The FHSA stacks both advantages: deductible like an RRSP going in, tax-free like a TFSA coming out for a first home. Work out your room and your tax saving.
Based on FHSA rules: $8,000 of room per year, unused carry-forward capped at $8,000, $40,000 lifetime limit. Educational tool, confirm your official room in CRA My Account.
Unlike the TFSA, FHSA room doesn't accumulate automatically with age: it starts only when you open the account. Opening an FHSA even without depositing a dollar is therefore the highest-return action available, it starts the $8,000-a-year clock.
Each calendar year grants $8,000 of room, up to a $40,000 lifetime cap. Unused room carries into the next year, but the carry-forward is capped at $8,000, so the absolute maximum in any single year is $16,000. You can't bank three or four years and dump it all at once.
Contributions are deductible from taxable income exactly like an RRSP: the tax saving equals your contribution times your combined marginal rate. Estimate your rate with the RRSP calculator →
Since 2023 you can combine the FHSA and the Home Buyers' Plan (which lets you withdraw from your RRSP) for the same property. That's a major change: the two envelopes add up instead of excluding each other.
The fundamental difference: a qualifying FHSA withdrawal is permanently tax-free and never has to be repaid, whereas the HBP is a loan to yourself that must go back into your RRSP over 15 years. For equal savings capacity, fill the FHSA first.
If the purchase never happens, nothing is lost: the balance can be transferred to an RRSP or RRIF without using your RRSP room and with no immediate tax consequence. That's what makes the FHSA close to risk-free for anyone eligible.
Code LOIO3A: a $25 Wealthsimple bonus + $10 by Interac e-Transfer after the claim form = $35 total. Just opening the account starts your room accruing.
Copy the code and open Wealthsimple →