RRSP contributions left to last minute

Half of Canadians intending to contribute to an RRSP for the 2014 tax year have left it to the final two weeks before the March 2 deadline.

A CIBC poll finds while only one-third of Canadians said they were intending to contribute to an RRSP for the 2014 tax year, half of them had yet to make their contribution by Feb. 15 when the poll was completed. Another 14% were still undecided on whether they were going to contribute.

“There’s still time before Monday’s deadline for Canadians to contribute to their RRSP and apply that contribution to their 2014 tax return,” says Christina Kramer, executive vice-president, retail and business banking, with CIBC.

Read: RRSP contributions rise

When asked why they left their RRSP contribution to the eleventh hour, 30% of Canadians said they were “unsure” why they procrastinated.

Others said it was because now is when they start thinking about tax season and looking for ways to reduce their taxes (21%); 14% said it was out of habit, and 12% said they didn’t have the money until now to contribute.

A prior CIBC poll revealed that more than half (54%) of Canadians don’t plan to contribute to their RRSP for the 2014 tax year, citing a lack of money (37%) and a preference to invest in a tax-free savings account (17%) as the primary reasons.

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