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What changed for investors in Canada

Last updated: January 1, 2026

Canadian reform in this period has been unusually consistent on consumer protection and unusually erratic on tax.

The protection side reads as a steady sequence. Deferred sales charge funds and trailing commissions on discount-broker accounts were banned in June 2022, removing two of the costliest structures sold to retail investors. IIROC and the MFDA merged into a single self-regulatory organisation, CIRO, in January 2023. Canadian markets moved to T+1 settlement in May 2024, a day ahead of most of Europe. Each of these lowers cost or friction without asking the investor to do anything.

Tax was the opposite. Budget 2024 proposed raising the capital gains inclusion rate from one-half to two-thirds above a threshold, effective June 2024. Investors spent months restructuring around a measure that was deferred, and then cancelled outright in March 2025. The lesson for a long-term plan is not the rate itself but the whipsaw: decisions taken to pre-empt an announced tax change turned out to be the expensive ones.

Registered accounts continued to expand. The Tax-Free First Home Savings Account launched in April 2023, combining a deduction on the way in with tax-free growth and withdrawal for a first home; the Home Buyers' Plan limit rose to $60,000 in April 2024. The CPP enhancement began phasing in from January 2019, gradually raising both contributions and the eventual replacement rate. And in February 2021 Toronto listed the world's first Bitcoin ETF, well ahead of the United States. The TFSA annual limit, by contrast, was rolled back to $5,500 in 2016 after a single year at $10,000.

Key figures and taxes: investing in Canada →

Changes in this section

All 11Tax law 5Retirement 2Regulation 5Products 4Market 1Best practice 2Contribution limits 311 entries

RegulationBest practiceProducts

Total Cost Reporting takes effect for funds and segregated funds

On 1 January 2026 the Total Cost Reporting enhancements published by the Canadian Securities Administrators and the Canadian Council of Insurance Regulators in April 2023 came into force. Dealers and insurers must now show each client, in the annual report on charges and compensation, the fund expense ratio of every mutual fund, ETF and segregated fund held and the aggregate dollar amount of fund expenses actually borne over the year — costs that were previously embedded in the fund and never itemised for the investor — with the first enhanced reports covering calendar 2026 and arriving in January 2027. For long-term investors this closes the biggest gap in Canadian fee disclosure: the drag of management and trading costs becomes a number on a statement rather than a percentage in a prospectus.

What this means for you

When the January 2027 statements arrive, compare the dollar cost of each fund with the value it adds — a portfolio of high-fee funds will show its price in plain figures for the first time.

Sources: Canadian Securities Administrators · CIRO – Enhanced Cost Reporting

Tax law

Capital gains inclusion-rate hike cancelled

On March 21, 2025, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced the cancellation of the proposed increase of the capital gains inclusion rate from 50% to 66.67%, after Finance had already deferred its effective date from June 25, 2024 to January 1, 2026 on January 31, 2025. The inclusion rate therefore remains at 50% for all capital gains, while the increase of the Lifetime Capital Gains Exemption to $1.25 million was kept. Long-term investors who accelerated gain realization or restructured portfolios in anticipation of the hike can revert to normal buy-and-hold tax planning.

What this means for you

Back to normal buy-and-hold tax planning — no reason to accelerate gain realization, and restructurings done for the cancelled hike can be unwound where sensible.

Sources: Scotia Wealth Management · Doane Grant Thornton

Tax law

Budget 2024 proposes higher capital gains inclusion rate

The April 16, 2024 federal budget proposed raising the capital gains inclusion rate from one-half to two-thirds for corporations, trusts, and individuals on gains above $250,000 per year, with a proposed effective date of June 25, 2024 (the date given here). Although never legislated and ultimately cancelled in March 2025, the proposal prompted many investors to crystallize gains before the deadline and reshaped tax planning for over a year. It is a cautionary example that proposed tax changes can drive behaviour long before (or without) enactment.

