Requires Disability Tax Credit approval
Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP)
A savings account the government pays into alongside you.
$3,500 a year is the most the government will add to match contributions, up to $70,000 over a lifetime. At some income levels a $1,500 contribution attracts the full amount.
What it is
A long-term savings account. The federal government adds a grant that matches what you put in, and — for lower incomes — a bond that is paid even if you contribute nothing at all. That second part is the one most people do not know about.
Who it is for
Anyone approved for the Disability Tax Credit who is under 60. It can be opened by the person themselves, or by a parent or guardian. Two ages matter more than that one: the grant and the bond are only paid on the years up to 31 December of the year you turn 49, so opening one at 50 gets you the account without the government money.
What you need first
Disability Tax Credit approval, a Social Insurance Number, and filed tax returns for the years you want counted.
How to apply
Through a bank or credit union that offers them. Not all do — ask before you go in.
What it leads to
Unclaimed grant and bond room can be carried forward from past years, so opening one late does not lose everything you were entitled to.
What it is worth
- $3,500 a year
- is the most the government will add to match contributions, up to $70,000 over a lifetime. At some income levels a $1,500 contribution attracts the full amount.
- The match rate depends on family income, and the grant is only paid on contributions made up to 31 December of the year the beneficiary turns 49.
- $1,000 a year
- is paid into the plan of a lower-income beneficiary who contributes nothing at all, up to $20,000 over a lifetime. This is the part almost nobody knows about.
- The full bond goes to the lowest incomes and reduces as family income rises. An application for the bond is still required — the plan alone does not trigger it.
Read the bond line twice. It is paid even if you never put in a dollar of your own — which makes this the one program here that rewards the lowest income rather than the highest. Both the grant and the bond have to be applied for; opening the plan alone does not start them.
Government sets these figures. The amounts are adjusted most years in July; the rest change when a new report is published. Beside each one is the day somebody last opened the official page and confirmed it — so you can see how fresh the number is rather than take it on trust.
- Employment and Social Development Canada, published 2026 · current programme limits (opens in a new tab) Checked August 4, 2026
The official page
Always the final word on rules, amounts and forms:
See what you may qualify for.
About four minutes. Nothing is shared with the government.