Money you put into a retirement savings plan can come off your income for the year. Line 20800 is where the RRSP deduction goes, and the contribution receipts your issuer sends you are what support it.
A registered retirement savings plan (RRSP) is a retirement savings plan that you establish, that the CRA registers, and to which you or your spouse or common-law partner contribute.
What you can claim
If you have received any contribution receipts, you may claim these as a deduction at line 20800. That includes contributions you made to your own plan and contributions you made to your spouse's or common-law partner's plan.
It also includes receipts for RRSP contributions an employer made to an RRSP for you, which is how a group plan at work usually shows up.
Deductible RRSP and pooled registered pension plan (PRPP) contributions can be used to reduce your income tax. Generally, any income you earn in the RRSP or PRPP is exempt from tax as long as the funds remain in the plan. However, you usually have to pay tax when you receive payments from these plans.
The dates on the receipt matter
An RRSP year does not line up with a calendar year, which is what trips people up. March 2, 2026, is the deadline for contributing to your RRSP for amounts you want to deduct on your 2025 income tax and benefit return.
If you file on paper, attach receipts for all contributions you made from March 4, 2025, to March 2, 2026, to your return. That includes:
- contributions you are not deducting on your return for 2025
- contributions you are designating as Home Buyers' Plan or Lifelong Learning Plan repayments
So the contribution date on the receipt is doing real work. A contribution made in the first weeks of a calendar year may belong to the previous tax year's window, and the receipt is the only thing that says so.
Contributions you do not deduct this year
You do not have to deduct everything you contributed. Undeducted contributions can be deducted in a later year, up to your deduction limit for that year. The receipt still has to be reported for the year you made the contribution, which is why the CRA asks for receipts covering contributions you are not deducting.
RRSP deduction limits are not transferable between spouses. Your own limit is yours; contributing to your spouse's or common-law partner's plan uses your room, not theirs.
Schedule 7
Read the instructions on Schedule 7 to find out if you have to fill it out. If you do, fill out Schedule 7, RRSP, PRPP and SPP Unused Contributions, Transfers, and HBP or LLP Activities, and attach it to your return. Then enter your RRSP deduction claim on line 20800.
What your receipt must show
Neither the CRA's line page nor its questions-and-answers page sets out the fields an RRSP contribution receipt has to carry. What the instructions turn on is:
- the contribution amount
- the contribution date, because it decides which year's window the contribution falls into
What to keep
Keep every RRSP contribution receipt you receive, including receipts for contributions you are not deducting this year and receipts for contributions an employer made to an RRSP for you. Keep your completed Schedule 7 with them if you had to fill one out.
If you file on paper, the receipts for the contribution window go in with the return.
Dossier tags an RRSP receipt when it arrives and files it under the tax year it belongs to, so the first-weeks-of-the-year receipts do not drift into the wrong pile.
Official CRA sources
Source: Canada Revenue Agency (canada.ca). Not tax advice.