What this means for you

A cautionary tale against pre-emptive action: crystallizing gains on an announced-but-unlegislated tax change proved costly — wait for enactment before restructuring.

Sources: PwC Canada · KPMG Canada

MarketRegulation

Canadian markets move to T+1 settlement

Effective May 27, 2024, Canadian equity and bond trades settle one business day after the trade date (T+1) instead of two, one day ahead of the matching US transition. For long-term investors this means faster access to cash after selling and quicker delivery of securities after buying, which matters for rebalancing, RRIF withdrawals, and moving money between registered accounts near contribution deadlines.

What this means for you

Sale proceeds arrive a day sooner — useful for rebalancing, RRIF withdrawals and moving money between registered accounts near contribution deadlines.

Sources: Bank of Canada · Canadian Securities Administrators

RetirementContribution limitsTax law

Home Buyers' Plan limit raised to $60,000

Budget 2024 increased the RRSP Home Buyers' Plan withdrawal limit from $35,000 to $60,000, effective for withdrawals made after April 16, 2024, and temporarily extended the repayment grace period to five years for withdrawals made between 2022 and 2025. Combined with the FHSA, a first-time buyer can now deploy substantially more tax-sheltered savings toward a down payment, changing the optimal split between RRSP, FHSA, and TFSA for home-savers.

What this means for you

Home-savers should recompute the optimal split between RRSP, FHSA and TFSA — substantially more tax-sheltered money can now go toward a down payment.

Sources: Investment Executive

ProductsTax lawContribution limits

FHSA launches for first-time home buyers

The Tax-Free First Home Savings Account became legally available on April 1, 2023, combining RRSP-style deductible contributions with TFSA-style tax-free growth and withdrawals for a first home, up to $8,000 per year and $40,000 lifetime. Unused funds can be rolled into an RRSP tax-free within 15 years, making the FHSA a near-riskless first priority account for anyone who might ever buy a first home. Major banks only offered it gradually, with all Big Six on board by November 2023.

What this means for you

Anyone who might ever buy a first home should open an FHSA early to start contribution room and the 15-year clock — worst case, the funds roll into the RRSP tax-free.

Sources: Wikipedia (First home savings account) · Canada Revenue Agency

Regulation

IIROC and MFDA merge into single regulator (CIRO)

On January 1, 2023, Canada's two investment-industry self-regulatory organizations, IIROC and MFDA, amalgamated into a single new SRO, renamed the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization (CIRO) in 2023; the two investor protection funds also merged into a single Canadian Investor Protection Fund. Retail investors now have one national regulator and one protection fund covering both mutual fund dealers and investment dealers, simplifying complaints, enforcement, and account-coverage rules.

Sources: Wikipedia (CIRO) · CIRO

RegulationBest practiceProducts

DSC funds and discount-broker trailers banned

Effective June 1, 2022, Canadian securities regulators banned the deferred sales charge (DSC) purchase option on mutual funds nationwide and prohibited fund companies from paying trailing commissions to order-execution-only (discount) dealers that provide no advice. This capped the CSA's Client Focused Reforms, whose enhanced conflict-of-interest rules took effect June 30, 2021. Long-term DIY investors on discount platforms no longer pay embedded advice fees they receive nothing for, and locked-in redemption penalties on new fund purchases are gone.

What this means for you

DIY investors on discount platforms stopped paying embedded advice fees for nothing — legacy DSC and trailer-bearing fund holdings are worth reviewing and replacing.

Sources: Mondaq (Borden Ladner Gervais) · Canadian Securities Administrators

ProductsRegulation

World's first Bitcoin ETF lists in Toronto

The Ontario Securities Commission approved the Purpose Bitcoin ETF, which began trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange under ticker BTCC on February 18, 2021, as the world's first exchange-traded fund holding physically settled bitcoin. It gave Canadian retail investors regulated, registered-account-eligible (TFSA/RRSP) crypto exposure without self-custody or offshore platforms, opening a new asset-allocation option years before US spot Bitcoin ETFs existed.

