RRSP Season Frequently Asked Questions

The last day to make an RRSP contribution for the 2020 tax year is Monday, March 1 2021.

Due to processing times at other institutions that are often out of our control, we recommend making your contribution a few business days ahead of the deadline. (i.e. Thursday February 25, 2021.)

Here are the approximate processing times for each funding method:

*Due to Covid-19, these deposit methods are not recommended due to the increased delay experience with mail delivery.

Please note: Due to the rising Covid-19 cases in the GTA, our retail location located at 5700 Yonge St, Unit G1, Toronto is not open for walk-ins or drop-offs at this time. We recommend using one of the many ways to deposit online. If it’s absolutely necessary to make an RRSP contribution via cheque or bank draft, we recommend mailing this with a reputable courier, or Canada Post well ahead of the deadline.

Deposits received by 11:59 pm on March 3, 2021 are automatically back-dated for the 2020 tax year, to allow for processing delays from other institutions.

Unfortunately any deposits received after this cutoff date are considered contributions for the 2021 tax year.

To avoid any potential issues with the deadline, we recommend you send your contribution electronically no later than 5:00 pm, Friday February 26, 2021.

If mailing a contribution cheque or bank draft, please ensure this is sent and stamped as received by the post office or courier before the contribution deadline (March 1, 2021). 

We have a number of different deposit/contribution options available.

For more information, please visit our funding page on this topic.

Due to processing times from other financial institutions, contributions made on March 1 may not be received until March 3. Because of this, contributions received by 11:59 pm Wednesday, March 3rd 2021 are automatically back-dated for the 2020 tax-year. 

If you’d like to designate this contribution for the 2021 tax year instead, please make sure your contribution is made after March 3rd 2021.

Contribution receipts will be available approximately 3 weeks after the date your deposit is received. We will notify you when they are available via email, or through mobile app notifications.

You will be able to access & download your contribution receipts online. To do so:

1. Log in to Questrade.
2. Go to Accounts > Reports > Tax Slips in the navigation bar at the top of the page.
3. Select the appropriate account at the top of the page from the drop-down menu.
4. Click the relevant year.
5. View or download your contribution receipts and other tax slips.

RRSP contribution limits are based on your gross income, and any unused, previously accumulated contribution room from previous years.

You can contribute up to 18% of your gross income for the previous year, up to the maximum of $27,230 (for 2020).

Please note: If you have a company sponsored pension plan, or RRSP matching program, these may impact your RRSP contribution room.

If you’d like an accurate figure for your contribution limit, please check out the following resources:

• CRA form T1028 or your most recent ‘Notice of Assessment/Reassessment’
• CRA myAccount online
• Tax information Phone Service (TIPS)

Certainly! You can transfer funds, or even securities directly into your RRSP from a different Questrade account type.

Internal transfers can take 2-3 business days to process. Due to this, we recommend setting up your transfer a few business days prior to the RRSP contribution deadline on March 1, 2021. The last date and time to request such a transfer is 11:59 pm on March 1, 2021.

Depending on the outgoing account type, this transfer may have additional tax implications, we strongly recommend chatting with a tax professional if you’re interested in this option. 

(I.e. A transfer of shares out of a Margin account may trigger a capital gain in the eyes of the CRA.)

You can easily request an internal transfer online:

1. Log in to Questrade
2. Go to Accounts > Requests in the navigation bar at the top of the page.
3. Click “Transfer funds” or “Transfer investments”
4. Select the originating account & the destination accounts from the drop-down menus.
5. Input the dollar amount & currency, or if transferring shares, the symbol & quantity.

If you’ve over-contributed more than $2,000 CAD (or CAD equivalent) to your RRSP, no need to worry! We can help “reverse” or cancel your contribution if needed, but only under the following circumstances:

1. You have not traded or invested the funds.
2. You contact us within 60 days of the over-contribution.

We can issue an amended tax slip in the case of an over-contribution, please allow for 2-3 weeks for this to be processed once you have contacted us.

You will not receive a contribution slip for your Tax Free Savings Account.

This is because contributions to a TFSA are not tax-deductible, and any withdrawals are completely tax-free. Therefore, deposits into a TFSA cannot be claimed as a tax credit the same way RRSP contributions can, and no tax slip or contribution receipt is generated.

If you’d like to track your Questrade TFSA contributions:

1. Log in to Questrade
2. Go to Accounts > Reports in the navigation bar at the top of the page.
3. Select “account activity”.

On this page you can filter by activity type, and if you select deposits only, you can easily track your total contributions into your TFSA.