Guide

RESP deadlines: the dates that quietly cost you money

Q: What is the RESP deadline for the year?

Contributions must reach the plan by 31 December to count toward that calendar year's grant entitlement; a deposit on 1 January counts against the following year instead. Entitlement not used carries forward indefinitely, but no more than one additional year may be claimed alongside the current one, which limits the basic grant to $1,000 in any twelve-month period.

Q: Can I still get the RESP grant if my child is 16?

Grant at 16 and 17 depends entirely on what happened earlier. Before the close of the year the child turned 15, either $2,000 must have been contributed and left in the plan, or $100 must have been contributed in each of four separate earlier years. Where neither applies, no further CESG can be paid. Where one applies, grant remains available through the end of the year the child turns 17.

Q: How far back can I catch up on missed RESP grants?

Entitlement builds from birth and never expires on its own, but the annual claim is capped: one current year plus one carried-forward year, which is $5,000 of contributions attracting $1,000 of basic grant. Because everything must be claimed before the end of the year the beneficiary turns 17, a sufficiently late start leaves some entitlement permanently out of reach.

Q: Is it too late to claim the Canada Learning Bond?

Usually not. A primary caregiver may request the Canada Learning Bond for an eligible child at any point up to the day before that child's eighteenth birthday. From eighteen onward the beneficiary may request it personally, with the final opportunity being the day before their twenty-first birthday. The bond is worth up to $2,000 and requires no family contribution.

There is no single RESP deadline. There are six, they arrive at different times, and the expensive ones are the two nobody mentions until it is too late to act on them.

Last checked 4 September 2026 against canada.ca. Written by Harpreet Singh, an LLQP-licensed insurance advisor in London, Ontario.

The one to diarise is 31 December: grant entitlement is granted per calendar year, and you can only ever catch up one extra year at a time. The two that catch families out come much earlier — the end of the year your child turns 15, which decides whether they get any grant at 16 and 17 at all, and the end of the year they turn 17, when grant eligibility stops for good.

The six dates, in the order they matter

Deadline	What happens	Can you recover it?
31 December, every year	That year’s grant entitlement is set. Contribute $2,500 and the basic grant pays $500.	Partly. One extra year at a time.
End of the year the child turns 15	The gate for teenage grant. See below — this is the one that surprises people.	No.
End of the year the child turns 17	Last year the CESG can be paid at all.	No.
Day before the 18th birthday	Last day a primary caregiver can request the Canada Learning Bond for the child.	Yes — the child can request it themselves until the day before they turn 21.
End of the plan’s 31st year	No further contributions may be made.	No.
End of the plan’s 35th year	The plan must be closed.	No.

Why 31 December is not a soft deadline

Grant room accrues by calendar year: $2,500 of contribution room attracting 20%, or $500 of grant. Miss a year and the room does not vanish — but the most you can ever claim in a single later year is $1,000 of basic grant, which means one current year plus one catch-up year.

The arithmetic is unforgiving. Miss five years and you need five later years of double contributions to recover them, and you only have until the end of the year the child turns 17 to do it. Start late enough and some of that grant is simply unreachable. The mechanics of catching up are set out in starting late.

The deadline nobody mentions: the year they turn 15

To receive any CESG in the years a child turns 16 or 17, one of these must already be true before the end of the calendar year they turn 15:

At least $2,000 has been contributed to the plan and not withdrawn; or
At least $100 was contributed and not withdrawn in each of any four earlier years.

If neither is true by 31 December of that year, the last two years of grant — up to $1,000, and up to $2,000 if there is catch-up room — are gone. There is no appeal and no late application.

If your child is 14 or 15

This is the check to run today, not in December. Pull a statement and confirm either the $2,000 total or four separate years with at least $100 in them. If neither has happened, contributing before 31 December of the year they turn 15 keeps two more years of grant alive. After that date, nothing does.

The Canada Learning Bond has its own clock

The Canada Learning Bond is worth up to $2,000 and needs none of your own money. It is retroactive: a primary caregiver can request it for an eligible child up until the day before the child turns 18. After that the young adult can claim it for themselves, but only until the day before they turn 21.

It is the most under-claimed money in the system, and the reason is mundane — somebody has to open a plan and ask for it. Details in the Canada Learning Bond guide.

The two structural dates

These are counted from when the plan was opened, not from the child’s age. Contributions must stop at the end of the year containing the plan’s 31st anniversary. The plan itself must be wound up by the end of the year containing its 35th. A plan opened for a newborn in 1996 has to close in 2031, whatever the beneficiary is doing.

Common questions

What is the RESP deadline for the year?

31 December. Grant entitlement is set by calendar year, so a contribution made on 31 December counts for that year and one made on 1 January does not. Unused entitlement carries forward, but only one extra year can be claimed in any single year, capping the basic grant at $1,000 a year.

Can I still get the RESP grant if my child is 16?

Only if one of two conditions was already met before the end of the year they turned 15: at least $2,000 contributed and not withdrawn, or at least $100 contributed in each of four earlier years. If neither was met, no CESG is payable at 16 or 17. If one was, grant can still be claimed until the end of the year they turn 17.

How far back can I catch up on missed RESP grants?

Unused entitlement accumulates from birth, but you can only claim one extra year’s worth in any given year — $1,000 of basic grant a year, on $5,000 of contributions. Everything must be claimed by the end of the year the child turns 17, so late starts can leave grant permanently unclaimed.

Is it too late to claim the Canada Learning Bond?

Probably not. A primary caregiver can request it for an eligible child until the day before the child’s 18th birthday, and the young adult can request it for themselves from 18 until the day before they turn 21. It is worth up to $2,000 and requires no contribution of your own.

Two checks worth doing before December

How much grant room is actually outstanding, and whether the year-15 condition has been met. Both take one statement and a few minutes, and one of them has a hard expiry.

Book a free call → Or estimate your grants first

A free, no-obligation call with Harpreet Singh, an LLQP-licensed insurance advisor serving families across Ontario. No jargon, no pressure.

Related guides

Verified against canada.ca on 4 September 2026: Canada Education Savings Program guidance on grant amounts, the age 16 and 17 conditions and Canada Learning Bond eligibility, and Canada Revenue Agency guidance on contribution and plan deadlines. General information only, not financial, investment, insurance or tax advice.