For 2020, the annual limit is $6,000. If you have contribution room carried over from previous years, you can also use that. To find out how much contribution room you’ve carried over, you can:

• Call TIPS (Tax Information Phone Service) at 1-800-267-6999

• Visit the CRA site and log in to MyAccount

• Request a TFSA Room Statement from the CRA at 1-800-959-8281 (to check for hours of service and phone numbers for outside of Canada, visit the CRA site)

• Find it on your last Notice of Assessment from the CRA

It's often easier to make smaller, regular contributions than it is to come up with a larger lump sum. This is easy to do with a pre-authorized contribution plan (PAC). A PAC automatically withdraws as little as $25 from one of your other Meridian accounts and adds it to your TFSA. In the end though, you can contribute any way you want – just keep an eye on the contribution limit.

There are three ways to add money your TFSA.

1. Deposit a lump sum

2. Use a pre-authorized contribution plan (PAC) to automatically deposit a set amount into your TFSA at certain times.

3. Use the Meridian Auto-Save feature to automatically add between $1 to $5 to your TFSA any time you use your debit card or transfer a portion of your pay cheque to your TFSA.

Yes. You can open as many TFSAs as you want. Just remember: your contribution limit for 2020 is $6,000 in total (plus any contribution room you've carried over and room created by withdrawals), regardless of whether you have one or five TFSAs.

With Meridian, you can add any combination of the following investments to your TFSA.

• GICs

• Mutual funds

• Savings accounts

• Bonds

• Stocks

• ETFs

If you go exceed your maximum contribution for the year, you have to pay a penalty to the CRA of 1% per month on the excess amount for as long as it’s in your account.

No. Unlike an RRSP, the funds you contribute to your TFSA are not tax-deductible.