First Home Savings Account

The one account that is deductible going in and tax-free coming out.

$8,000 a year to a $40,000 lifetime limit. If you might buy a first home, open it before you can afford to fund it — room only starts once the account exists.

Contact Ravi Call Ravi

Why it is unusual

Every other registered account makes you choose. An RRSP gives you a deduction now and taxes you later. A TFSA gives you no deduction and tax-free withdrawal. The FHSA does both — deduction on the way in, no tax on the way out — as long as the money buys a qualifying first home.

Limits: $8,000 a year, $40,000 lifetime, with up to $8,000 of unused room carried forward one year at a time. Verified against CRA publications on 2026-08-24.

Open it before you fund it

This is the actionable point on this page. Contribution room does not accumulate from the year you became eligible — it accumulates from the year you open the account. A 24-year-old who opens an FHSA with $0 in it, and funds it three years later, can contribute $16,000 in that year. One who waits three years to open it can contribute $8,000.

Note the ceiling: unused room carries forward one year at a time, to a maximum of $8,000. So the most you can ever contribute in a single year is $16,000 — opening early is worth one extra year's room, not an unlimited reserve. That is still $8,000 for the cost of filling in a form.

Opening one costs nothing and commits you to nothing.

If you never buy a home

Transfer the balance to an RRSP or RRIF, tax-free, without using RRSP room. The deduction you already claimed stays claimed. In effect the FHSA becomes extra RRSP room you would not otherwise have had — which makes the downside of opening one close to zero.

The Alberta arithmetic

A couple can each hold an FHSA: $80,000 of lifetime room between them, entirely tax-free on withdrawal for a qualifying home. Add the Home Buyers’ Plan on top and the tax-advantaged down payment available to a two-person household is substantial against Edmonton prices.

Where I come in is what sits inside the account. Through my insurance licence I can place segregated funds and guaranteed products in an FHSA. For a down payment three years away, the relevant question is usually not which fund but how much market risk your closing date can tolerate — and often the honest answer is very little.

Common questions

Am I a first-time home buyer?

For the FHSA, you qualify if you did not live in a home you or your spouse owned at any point in the current calendar year or the four preceding calendar years. So someone who sold a home five years ago can qualify again. Being on the title of a property you never lived in does not necessarily disqualify you — check the specific wording against your situation.

What if I never buy a home?

You can transfer the balance to an RRSP or RRIF tax-free, without using RRSP room. That is unusually generous: the deduction you took going in is never clawed back. The alternative — withdrawing it as cash — is fully taxable, so almost nobody should do that.

Can I use the FHSA and the Home Buyers' Plan together?

Yes. They stack. An FHSA withdrawal for a qualifying home is tax-free and never repaid; a Home Buyers' Plan withdrawal is tax-free but must be repaid to your RRSP over 15 years. Use the FHSA first for exactly that reason.

How long can I keep it open?

Fifteen years from opening, or until the end of the year you turn 71, or the end of the year following your first qualifying withdrawal — whichever comes first. Open it early anyway: room only starts accruing once the account exists. Note the carry-forward is capped at one year, so an open but unfunded account builds a maximum of $8,000 of extra room, not an unlimited pile.

I am a permanent resident. Do I qualify?

Yes, if you are a resident of Canada for tax purposes, at least 18, and meet the first-time buyer test. This is often the strongest account available to a newcomer, because FHSA room starts when you open the account rather than depending on prior-year Canadian income the way RRSP room does.

Start with a conversation, not a quote.

Twenty minutes, no cost, no obligation. If a product is not the right answer for you, I will say so.