In addition to providing for your future, contributing to an RRSP/PRPP can have a big impact on reducing the amount of tax you have to pay. Keep in mind, you don’t always need to claim the entire amount you contributed in a given year in order to maximize your return.

For example:

While Katie was completing her 2017 return, she remembered that last year, she had contributed a total of $2,500 to her RRSP, but she only used $1,500 of it on her return to reduce her taxes to zero. That means Katie now has $1,000 of unused RRSP contributions that she can claim in 2017 ($2,500 - $1,500 = $1,000). Using H&R Block’s tax software, Katie can enter $1,000 into the following field on the RRSP contributions and HBP or LLP repayments (Schedule 7) page.

Note: To find out what your unused contribution amount is for 2017, refer to your 2016 Notice of Assessment, Notice of Reassessment, or form T1028 (if applicable). If you’re downloading your information into your return from the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA)’s website using the AFR service, your RRSP contributions, deduction limit, and any unused amounts will also automatically download into your return.

If you don’t need to deduct all of your RRSP contributions for the year and don’t want to carry forward the unused contributions, you can withdraw the excess amount. However, if you decide to do this, you will have to include this amount as income on your return. Click here for more information on what to do with unused RRSP/PRPP contributions.