TFSA contribution limit info has been unavailable since mid-April, CRA confirms | Tax Free Savings Accounts | Discussion forum

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Yet another example ⬆ of the Inefficient/Ineffective BLOAT at the CRA ❗

The Bigger it gets ... the Worse it gets.

Dean

The CRA makes it very clear that keeping track of one's TFSA contribution status is the responsibility of the depositor.

RetirEd said
The CRA makes it very clear that keeping track of one's TFSA contribution status is the responsibility of the depositor.  

Government of Canada states that information on TFSA contribution room is available from My Account.

https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/forms-publications/publications/rc4466/tax-free-savings-account-tfsa-guide-individuals.html#P44_1120

RetirEd said
...but they have admitted that it can't be relied on, especially in the current year. The reporting from financial institutions is spotty and often incomplete.

Mind you, they don't put that on their web site. They have told me so by phone.  

I have real trouble believing that financial institutions don’t provide the required information to CRA. And if they don’t then CRA has tools to correct the problem.

CRA is there to provide a service. And their service has been atrocious recently. Lack of TFSA information is just one minor issue among a host of more serious problems, causing major headaches to the taxpayers and accountants alike. It's a mess, getting worse fast.

AltaRed said
Hand holding is getting to be extreme in so many ways. Pretty soon we are going to have a population of incompetents who cannot write cursive, spell without autocorrect, do simple math without a calculator, pay their bills, keep track of their ACB of their various holdings, do simple tax returns, and keep track of their contribution limits for registered accounts.  

I nominate this for best post ever. Although the "pretty soon" seems to be upon us already.

AltaRed said
Apparently the same system (software) changes that provided the interface between tax slip senders (employers, FIs, etc.) and CRA also affect FI reporting of registered account information (TFSA et al). CRA botched the revisions and/or the communication of same.

Regardless, it is still up to the account holder to know what their contribution limits are. MyAccount is a tool to aid in such but the account holder is responsible and accountable.

Hand holding is getting to be extreme in so many ways. Pretty soon we are going to have a population of incompetents who cannot write cursive, spell without autocorrect, do simple math without a calculator, pay their bills, keep track of their ACB of their various holdings, do simple tax returns, and keep track of their contribution limits for registered accounts.  

We are already there.
Similarly, the OECD warns that Canada has been packing millions of new workers into its labour force without any comparable increase in “productivity-enhancing investment.”
On top of this, the report notes that while Canada used to prioritize high-skilled immigrants such as doctors and engineers, its migration flows are now mostly comprised of low-skilled workers.
https://nationalpost.com/opinion/high-immigration-is-worsening-canadas-economic-problems-says-report

RetirEd said
mordko: Just look at our discussions here about missing, botched or doubled tax slips from the mass of small, scrabbling and buying-out financial institutions. I have no problem seeing much of the TFSA reporting a mess.

You can think all you like but the fact is that it has nothing to do with financial institutions and is 100% CRA. Which should have been obvious as TFSA information has been available on the CRA site for many years until 2025. Same goes for tax slips.

Norman1 said

mordko said

You can think all you like but the fact is that it has nothing to do with financial institutions and is 100% CRA. Which should have been obvious as TFSA information has been available on the CRA site for many years until 2025. Same goes for tax slips.

Not true. The information there has had problems for years.

People have overcontributed to their TFSA in the past because of inaccurate TFSA information on CRA's site.

Tax preparers have known that the Auto-fill is not always complete and they need to check that all the slips client provides shows up after the download from CRA.

That amended T5 slip for Hubert from Access CU still has not shown up in my CRA myAccount. It is over a year now since the amended slip was issued.

Access CU did screw up the amended T5 slip. Amended slips are supposed to be identical to the original except for amended numbers and the box to indicate that it is an amending slip. That not the case if one compares the amended slip to the original one.  

That’s irrelevant to the basic point. In other words, its obfuscation.

TFSA information on CRA website has been available for the previous year, once financial institutions submit their data for that year. So, not in “real time” and wouldn’t reflect your January contribution for same year. But thats detail and TFSA information has been available for years and its true
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Used to be a very helpful service. For example to check that my assumptions on how FIs reported various transfer incentives are accurate. Its always a good practice to check your TFSA contribution data against CRA MyAccount. Or rather it used to be.

As for slips, the fact an odd institution may have screwed up once or twice is neither here nor there. Accountants are pulling hair because what used to be easy now takes a lot of time and generates a lot more errors. Its a difference between having to check something and having to start from scratch, do it all manually and try to figure out whats missing. People are nowhere near as good at collecting all the T slips as the system used to be. Same goes for individuals. Lots of slips come in different forms and at different times and it used to be good practice to check that you haven’t missed anything on CRA’s website.

And these are just some of the issues, there is lots more. Level of competence of CRA staff has taken a beating as well.

Its a mess. Some of it is basic government mismanagement but the bottom line is that CRA is providing service which is deteriorating fast and lack of TFSA information is one example.

AltaRed said
I agree CRA service and competence has gone down the toilet but I still assert it is the taxpayer's responsibility to keep their own records. IOW, if you can't swim, stay out of the water.  

It is almost impossible to keep one's own records regarding distributions for ETF and Mutual Fund as these distributions consist of interest, dividends, capital gains, and return of capital. The T5/T3 arrive after year end with the allocations schedule supporting the T5/T3. The last of the T5s and T3s only just arrived in mid May. The CRA My Account was incomplete until mid May and of not much use for preparing 2024 tax return in April 2025. Hopefully next year will be better.

canadian.100: I have no help regarding distributions and the like. Don't quote me. But there has been a lot of upheaval in the finance industry this past year, what with mergers, takeovers, rebrandings, launching and regulatory changes. And a mess of staff churn as a result.

I see no reason to assume all problems are due to CRA staff.