FHSA 2026: annual limit, carry-forward and tax savings
Enter the year you opened your account, your province and your income: the calculator rebuilds your FHSA room one year at a time and puts a number on the tax your contribution saves.
FHSA room available in 2026
$13,000
One-year carry-forward, $8,000 at most. Lifetime limit left: $37,000.
| Tax saved if you put in $13,000 | $4,224 |
| Lifetime limit left | $37,000 |
| Must close by | end of 2040 |
You need not deduct in the year you contribute: the deduction can wait for a higher-income year.
| Year | Room | Paid | Carried |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | $8,000 | $3,000 | $5,000 |
| 2026 | $13,000 | $0 | $8,000 |
Prepared by Radif Partners · How we calculate · limits and tax tables read on canada.ca · estimates only, not a notice of assessment
The FHSA limit is $8,000 a year in 2026, with a lifetime maximum of $40,000, but that room only starts in the year you open your first account: nothing builds up before then. Unused room carries forward to the next year, capped at $8,000, so an account opened in 2025 and left empty gives $16,000 in 2026, not more. To open an FHSA you must be a resident of Canada, be at least 18 and no older than 71 on December 31, and not have lived, this year or in the previous four calendar years, in a home that you or your spouse owned. Contributions are deductible like RRSP contributions, this year or later. A qualifying withdrawal to buy a first home is tax-free and never repaid. The account lasts 15 years at most. If you never buy, the balance can move to an RRSP without using RRSP room. An excess costs 1% a month.
Who can open an FHSA
The conditions are checked on the day you open the account, according to the CRA's Opening your FHSAs page. You must be a resident of Canada. You must be at least 18, or 19 in the provinces and territories where that is the age for signing a contract, and no older than 71 on December 31 of the year you open it. Finally you must be a first-time home buyer, which is tested two ways. You did not live, as your principal residence, in a home you owned or jointly owned this year or in the previous four calendar years. And the same applies to a home your spouse or common-law partner owned: someone living in a home owned by their common-law partner cannot open an account, even if they have never owned anything.
The home must be a housing unit located in Canada, existing or under construction: a single-family, semi-detached or row house, a mobile home, a condominium, an apartment in a duplex, triplex or apartment building, or a co-operative housing share that gives you ownership of the unit. A share that only gives you the right to rent the unit does not count.
Room: $8,000 a year, $40,000 for life
In the year you open your first account, your room is $8,000. Each following year adds $8,000, plus whatever you did not use the year before, but that carry-forward never exceeds $8,000. After 5 years of full contributions you reach the $40,000 lifetime limit. The room covers all your FHSAs combined, and both contributions and transfers from an RRSP draw on it. Interest and gains earned inside the account use none of it: a $8,000 deposit that is worth more by year end does not create an excess.
| Situation | Room in 2026 | Lifetime limit left |
|---|---|---|
| Account opened in 2026 | $8,000 | $40,000 |
| Opened in 2025, nothing paid in | $16,000 | $40,000 |
| Opened in 2025, $3,000 paid in 2025 | $13,000 | $37,000 |
| Opened in 2024, nothing paid in | $16,000 | $40,000 |
| Opened in 2023, maximum paid every year | $8,000 | $16,000 |
The table shows the carry-forward cap at work: an account opened in 2024 and left empty does not give three years of room, only $16,000. The lifetime limit is untouched, though; it simply takes more years to fill.
Why open the account early, even empty
Because no room exists before the account does, waiting until you have money costs one year of room for each year you wait. Opening an account with nothing in it is enough to start the count. You only need to fill out Schedule 15 with your tax return for the year you open it, so the CRA knows the account exists, even if you put nothing in. The downside is that the 15-year maximum also starts at opening: in one CRA example, an account opened in August 2025 that first received money in 2028 must still be closed by December 31, 2040.
What the deduction saves
Contributions are deducted from taxable income, which lowers federal and provincial tax at your marginal rate. The table below puts a number on a $8,000 contribution deducted in full, using the 2026 brackets of Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia.
| Taxable income | Quebec | Ontario | British Columbia |
|---|---|---|---|
| $45,000 | $2,055 | $1,524 | $1,568 |
| $60,000 | $2,418 | $1,870 | $1,832 |
| $80,000 | $2,889 | $2,372 | $2,256 |
| $100,000 | $2,889 | $2,465 | $2,256 |
| $130,000 | $3,657 | $3,473 | $3,063 |
You do not have to claim the deduction in the year you contribute; it can wait for a year when your income is higher. Someone earning $45,000 in Ontario who expects to earn $100,000 in a few years can contribute now, let the money grow sheltered from tax and deduct later, which lifts the saving from $1,524 to $2,465 at 2026 rates. The mini calculator below redoes the math for your province and income.
What your FHSA contribution saves
Refund or tax saved
$2,889
| Federal tax saved | $1,369 |
| Quebec tax saved | $1,520 |
| Taxable income after the deduction | $72,000 |
| Total tax before / after | $18,424 / $15,534 |
The home withdrawal, and closing the account
A qualifying withdrawal, made to buy a first home while meeting the conditions at the time you withdraw, is not taxed and is never repaid. There is no minimum period the money must stay in the account first. If you buy with someone else, each of you can make a qualifying withdrawal from your own FHSA, as long as each of you meets the conditions. The same home can also be financed with a withdrawal under the HBP; the FHSA vs HBP page compares the two.
The account must be closed by December 31 of the year in which the first of three events happens: the 15th anniversary of opening, the year you turn 71, or the year after your first qualifying withdrawal. Contributions made after that first withdrawal are no longer deductible. If you do not buy, the balance can be transferred directly to an RRSP or RRIF with no immediate tax and, according to the Withdrawals and transfers out of your FHSAs page, generally without affecting your unused RRSP deduction room. That is what makes the FHSA worth having even if you are not sure you will buy. A non-qualifying withdrawal is taxable, and anything left in the account after the deadline is added to income at its fair market value.
Over-contributing: 1% a month, no cushion
The FHSA has no tolerance cushion like the RRSP. Any amount contributed or transferred above your room for the year is an excess taxed at 1% a month while it stays in the account, and it reduces your room for the following year. The classic mistake is adding an RRSP transfer on top of a regular contribution, thinking there are two envelopes: both draw on the same $8,000. Such a transfer is not deductible, and it gives you no RRSP room back. To decide whether the RRSP or the TFSA should come first for the rest of your savings, see RRSP vs TFSA.