Key Dates & Limits
The numbers and dates you look up once a year and can never quite remember — the 2026 contribution limits and every CRA tax deadline, in one place, sourced and kept current.
Deadlines slide later and payments slide earlier. When a CRA due date lands on a weekend it moves to the next business day, which is why the RRSP cut-off is March 2 this year and the first instalment March 16. When a benefit date lands on one, the money goes out before it, never after — so the Canada child benefit lands on the 19th in June, the 18th in September and the 11th in December instead of the 20th. Every date on this page that looks slightly off is one of those two rules at work, and the three pages under it carry a live count to whichever date is next.
January to March
The limits reset on the first of the year: $7,000 of new TFSA room, an RRSP dollar limit of $33,810 (or 18% of 2025 earned income, whichever is less), another $8,000 of FHSA room toward the $40,000 lifetime cap, and payroll's CPP and EI ceilings — $74,600 and $68,900 — start counting again from zero, which is why January cheques shrink for anyone whose deductions had stopped in the autumn. March 2 is the last day an RRSP contribution can be deducted against 2025. March 16 is the first instalment for anyone paying tax quarterly.
April to June
April 30 is the date everything else on this site points back to: the 2025 return is due, and so is any balance owing — including for the self-employed, whose filing date is June 15 but whose money is not. June 15 is also the second instalment. Nothing about the benefits schedule changes in this stretch; the CCB, OAS and CPP keep to their monthly rhythm.
July to September
July is the reset the deadlines were leading up to. The CCB is recalculated on 2025 adjusted family net income and the new amount runs to June 2027; the GST/HST credit becomes the Canada Groceries and Essentials Benefit, paid July 3; and the OAS recovery tax period opens on 2025 income. Nobody has to do anything in July — it is where the filing you did in April turns into next year's benefit. September 15 is the third instalment.
October to December
October 5 is the second Groceries and Essentials payment. December 15 is the last instalment, and the end of the year is when the payments schedule pulls forward: the CCB on December 11, and OAS, GIS and CPP on December 22 rather than in the last banking days of the month, so they clear before the holidays. Somewhere in the same weeks the CRA publishes the following year's limits, and this section is re-checked against them when they land.
Benefit Payment Dates
Every 2026 OAS, CPP and GIS date on the shared Service Canada schedule, plus the Canada child benefit, the GST/HST credit (now Groceries & Essentials) and Ontario Trillium "Canada PRO" — with a countdown to the next payment.
2026 Contribution Limits
TFSA, RRSP (limit and deadline), FHSA, RESP and its grant, plus the CPP and EI maximums — the current number for each, with the rule behind it and a link to the calculator it feeds.
2026 Tax Deadlines
Every date for your 2025 return — filing, payment, the self-employed extension, the RRSP cut-off, and the four instalment dates — with how many days are left until the next one.