it produces is an estimate built from your inputs. It has no access to your CRA record, and it is not a filing tool.
How RRSP Contribution Room Works
Annual RRSP deduction room is generally 18% of prior-year earned income, capped at the CRA dollar limit for the year, less any pension adjustment, plus unused room carried forward.
The CRA’s 2026 RRSP dollar limit is $33,810. See the CRA limits table (checked 2026-08-09).
The dollar limit is a ceiling, not an entitlement. Your own number — the one that actually governs what you may contribute — is printed on your CRA notice of assessment and in CRA My Account. If you are a member of a registered pension plan or a deferred profit sharing plan, your pension adjustment reduces this room, sometimes substantially, and the calculator has no way to know it.
Methodology and Formulas
The model is deliberately transparent. These are the four expressions it evaluates:
| Output | Formula |
|---|---|
| Estimated room | min(earned income × 0.18, CRA dollar limit) + unused room |
| Allowed contribution | min(planned contribution, estimated room) |
| Refund potential | allowed contribution × marginal tax rate |
| Projected value | balance × (1 + r/12)12n + contribution × (1 + r)n |
In the last expression, r is the annual return you enter and n is the number of years. The existing balance is compounded monthly; the single new contribution is compounded annually. The difference between the projected value and the money you put in is reported as tax-deferred growth.
Assumptions the Model Makes
- Return is constant. The same rate applies to every period. Real markets do not behave this way, and the sequence of returns matters as much as their average.
- No pension adjustment. Room is estimated as if you are not accruing a pension. If you are, your real room is lower.
- One contribution, not a schedule. The projection treats your planned contribution as a single amount compounded annually, not a recurring monthly deposit. For recurring contributions, use the investment calculator.
- A single marginal rate. The refund estimate applies one rate to the whole contribution rather than working down through combined federal and provincial brackets.
- Nominal dollars.No inflation adjustment is applied. Enter a real return if you want today’s purchasing power.
- No fees or taxes on growth. Management fees, and the tax eventually due on withdrawal, are excluded.
A Worked Example
Take someone with $85,000 of prior-year earned income, a $25,000 existing RRSP balance, $10,000 of unused room, a planned $12,000 contribution, a 40% marginal rate and a 25-year horizon at 6%.
| Step | Working | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 18% of earned income | 85,000 × 0.18 | $15,300 |
| Capped at the dollar limit | min(15,300, $33,810) | $15,300 |
| Plus unused room | 15,300 + 10,000 | $25,300 estimated room |
| Allowed contribution | min(12,000, 25,300) | $12,000 |
| Refund potential | 12,000 × 0.40 | $4,800 |
| Balance after 25 years | 25,000 × (1 + 0.06/12)300 | ≈ $111,600 |
| Contribution after 25 years | 12,000 × 1.0625 | ≈ $51,500 |
The refund is the part most people misread. $4,800 back is not $4,800 earned — it is tax deferred. If the same money is withdrawn later at a 30% rate, roughly a third of the eventual balance goes to tax. The RRSP advantage comes from the gap between the rate you deduct at and the rate you withdraw at, not from the refund existing.
Interpreting Your Results
Treat the outputs as a comparison device. The useful question is not “what will my RRSP be worth in 25 years” — no model can answer that — but “how does contributing $12,000 compare with contributing $6,000, or with putting it in a TFSA instead.” Run the calculator two or three times with different rates and contributions; the shape of the difference is more informative than any single number.
If the calculator flags an over-contribution, that matters. The CRA permits a small lifetime buffer before penalties apply, and amounts above it are penalised monthly until withdrawn. Verify your room before acting on a contribution near your limit.
Limitations
What this calculator cannot do: see your CRA record, apply your pension adjustment, model spousal RRSPs, handle the Home Buyers’ Plan or Lifelong Learning Plan, account for withholding tax on withdrawal, model RRIF conversion at the end of the contribution period, apply provincial variation in marginal rates, or account for the effect of retirement income on income-tested benefits such as OAS.
Any of those can change the answer materially. Where they apply, the calculator is a starting point for a conversation with a qualified professional, not a substitute for one.
Common RRSP Calculator Mistakes
- Guessing contribution room instead of reading it off the CRA notice of assessment.
- Ignoring the pension adjustment when you are in a workplace pension.
- Reading the refund as a gain rather than as deferred tax.
- Entering an optimistic return and treating one projection as a plan.
- Confusing tax-deferred growth with tax-free growth — that is the TFSA.
- Comparing nominal projections across different time horizons without adjusting for inflation.
RRSP Calculator FAQ
What is an RRSP calculator?
An RRSP calculator is an arithmetic model. It estimates your annual contribution room from your earned income, estimates the tax refund a contribution could generate from your marginal rate, and projects the account's future value from a constant assumed rate of return. It is a way to compare scenarios, not a forecast.
How is RRSP contribution room calculated?
Annual RRSP deduction room is generally 18% of your prior-year earned income, capped at the CRA's annual dollar limit for the year, reduced by any pension adjustment, plus unused room carried forward from previous years. Your exact figure appears on your CRA notice of assessment.
Why is my real contribution room lower than the calculator shows?
The two most common reasons are a pension adjustment — which reduces room for members of a registered pension plan or deferred profit sharing plan — and prior-year contributions the calculator does not know about. The calculator cannot see either, which is why it estimates rather than states.
Are RRSP contributions tax deductible?
An RRSP contribution reduces taxable income in the year the deduction is claimed, which is where the refund comes from. The tax is deferred rather than removed: withdrawals, including those in retirement, are taxable as income.
How accurate is the refund estimate?
It is a first approximation. The calculator multiplies your allowed contribution by the single marginal rate you enter. Real refunds depend on the combined federal and provincial brackets your income spans, credits, other deductions and tax already withheld — and a large contribution can drop you into a lower bracket partway through, so the effective rate is lower than the top one.
Should I use an RRSP or a TFSA?
The classic framing compares your marginal tax rate now against the rate you expect when withdrawing: RRSPs favour contributing at a high rate and withdrawing at a lower one, TFSAs offer tax-free growth and withdrawals with no deduction up front. Which applies to you depends on your income path, pension coverage and benefit clawbacks — a question for a qualified advisor rather than a calculator.
What return rate should I enter?
Enter something you can defend, and test more than one. A single constant rate is the calculator's biggest simplification: real returns arrive unevenly, and the order in which good and bad years fall changes the outcome even when the average is identical.
Does the calculator account for inflation?
No. Every figure it returns is in nominal dollars. To reason in today's purchasing power, enter a real rate of return — your expected nominal return minus expected inflation — and read the result as today's dollars.
Disclaimer
This content is educational only and is not personalized financial, investment, tax, legal, or credit advice. Contribution limits and tax rules change; confirm current figures with the Canada Revenue Agency and consider consulting a qualified professional licensed in your province before contributing. See our editorial standards and full disclaimer.
Last reviewed: 2026-08-09
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