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When it comes to year-end tax planning, procrastination can cost you money. A friend of mine is the consummate procrastinator. Last year at this time, he developed an urgent need to alphabetize the spice rack and vacuum his baseboards. This year, he agreed to act to save tax – so we talked about the ideas I’m sharing today. Last week I wrote about RRSP strategies. Today, let’s look at the top year-end ideas for other registered plans.
RRIF Tips
Delay RRIF withdrawals. Prior to the federal election in April the Liberals promised to reduce the required minimum withdrawals from registered retirement income funds (RRIFs) by 25 per cent, for one year. We haven’t heard news yet on whether the government will make good on this promise. It’s worth waiting until after the federal budget on Nov. 4 before making your full RRIF withdrawals for 2025. Hopefully, we’ll get some clarity on this in the budget.
Other strategies. When it comes to your RRIF, consider converting some RRSP assets to a RRIF, to take advantage of the pension credit annually, making withdrawals annually rather than monthly to allow greater compounding in the plan, basing withdrawals on the age of the younger spouse, taking advantage of pension splitting, considering RRIF withdrawals to contribute to a tax-free savings account (TFSA), and naming your spouse as a successor annuitant. See my article from July 10, 2025, for more on these ideas.
TFSA tips
Know your TFSA room and use it. If you’re 18 or older, you can contribute up to $7,000 to a TFSA for 2025, plus any accumulated contribution room from prior years. If you were 18 or older back in 2009 when TFSAs were introduced and haven’t contributed yet, your accumulated TFSA contribution room is now $102,000 in 2025. You won’t get a deduction for contributions, but the assets can grow tax-free in the TFSA and withdrawals are tax-free later.
Other strategies. You might also consider making withdrawals before year-end to reduce the time you have to wait to recontribute those dollars to the plan, avoid carrying on a business in your TFSA, name a successor holder for your TFSA, and get rid of non-qualified investments before year-end. You can read more about these ideas in my article from Sept. 11, 2025.
FHSA tips
Contribute by year-end for a 2025 deduction. If you’re a first-time homebuyer and you’re 18 or older, be sure to open a first-home savings account (FHSA). You can contribute up to $8,000 for each year, to a $40,000 lifetime maximum. You’ll get a tax deduction for your allowable contributions similar to an RRSP, but unlike an RRSP you can’t make your 2025 contribution in the first 60 days of 2026. So, contribute by Dec. 31.
Consider an FHSA over an RRSP. Even if you have no intention of buying a home in the future, or you’re not sure you’ll buy a home, contributing to an FHSA can make sense. This will maintain your RRSP contribution room for future use, and if you don’t buy a home you can transfer your FHSA assets to an RRSP without affecting your RRSP contribution room. If you contribute to an RRSP first, you have the option to transfer those assets to an FHSA in the future to use up your FHSA room, but you won’t get back your RRSP contribution room at that time. So, the FHSA is the preferred savings vehicle. Do keep in mind that the FHSA can only exist for 15 years.
RESP tips
Front-end load your contributions. You can contribute up to $50,000 in a lifetime for a child to a registered education savings plan (RESP). The problem with contributing the full $50,000 up front is that you won’t be able to collect the full Canada Education Savings Grants offered (CESGs – up to $7,200 in the lifetime of a child) because the CESGs equal 20 per cent of your contributions to a maximum of $500 for each year. A $2,500 contribution in a year will give rise to the maximum $500 CESG. Contributions of $36,000 will, over time, allow you to access the maximum CESGs ($36,000 x 20 per cent is $7,200). So, consider front-loading the RESP with a contribution of $14,000 ($50,000 less $36,000) in the first year. You can add $2,500 to that figure, for a total of $16,500 in the first year, to get the maximum CESGs. The balance of the $50,000 can be contributed over the next 13 years at about $2,500 per year to maximize CESGs.
RDSP tips
Don’t forget about registered disability savings plans (RDSPs). If you or a family member qualifies for the disability tax credit, see my article from Jan. 23, 2025, for details and tips around these plans.
Tim Cestnick, FCPA, FCA, CPA(IL), CFP, TEP, is an author, and co-founder and CEO of Our Family Office Inc. He can be reached at tim@ourfamilyoffice.ca.