RRSP · Free calculator
$10,000 into an RRSP at $100,000 in Alberta: a tax refund of about $3,050.
One question: how much tax does this RRSP contribution give back? Enter your province, your 2026 taxable income, and the amount you put in.
How the estimate is made
An RRSP contribution is a deduction: it lowers the income you are taxed on. The calculator works out your 2026 tax with and without the deduction, federal and provincial, and shows the difference. Each bracket rate applies only to the slice of income inside that bracket, so the refund is your marginal rate on the amount, and it drops as the deduction crosses into a lower bracket. Brackets come from the CRA's 2026 rates page, which sets your rate by the province or territory you live in on December 31. For Ontario it also applies the provincial surtax, from the CRA's payroll deduction formulas.
What the estimate leaves out
Credits, including the basic personal amount, CPP and EI, and the Ontario Health Premium. They do not change the bracket rate on most incomes, so the estimate holds where the refund matters; at an income near the basic personal amount it runs high. What you get back is also the difference between what was withheld and what you owe, so a small refund can become a smaller balance owing instead. The Ontario surtax is figured on bracket tax before credits, so near its thresholds the estimate runs a little high. Quebec sets its own rates and is not covered yet.
What you can actually deduct
Your deduction limit is 18% of last year's earned income, up to the 2026 dollar limit of $33,810, plus any unused room carried forward, less pension adjustments. The CRA prints your number on your notice of assessment. Contributions above that limit are not deductible this year (they carry forward), and the CRA's 1% monthly tax starts once your unused contributions pass your deduction limit by more than $2,000. Both rules are on the CRA's deduction limit page. The dollar limit itself is in its limits table.
Where your real limit lives
This page answers one contribution on one year's brackets. Your RRSP room is a running record: last year's income, this year's contributions, carried-forward room, and the pension adjustment on your T4. The app keeps that record on your device, with no account and no login. RRSP tracking is part of the one-time unlock.
Written by Mo Kechout CRA figures verified