2017 TFSA contribution limit | Tax Free Savings Accounts | Discussion forum

But, for everyday common "Individuals and families" CRA did not posted yet that "great" TFSA contribution limit for 2017:

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/nd.....n-eng.html

Is it legal to lend money to a family member for them to deposit into their TFSA and then split the interest generated when they close the account and return the principal to you?

If you put your money into someone else's TFSA that's a gift to them, it's a deposit made by them, and it (and any money it earns) is now legally theirs. And of course, two people can agree to do whatever they like with that money when it comes out, so if they want to give you some of their interest that's fine. TFSAs have no tax consequences, assuming no-one puts more into their TFSA than they're limited to.

Interesting article.this is exactly what I meant.I thought lending rather than gifting would get around the attribution rules but I see in the comments section many people would mistrust their children's use of the funds. One of the best comments is by AndrewWoburn: "As a former tax advisor, based on what information is given here, I believe Ann is home free as long as she has no legally enforceable right to the income from the children’s TFSA. If she gives them money freely and they choose to give her money back of their own free will, that is a private matter.
However the moment they have to pay her, that is a different animal and would certainly invite an attack by CRA. Remember the first principle of effective tax enforcement is to hang some hapless miscreant high in the village square to discourage a million others. Ann doesn’t want to become that target.
Anyone who would enter into such an arrangement without an enforceable agreement is a dreamer. Apart from anything else already mentioned in previous comments, the children’s creditors could have rights to their TFSA accounts. To the best of my knowledge, only third party lenders can take security over TFSA assets so Ann cannot protect “her” assets.
In my view, the financial and personal relationship risks totally outweigh the somewhat marginal benefits of this scheme. There are cleaner ways to defer income for retirement such as borrowing to buy high quality REITS and deducting current interest costs."

Good point. Clearly a bad idea for several reasons.

Norman1, you are painting a very nice picture of family and inter-generational financial relationships, and referring to all these "grateful" young folks. True, but things often happen or change, e.g. new spouses or partners enter the picture, or another sibling being upset they're not getting a similar advantage, and so on. Not to be cynical, but tread very, very carefully in this stuff would be my advice.

And on "granny mortgage", wouldn't CRA take the view the legal agreement is a sham (who gets interest-free mortgages?), the annual "gift" (which happens to approximate what a 5-year GIC pays) is actually interest income of the grandparents, in your example? (Again, how CRA would ever find out is another topic.)

threeoakwest said
I thought the Liberals said they would raise the limit by the cost of living increase, or something like that, each year when they dropped the yearly limit from $10000.00 to $5500.00  

The Liberals restored the original limit and the original indexing (that's in increments of $500).

This is the exact calculation in the Income Tax Act, from my previous post:

9. (1) The definition “TFSA dollar limit” in subsection 207.01(1) of the Act is amended by striking out “and” at the end of paragraph (b) and by replacing paragraph (c) with the following:

(c) for 2015, $10,000; and

(d) for each year after 2015, the amount (rounded to the nearest multiple of $500, or if that amount is equidistant from two such consecutive multiples, to the higher multiple) that is equal to $5,000 adjusted for each year after 2009 in the manner set out in section 117.1.