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Why invest in a First Home Savings Account (FHSA)?

Save on taxes with deductible contributions.
Your lifetime contribution limit is $40,000. With an annual contribution limit of up to $8,000 that is applicable from the tax year in which you open an FHSA.
Grow your savings and investments
tax-free.
Your FHSA will help you keep your home ownership goals on track by letting you grow your savings and investments
tax-free in the account.
Withdraw funds
tax-free.
Put more of your savings towards your goals. FHSA withdrawals can be made
tax-free when used for a qualifying first home purchase.
Young woman and man looking at tablet device Young woman and man looking at tablet device

What is a First Home Savings Account (FHSA)?

Introduced by the Government of Canada and coming soon to Coast Capital, the FHSA is a new registered account you can use to save tax-free towards the purchase of your first home. Here’s how it works:

  • Lower your taxable income while you save for your first home: With FHSA, you can make tax deductible contributions up to $8,000 annually, to a lifetime maximum of $40,000. If you don’t contribute the full $8,000 in a single year, the balance can be carried forward and added to a future year’s contribution limit. 
  • Build on your contributions with tax-free growth: Your funds, interest and any investment earnings can stay in the FHSA and grow tax-free with every contribution you make until you’re ready to buy your first home.
  • Carry forward contribution room: Breathe easier knowing you don’t have to invest the same amount every year. Unused contribution room can be carried forward as long as you have the account.

COMING SOON.  This new account is expected to be available in 2023.

What is a First Home Savings Account (FHSA)?

Introduced by the Government of Canada and coming soon to Coast Capital, the FHSA is a new registered account you can use to save tax-free towards the purchase of your first home. Here’s how it works:

  • Lower your taxable income while you save for your first home: With FHSA, you can make tax deductible contributions up to $8,000 annually, to a lifetime maximum of $40,000. If you don’t contribute the full $8,000 in a single year, the balance can be carried forward and added to a future year’s contribution limit. 
  • Build on your contributions with tax-free growth: Your funds, interest and any investment earnings can stay in the FHSA and grow tax-free with every contribution you make until you’re ready to buy your first home.
  • Carry forward contribution room: Breathe easier knowing you don’t have to invest the same amount every year. Unused contribution room can be carried forward as long as you have the account.

COMING SOON.  This new account is expected to be available in 2023.

Eligibility Criteria

  • At least 18 years of age but no less than the age of majority in the province where you live.
  • Canadian resident
  • Have a Social Insurance Number (SIN)
  • A first-time home buyer*

FAQs

This new account is expected to be available in 2023. Please come back and check out this page once in a while as we continue to update it with new information.

Once it becomes available, the FHSA will help members reach their first-time homeownership goals through a combination of savings and investments. These may include:

  • Cash
  • Savings deposits and GICs
  • Stocks and bonds
  • Mutual Funds

More products will become available over time.

Yes, you can use your FHSA alongside your Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) under the Home Buyers’ Plan (HBP).

No, you will be able to use both your FHSA as well as make a withdrawal from your Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) under the Home Buyers' Plan (HBP) to purchase a qualifying home. Keep in mind that with a Home Buyers’ Plan (HBP) withdrawal, you’ll have to repay any funds you withdraw from your Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP). It is yet to be determined if there is a repayment requirement for withdrawals from an FHSA, but further contributions after a qualifying withdrawal will not be deductible from net income.

It is possible to hold more than one FHSA, but the total contribution amount to all FHSAs cannot exceed the annual and lifetime contribution limits.

The funds in your FHSA have to be used by December 31 of the 15th year after opening the account, or by December 31 of the year you turn 71, whichever comes earlier. If you have not used the funds in your FHSA by that time, you can transfer the funds from your FHSA on a tax-free basis to your RRSP without impacting your RRSP contribution room, or to your Registered Retirement Income Fund (RRIF). Otherwise, you can withdraw funds from your FHSA, but your withdrawal will be taxed.

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*A “first-time home buyer” means an individual who has not lived in a home that was owned by that individual and/or that individual’s spouse or common-law partner in the calendar year in which the individual opens the First Home Savings Account or at any time in the preceding four (4) calendar years.