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By Allan Norman, MSc, CFP, CIM on July 29, 2025
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

By Allan Norman, MSc, CFP, CIM on July 29, 2025
Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

It matters how you designate a spouse on your TFSA should you die before they do. Successor holders get the best (and speediest) tax treatment.

I have a question about TFSAs that I have not seen being answered anywhere. My problem is as follows: In 2009, both my husband and myself started to make the total allowable contributions to our individual TFSA accounts. When my husband passed away in 2020 the balance in his TFSA at that time was “rolled over” into my personal TFSA (we had signed up for this possibility right in 2009). Since 2020, I have continued to make my maximum allowable contributions. My question is now: When my late husband’s TFSA balance was added to my own (I was his designated beneficiary), how did that affect my own lifetime allowable contribution limit? I’m beginning to think that I may have been over-contributing these last few years unwittingly, unless his accumulated contributions did not affect mine.

—Rolina

Rolina, I suspect you are in good shape and you have not overcontributed to your tax-free savings account (TFSA), but you may want to check with Canada Revenue Agency’s My Account service. (If you don’t already have a personal My Account portal, you can sign up for one for free.) When your husband’s TFSA was rolled into your TFSA, it........

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