CRA TFSA Portal Redesign
2025
Summary
Project Goals
What initially began as a request to review a Detailed Business Requirements (DBR) document to provide UX recommendations. My team and I soon identified the need for a full usability study of the TFSA Section in the CRA My Account portal, to uncover deeper issues and deliver user-driven design solutions.
The core issue was that many users were over-contributing to their TFSAs and incurring tax penalties, leading to confusion and increased call volumes to CRA call centres. To address this, our goal was to make the TFSA section easier to navigate and understand, increase user confidence, and decrease reliance on support services through a more intuitive self-service experience.
My Role
As the lead Senior UX designer, I drove the interface and interaction design across all phases of the project. I collaborated closely with a researcher and fellow designer to shape scope, guide strategy, and deliver several fully interactive Axure prototypes used throughout testing.
Beyond design execution, I co-led planning and test facilitation, creating testing materials, aligning logistics, and moderating sessions. After each round, I helped synthesize findings and translate them into clear, data driven design decisions.
Client
Internal CRA program area responsible for the TFSA section of the My Account Portal.
Services
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UX Design
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UX Research
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Interaction Design
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Wireframing
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User flows
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Benchmark testing
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Moderated Usability testing
Project background
For those less familiar with TFSAs, this project aimed to help users accurately identify their contribution room—the total amount they can contribute across all TFSA accounts, which remains unchanged regardless of the number of accounts. The original design included a calculator and multiple display areas for this amount. My team and I focused on testing and refining these elements to better achieve the project's goal.
Outcomes
From our initial benchmark usability test of the live portal design to the second round of testing with the redesigned flow and elements, we saw significant improvement.
90%
Increase in participants correctly identifying their start of year contribution room
20%
Increase in successfully locating the calculator
80%
Increase in directness of navigation
30%
Increase in participants correctly using the calculator to determine their mid year contribution room
The Design Process - Part 1
Product Research
Discovery
This phase focused on understanding the TFSA user ecosystem through preliminary research. To ground ourselves in the TFSA user experience, we conducted a fast-turn discovery sprint. We reviewed the client's business requirements, analyzed CRA call volume and web analytics, and navigated the live TFSA portal directly as no up-to-date dev environment was available.
All of this was pointing to a key problem: Canadians were acting on outdated contribution room data.
From this I began mapping out the user's journey and creating wireframes of the TFSA section in the live portal. I aimed to capture how users navigate from one page to the next and document the various interactions and how users navigate from one page to the next.
Wireframes of the live portal showing navigation flows and interactions
As the work progressed, several areas emerged as potential usability concerns. We focused on these as we prepared for the initial benchmark test, aiming to understand how the current flow and interface perform with real users.
The areas we identified were:
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Users interpretation of the contribution room figure displayed
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Their ability to successfully located the contribution room calculator and determine their current contribution room
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Overall comprehension of TFSA rules, CRA timelines, and over-contribution consequences
To prepare for the Benchmark test I created a fully functional high fidelity mock-up of the current live portal as there was no suitable dev environment for my team to test with.
Screen shots of the high fidelity mock-up use for the Benchmark test
The Design Process - Part 2
Benchmark Testing
Running the test
To validate our initial hypotheses, we conducted a moderated benchmark usability study with 10 CRA employees who are active TFSA users without program or policy knowledge using a high-fidelity Axure prototype. Engaging with Canadian taxpayers was not an option for as at this time which is why we opted for internal CRA employees to participate. My collogues and I alternated note taking and moderating throughout the testing.
Each session took approximately one hour to complete. Participants were provided a local copy of the mock-up, and a document containing fictious TFSA records for them to reference during the test.
Tasks during the sessions targeted participants ability to:
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Correctly identify their start of the year contribution room
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Correctly use the contribution calculator to determine their contribution room
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Successfully locate the contribution room calculator
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Locate and comprehend the warning information
Analysis
Following testing my team and I compiled the notes and results onto a Miro board and conducted an affinity mapping exercise. Our goal was to cluster notes and feedback into themes to gain a deeper understanding of what was occurring.
Screen shots of the benchmark tests analysis and affinity mapping
Key Findings
Analysis revealed several notable insights such as:
0%
Of participants could accurately identify their current contribution room, instead relying on the outdated amount displayed
30%
Of participants successfully used the contribution room calculator to determine their mid year contribution room
80%
Of participants found the calculator when prompted, but only 20% did so without trial and error
Additional Behavioral insights included:
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Users trusted outdated contribution values, mistaking them for real-time data
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The calculator’s placement and visual cues made it hard to discover or trust
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Warning language lacked urgency; system feedback felt generic and easy to ignore
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Users often bypassed the calculator entirely, preferring manual calculations
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Unclear navigation, ambiguous labels, and insufficient affordance eroded user confidence
These findings validated earlier research, and offered us a clear direction to take: redesign key TFSA touchpoints to restore clarity, trust, and usability around contribution room decisions.
The Design Process - Part 3
The Redesign
Designing with intention
Benchmark testing revealed six core usability challenges—ranging from conceptual misunderstandings around contribution room to systemic trust issues with outdated CRA data. We distilled these into 6 focused design goals:
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Clarify how contribution room is calculated
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Simplify which inputs are required from users
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Reinforce trust in calculation accuracy
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Clarify how contribution room is calculated
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Simplify which inputs are required from users
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Reinforce trust in calculation accuracy
These became the foundation for a series of design workshops, where we reworked interface patterns, refined language, and prioritized transparency to rebuild user confidence and reduce cognitive friction.
