Cancelling individual records

After filing your TFSA annual information return, you may need to fully remove an individual record. If so, you will have to submit a cancelled individual record for that contract number to remove the information for that year. When submitting a cancelled record, the XML file must show it is a report type code “C,” and must be identical to the most current record (original or amendment).

Use report type code “C” for the following scenarios:

• You need to correct a contract or TFSA identification number previously submitted in error.
• A record was filed that we cannot accept as valid. A cancelled record should be filed to acknowledge that this contract is not a TFSA.
• The wrong year was established as the election year (there can only be one election year established for a particular contract). For example, a record was filed and accepted as the election year for 2023; however, the contract was actually opened in 2022.
• The election was established under the wrong social insurance number (SIN) or temporary tax number (TTN) and there is an accepted record(s) for years subsequent to the election year under the same SIN or TTN. For example, an original record was accepted, and the election was established in 2021 under the wrong SIN or TTN; subsequent year records for 2022 and 2023 have also been filed and accepted under the same number. In order to correct this situation, cancelled records would be required to be submitted for the 2022 and 2023 reporting years. Once accepted, an amended record for 2021 should be filed reporting the correct holder’s SIN or TTN.
• Once the 2021 amended record is accepted and the election is established under the correct SIN or TTN, new original records should be submitted for the 2022 and 2023 reporting years.
• After discussing with the TFSA Processing Unit, it was determined that a cancelled record is required.

A cancelled record applies to a particular reporting year. When we receive a cancelled record for a particular year, we will eliminate the contributions and withdrawals for that particular year and recalculate the contribution room and taxes for that year.

To cancel records for the same contract for more than one year, you have to submit the cancelled record for the last year first. Once we have accepted that cancelled individual record, submit the cancelled individual record for the next affected year. This process will help to avoid further rejections of records to financial institutions or referrals to the TFSA Processing Unit.

Never use report type code “C” when:

• an amended record can correct the mistake in the previous record
• you want to cancel previously submitted and valid records in order to refile them with other records that were not previously submitted. (the records that were not previously submitted should be sent in a separate file)

Use an amended record for any other data element you want to modify.

Related Topics

• How to resubmit individual records that were rejected
• What could cause a return or an individual record to be rejected