RRSP, TFSA and Super: What Happens to Your Money When You Move from Canada to Australia

26 August 2026

Moving to Australia doesn't force you to do anything with your RRSP or TFSA - both keep existing exactly as they are. What changes is your tax residency status, and that has real consequences for both accounts, plus a new compulsory savings vehicle waiting for you on the Australian side.

Your RRSP when you leave Canada

You don't need to close or cash out your RRSP when you become a non-resident of Canada for tax purposes. It stays invested and continues growing tax-deferred. The catch is on withdrawals: once you're a non-resident, RRSP withdrawals are subject to Canadian non-resident withholding tax, generally 25% (this can be reduced under the Canada-Australia tax treaty in some circumstances, so get specific advice rather than assuming the standard rate applies to you). You also stop accumulating new RRSP contribution room once you have no Canadian earned income.

Your TFSA when you leave Canada

A TFSA can stay open after you become a non-resident, and any income or growth inside it remains tax-free for Canadian purposes. The important rule: don't make new contributions once you're a non-resident. Non-resident TFSA contributions attract a 1% per month penalty tax on the excess amount for every month it remains in the account. Your TFSA contribution room also stops accumulating for any calendar year you spend entirely as a non-resident.

How Australian superannuation works for a newcomer

Superannuation is Australia's compulsory retirement savings system, and it starts the moment you start working - there's no waiting period the way there is with RRSP room. Your employer is legally required to contribute 12% of your ordinary time earnings into a super fund in your name, on top of your salary, not deducted from it.

Employer super contribution

12%

of ordinary time earnings, on top of salary, compulsory for almost all employees

Access age (citizens/PR)

Preservation age, 55-60

60 for anyone born after 30 June 1964; moving overseas doesn't unlock early access

2026 RRSP annual limit (Canada, for reference)

CAD $33,810

capped at 18% of prior-year earned income for most people

You choose which fund your super goes into (most employers offer a default if you don't pick one), and it's yours - but it's locked away until you reach preservation age, currently 60 for anyone born after 30 June 1964, regardless of your citizenship status once you're a permanent resident or citizen. There's no equivalent to a TFSA-style early-access account layered on top - super is the only compulsory piece, and it's genuinely long-term money.

Can you move your RRSP or TFSA into super, or vice versa?

No. There's no transfer mechanism between Canadian registered accounts and Australian super, in either direction - nothing equivalent to the UK's QROPS pension-transfer pathway. Your RRSP and TFSA stay in Canada, your super builds separately in Australia, and you'll simply be managing two sets of retirement accounts in two countries going forward.

Moving from Canada to Australia?

Our free relocation checklist covers your bank accounts, TFN and everything else to sort in your first weeks.

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The bottom line

Sort out your Canadian tax residency status before you leave, so you know whether you can keep contributing to your TFSA or not. Leave your RRSP invested and get advice on the withholding tax before you ever withdraw from it as a non-resident. And expect your Australian super to start building from your first payslip, with genuinely no access until preservation age - it isn't a substitute for keeping your Canadian accounts in order.