Tax season is still months away. Doing 3 things now could help you later – National

Canadians still have a couple of months before tax season begins, but less than two weeks remain to take advantage of strategies that could help set you up to get more money back when it comes time to file.

Although tax filings usually begin in late February, many contributions and withdrawals need to be made by Dec. 31, 2025, to qualify for any tax savings or investing benefits in your upcoming filings.

That includes maximizing your registered retirement savings plan and any planned withdrawals from your retirement income fund, contributing and checking that you aren’t over the limits for your tax-free savings account, and donating to charities or other causes that can result in a tax refund.

Here’s what to know about each.

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A registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) helps grow wealth over time that can help support a Canadian taxpayer when it comes time to retire.

The deadline to contribute to your RRSP is March 2, 2026, according to the Canada Revenue Agency.

The CRA also has specific guidelines and rules to follow for withdrawals from RRSPs and related accounts, which can come with additional taxes depending on the timing.

One tax specialist says withdrawals can sometimes actually help to lower how much tax you pay — but that deadline is at the end of 2025.

“We have sort of a graduated system rate system where the more you earn, the higher your tax rate, generally speaking, until you reach the maximum, so take advantage of your marginal tax rates,” says Ryan Minor, director of tax at Chartered Professional Accountants Canada.

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“If your income is lower than usual, or you have more money in your RRSPs than you will ever need, one useful tip is to withdraw, to use up your low marginal rates; that has to be done by the end of the year.”

Most Canadians who have been building up their retirement savings over time with an RRSP will eventually convert the account to what’s called a registered retirement income fund (RRIF). This essentially converts the retirement money from an investment into an account that funds your retirement and can be put towards day-to-day expenses.

The RRIF allows the owner to withdraw smaller amounts of money each year over the course of their retirement, which means having to pay less tax each year those withdrawals are made. But there is a minimum amount that must be withdrawn by Dec. 31 of each year.

“The CRA doesn’t want you sheltering your retirement savings indefinitely, so by Dec. 31, you have to withdraw a certain amount from your RRIF based on what it was worth on Jan. 1, 2025,” Clay Jarvis, a mortgage and banking expert at NerdWallet Canada, says in a written note.

“If you fail to withdraw the minimum, your bank might force a payment for you that you have no control over.”

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When it comes to tax-free savings accounts (TFSAs), the end of the calendar year marks the deadline for making contributions as well as withdrawals before the limits reset in the new year.

The TFSA contribution limit for 2025 is $7,000, and the CRA also says the limit will be the same next year.

If someone wants to make the most of investing tax-free using their TFSA, they would need to add funds to their account up to that amount by Dec. 31; otherwise, it will count towards the following year.

Jarvis stresses that Canadians should make sure they aren’t over the limit by the end of the year.

“If you’ve been especially proactive with your TFSA contributions this year, double-check to make sure you haven’t overcontributed. If you have, calculate the overage and get it out of there to reduce the tax hit you’re in for,” Jarvis says.

Similar rules apply for withdrawing from your TFSA, in that there is a maximum you can take out of an account each calendar year. If you take out too much, you can be penalized, and the withdrawal limit resets on Jan. 1, 2026.

This means if you are saving up for a big-ticket purchase in the new year, it may be worthwhile to take out the money before Dec. 31, so that your withdrawal counts for the limit this year and not in 2026.

“If you have to withdraw (from your TFSA), and you’re close to the maximum already, it may make sense to withdraw on or before Dec. 31 because you get your limit back Jan. 1,” Minor says.

“Say you withdrew $20,000 this year. Generally speaking, you’re able to put it back in; however, there’s a timing issue. You’re only able to get that room back the first day of the next year. So that $20,000 will not get added to your available limit until the next year.”

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Most of the time, a charitable donation will reduce the amount of income tax people will pay when it comes to filing their returns.

With charitable donations, both Jarvis and Minor also remind Canadians that if they want to pay less income tax through these types of contributions, they must also be made and processed by the end of 2025.

A tax receipt for a charitable donation is an important document to verify the contribution, and the CRA has guidelines to ensure the receipts are accurate for tax filing.

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