What this means for you

Crypto exposure became possible inside TFSAs and RRSPs without self-custody — turning Bitcoin into an ordinary asset-allocation decision rather than a platform risk.

Sources: Mondaq (McCarthy Tétrault) · The Globe and Mail

Retirement

CPP enhancement phase-in begins

Starting January 1, 2019, Canada Pension Plan contribution rates were phased up from 4.95% to 5.95% of pensionable earnings (by 2023), followed by a second phase from January 2024 that added CPP2 contributions of 4% on a new higher earnings ceiling (YAMPE, $68,500–$73,200 in 2024). The enhancement is designed to raise the maximum CPP retirement benefit by roughly 50% for full-career contributors, meaning younger workers can expect a larger guaranteed, inflation-indexed pension and may adjust their private savings targets accordingly.

What this means for you

Younger workers can factor a roughly 50% higher guaranteed, inflation-indexed CPP benefit into retirement projections and adjust private savings targets downward accordingly.

Sources: Investment Executive (Jamie Golombek) · Government of Canada

Contribution limitsTax law

TFSA annual limit rolled back to $5,500

Effective January 1, 2016, the new Liberal government cut the TFSA annual contribution limit from the one-time $10,000 (2015) back to $5,500 and restored inflation indexing in $500 steps. Accumulated room was preserved, and indexing has since lifted the annual limit to $6,000 (2019), $6,500 (2023), and $7,000 (2024 and 2025). The rollback permanently reduced the pace at which Canadians can build tax-free investment room, making early and full TFSA use more valuable for long-term compounding.

What this means for you

Slower growth of tax-free room makes early, full TFSA contributions each January more valuable — and tracking cumulative room worthwhile.

Sources: MoneySense · The Globe and Mail

Rules change; the arithmetic does not. Put your own contributions, rate and horizon into the calculator and see what a change is worth over twenty years.

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By country

Austria

The 27.5% KESt, crypto pulled inside the ordinary tax net, MiFID II — and a holding-period exemption promised by two governments and enacted by neither.

European Union

MiFID II and PRIIPs, the payment-for-order-flow ban, ELTIF 2.0 and PEPP, and the Savings and Investments Union now being built on top of them.

Germany

The 2018 fund tax reform and the Vorabpauschale, a doubled saver's allowance, the ETF savings-plan boom, and two retirement reforms arriving in 2027.

Italy

PIR accounts and BTP Valore, a crypto tax regime rewritten twice in three years, and the auto-enrolment that now moves severance pay into pension funds.

Switzerland

Retroactive pillar 3a buy-ins, AHV 21, the end of negative interest rates, the abolished imputed rental value, and the reforms voters turned down.

United States

The SECURE Acts, commissions falling to zero, spot Bitcoin ETFs, the TCJA and its 2025 sequel, and the fiduciary rules that courts struck down twice.

By topic

Tax law

How investment income is taxed keeps moving: allowances and rates, the Vorabpauschale, new crypto regimes, and Canada's cancelled capital gains hike.

Retirement

The vehicles people actually retire on: SECURE 2.0, pillar 3a buy-ins, the CPP enhancement, TFR auto-enrolment and Germany's new retirement depots.

Regulation

MiFID II, PRIIPs, FIDLEG, the payment-for-order-flow ban and the fiduciary rules that failed in court — how the selling of products was rewritten.

Products

ETF savings plans, spot Bitcoin ETFs, PIR and FHSA accounts, BTP Valore and ELTIF 2.0: what savers can buy, and at what cost, keeps widening.

Market

The end of negative interest rates, the inflation squeeze, T+1 settlement and zero-commission trading — shifts that changed long-term arithmetic.

Best practice

Where standard advice was revised: trading costs at zero, banned sales charges, standardised fund disclosure, and what negative real rates did to cash.

Contribution limits

Limit changes large enough to alter a savings plan: Germany's doubled saver's allowance, retroactive pillar 3a buy-ins, TFSA, FHSA and catch-up rules.