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Examples - Tax payable on excess TFSA amount

Example 1
Theresa is a 31-year-old Canadian resident. She opened a TFSA on February 6, 2009, and contributed $5,000 at that time. In February 2010, she contributed $3,000. Later in the year, she received a windfall of $4,100. She forgot that her contribution limit for 2010 was $5,000, and she decided to contribute the entire $4,100 to her TFSA on October 28, 2010.

After making this contribution, Theresa had an excess TFSA amount of $2,100 in her account. This is because her total contributions as of October 28, 2010 were $7,100 ($3,000 + $4,100), which exceeded her available contribution room of $5,000 for 2010.

Assuming Theresa made no further TFSA contributions and no withdrawals during the remainder of 2010, she would have to pay a tax of $63 on her excess TFSA amount. This amount was calculated as 1% per month for each of October to December × the highest excess amount in each month. In other words, $2,100 × 1% × 3 months = $63.

If, after making her $4,100 contribution on October 30, 2010, Theresa had realized her mistake and had withdrawn $2,100 on October 31, 2010, she would still have to pay the 1% tax on the excess TFSA amount of $2,100 but only for the month of October. Her tax payable would have been $21 ($2,100 × 1% × 1 month).

Example 2
Jamal is a 43-year-old Canadian resident. He opened his TFSA in 2009 and made a $5,000 contribution in October 2009. In 2010, Jamal made the following transactions during that year:

Contribution on January 6	$4,000
Contribution on March 10	$500
Contribution on June 3	$2,700
Withdrawal on October 2	$800

Jamal's contribution room for 2010 was $5,000. The first contribution that created the excess TFSA amount was the $2,700 contribution on June 3, 2010. As of that date, his total contributions in 2010 were $7,200 ($4,000 + $500 + $2,700). This means that as of June 3, he had an excess amount in his TFSA of $2,200 ($7,200 of total contributions minus $5,000 of contribution room).

Jamal has to pay a tax on his excess contributions. This tax was 1% of the highest excess TFSA amount in each month and applies until Jamal either withdraws the entire excess amount or until he becomes entitled to enough unused TFSA contribution room to absorb the excess.

In this example, Jamal's tax was $138 for 2010, calculated as follows:

Highest excess TFSA amount per month for January to May = $0. No tax applicable for those months.
Highest excess TFSA amount per month for June to October = $2,200. Tax = 1% per month on the highest excess amount = $2,200 × 1% × 5 months, which was $110.
Highest excess TFSA amount per month for November and December = $1,400. Tax = 1% per month on the excess amount = $1,400 x 1% x 2 months, which was $28.

Although Jamal withdrew $800 in October, the tax was calculated based on the highest excess TFSA amount in each month. The highest excess TFSA amount in October was still $2,200.

For the months of November and December, Jamal still had an excess TFSA amount, but because of the withdrawal he made, his remaining excess TFSA amount for those last two months was $1,400 (the prior excess amount of $2,200 less the withdrawal of $800).

Therefore, in total for 2010, his tax was $138 ($110 for June to October + $28 for November to December).

Example 3
Luisa is a 60-year-old Canadian resident. She opened a TFSA in 2009 and contributed $5,000 at that time. On June 18, 2010, she received a $12,000 bonus from work. She decided to contribute the entire amount on June 25, 2010.

Since the TFSA dollar limit for each year from 2009 to 2012 is $5,000 and assuming Luisa makes no further contributions or withdrawals, she has to pay a tax on an excess TFSA amount in both 2010 and 2011. The amount of tax payable for each of those years was calculated as follows:

2010
After making her $12,000 contribution on June 25, Luisa had an excess TFSA amount of $7,000 ($12,000 less her TFSA dollar limit of $5,000). The highest excess TFSA amount that remained in her account was $7,000 for every month from June to December. This means she was subject to a tax payable of $490 ($7,000 × 1% × 7 months).

2011
Luisa's unused TFSA contribution room at the end of 2010 was negative (-) $7,000. On January 1, 2011, she became entitled to her 2011 TFSA dollar limit of $5,000. Although this helped to reduce the excess TFSA amount from $7,000 to $2,000, it did not completely absorb it. Luisa continued to have an excess TFSA amount of $2,000 in her account through all of 2011. She had to pay a tax of $240 ($2,000 × 1% × 12 months).

2012
Luisa's unused TFSA contribution room at the end of 2011 was negative (-) $2,000. As of January 1, 2012, she was entitled to a new TFSA dollar limit of $5,000. This fully eliminated or absorbed the excess TFSA amount in her account. Luisa had available contribution room for $3,000 and, as long as she does not contribute more than this amount to her TFSA through the remainder of 2012, she would not have to pay any tax on an excess TFSA amount for 2012.