Skip to main content

When is the RESP contribution deadline?

Updated July 18, 2025

December 31, 2025.

Unlike some other accounts with tough-to-remember contribution cutoff dates, the RESP annual deadline couldn’t be easier to memorize. If you intend to contribute for the current year, you may contribute into an RESP up until the final day of the year, December 31. So if it’s 11 PM on New Year’s Eve right now, you might want to put down the champagne and get depositing right away. Need a reason to prioritize contributing to your child’s RESP??

It’s a great option to save for a kid’s higher education - whether they’re your own child, your grandchild, or just some lucky kid with a generous benefactor - for two main reasons. First, there’s a government program called the Canada Education Savings Grant (CESG) which will match a portion of your contribution—20% on up to $2,500 of contributions, or $500 dollars a year, up to a lifetime per-kid maximum of $7,200. And second, the value of the RESP will grow tax-deferred. When it comes time to withdraw, the educational assistance payments, which include investment earnings and government grants, are taxable to the student (who usually have a lower tax rate), and the original contributions can be withdrawn tax-free.

Wealthsimple’s Learn pages are meant to be educational. Every story is sourced from and vetted by subject matter experts, and produced by journalists with decades of media experience — people whose primary goal is to teach you something, rather than sell you something. While there may be links included in the article about products that are offered by Wealthsimple Investments Inc. (“Wealthsimple”) or one of its affiliates, these articles are not investment advice, a recommendation to buy or sell assets or securities, or any other kind of professional advice. If you are interested in learning about how Wealthsimple products or features work, please visit the Help Centre. If you are interested in knowing which products are offered by Wealthsimple and which are offered by affiliates, we’ve got a page to help you with that, too.

Open an account for your investing and saving goals