Design Jam screen shots
As a result we eliminated the contribution room figure entirely—an unconventional decision, but one supported by participants' overwhelming confusion and the low trust in outdated data. Instead, we directed users to a simplified calculator with a more transparent breakdown—balancing clarity with regulatory accuracy.
Changes to the navigation and structure of the user flow were also adopted, favoring plain language and task based layouts influenced by participant observations and feedback.
These updates focused on improving the Contribution Room Calculator page, Contribution Room page, Savings and Pension Plans landing page, a new FAQ page, and minor adjustments to the Overview main page.
Contribution Room Calculator
I reimagined the Contribution Room Calculator page to reduce cognitive load and increase user trust. Based on testing insights, I stripped the tool down to the essential inputs—limiting user entry to recent-year data (2024–2025)—while surfacing the calculated balance instantly through a single clear call to action. The calculation result included an expandable breakdown, offering transparency without overwhelming less confident users.
To proactively guide behavior, I introduced contextual system feedback: visual alert states and a dynamic warning banner appeared when users exceeded limits, linking them to next steps. Supporting content including CRA disclaimers, verification tools, and instructional copy was reorganized for hierarchy and readability. I also enhanced page architecture with stronger visual anchors and direct cross-links from key TFSA pages to drive discoverability.
Screen shots of the contribution room calculator redesign
Savings and pension plans page
The Savings and Pension Plans landing page was cluttered, with critical TFSA links buried among low-priority content. To streamline access and reduce user friction, we reorganized the TFSA section around clearer navigation and task-based priorities.
Key changes included:
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Removal of the Contribution room amount as previously mentioned
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Elevating the calculator link to a primary call to action
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Retiring the TFSA details page and integrating its content into a unified "Your TFSA" section
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Adding a new "Learn About TFSA" area, bundling educational links and FAQs to promote self-service behavior over CRA support calls
These changes improved the information hierarchy, reduced redundancy, and gave users a more focused path to action.
Screen shots of the Savings and Pension plans page
FAQ page
This page was created in response to participant feedback requesting more TFSA resources. It features collapsible sections with common questions, each linking to relevant Canada.ca pages. The concept was pitched to the client for potential adoption, guided by frequent TFSA-related call topics.
Screen shots of the Savings and Pension plans page
Overview page
The Overview page surfaced TFSA data within the Savings and Pension Plans tile, but prominently displayed outdated contribution room values, eroding trust and misleading users. To mitigate this, I removed the static value and replaced it with a general TFSA info label, eliminating potential misinterpretation.
I also removed the adjacent warning button, redistributing key messaging across context-specific pages. Finally, based on testing feedback, I added a calculator link to the “More Tools” menu—meeting users where they naturally looked for actionable tools.
Screen shots of the Overview page
The Design Process - Part 4
Testing the Redesign
Running the test
We resumed testing with 10 CRA employees who were experienced TFSA users, each completing five core tasks focused on calculator interactions and overall comprehension. Two mock-up versions set in January and May 2025 were tested using corresponding TFSA records documents to simulate real use cases. Once again the sessions were conducted virtually and spanned one hour in length.
Test results
Testing returned substantial improvements across all success metrics:
90%
Increase in participants correctly identifying their start of year contribution room
20%
Increase in successfully locating the calculator
80%
Increase in directness of navigation
30%
Increase in participants correctly using the calculator to determine their mid year contribution room
Key insights
Notable insights from testing were:
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The redesigned calculator was easy to locate and use across multiple entry points
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Minor confusion surfaced around how TFSA fit within broader savings tools, though clarified via interface cues
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Participants questioned certain values in the calculation breakdown but used info buttons effectively to resolve doubts
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Over-contribution warnings and feedback were clearly understood and actionable
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TFSA links on the Savings and Pension Plans page were intuitive, though initial confusion about TFSA Returns was resolved with inline help
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Users expected more comprehensive data within the Transaction History, signaling an opportunity for future iteration
Overall, the redesigned interface effectively supported user goals, with strong evidence of improved tool discoverability, comprehension, and confidence.
The Design Process - Part 5
Final Review
Following the second round of testing, a final design review and refinement sprint was conducted. I ensured that the design was aligning with dev guidance to ensure consistency with portal components and what was being proposed was feasible.
Final adjustments included:
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Input validation and streamlined calculator entry fields
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Improved calculation breakdown formatting for faster parsing
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Increased “TFSA” visibility across navigation paths
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Removal of the out-of-scope FAQ page
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Enhanced Transaction History with year-end summaries and totals
Screen shots of the final design changes
Though not formally retested, these refinements built on validated insights and were confidently rolled into the final Axure prototype, fully documented for developer handoff.
Conclusion
Outcome
This project went far beyond interface refinement, it was a deep exploration of how to restore clarity, reduce anxiety, and build trust in public digital services. What started as a straightforward UX request quickly evolved into a strategic redesign driven by real user insights.
The impact was clear: smoother journeys, more confident interactions, and fewer user missteps. But beyond the measurable results, this work reinforced a fundamental truth, great UX isn’t just about polished screens; it’s about removing friction from people’s lives.
Lessons learned
This project was one of the most creatively rewarding and potentially impactful I’ve worked on. It sharpened my prototyping skills through high-fidelity mock-ups and reinforced the value of approaching design challenges with innovative thinking.
One key challenge was working without direct collaboration with the development team, which made clear documentation essential for accurate implementation.
A major takeaway was learning to advocate for UX. What started as a small feedback review evolved into a full usability study, thanks to our team’s push for deeper engagement—ultimately securing client buy-in.
It was also a lesson in balancing user needs with institutional constraints. Navigating silos and adapting to late-stage feedback highlighted the importance of early stakeholder alignment to ensure smoother execution in large organizations.