Find your available First Home Savings Account contribution room and limit for 2026
Always verify your exact FHSA contribution room on My CRA Account before making contributions.
Updated
Your FHSA room depends on the year you opened your first account, not on how long you have been eligible. Find that year below for the room you have built up and the most you can put in this year. Every figure assumes you have never contributed; use the calculator above to subtract what you have already put in.
| Year you opened | Room accrued | Most you can add in 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | $32,000 | $16,000 |
| 2024 | $24,000 | $16,000 |
| 2025 | $16,000 | $16,000 |
| 2026 (this year) | $8,000 | $8,000 |
Notice that the last column stops at $16,000 however early you opened. The carryforward is capped at $8,000, so a 2023 opener who has never contributed can put in the same amount this year as someone who opened in 2025. Nothing is lost: the full $40,000 lifetime limit is still available, it just takes more years to use.
This free Canadian FHSA calculator shows how much room you have in your First Home Savings Account. Tell it the year you opened your FHSA and how much you have already contributed, and it works out the new room you received this year, any unused room carried forward, the most you can contribute this year, and your remaining lifetime room. It also flags an over-contribution and estimates the monthly penalty.
The FHSA has an $8,000 annual contribution limit and a $40,000 lifetime contribution limit. The annual limit has been $8,000 every year since the FHSA launched in 2023, including 2025 and 2026. Contributions are tax-deductible like an RRSP, and qualifying withdrawals to buy your first home come out completely tax-free like a TFSA. You must be a Canadian resident, at least 18 (or the age of majority in your province), and a first-time home buyer to open one.
Yes, and it does not expire. If you don't use your full $8,000 in a year, the unused amount carries over to the next year, but the carryforward is capped at $8,000. That means the most you can contribute in a single year is $16,000($8,000 of new room plus up to $8,000 carried forward), however many years you skip.
A common mistake is to treat carried forward room as a credit tied to the year it came from, which expires if you don't use it the very next year. It is not. Each year the CRA works your carryforward out as whatever room you did not use last year, capped at $8,000, so it is a running balance rather than a stack of dated credits.
Say you open in 2023 and contribute nothing, then put in $8,000 in 2024. Your 2024 room was $16,000, so $8,000 of it went unused, and your 2025 room is $16,000 again. Contributing spends room, it does not cancel the carryforward. Only a year where you use the whole $16,000 leaves nothing to carry.
FHSA room also only starts accumulating after you open an account. Unlike the TFSA, you do not build up room for the years before you opened it, and there is no way to claim those years back later.
There are three maximums and they answer different questions. The annual limit is $8,000, which is the new room you receive each year you have an account open. The most you can put in during any single calendar year is $16,000, reached only if you carried a full $8,000 of unused room in from last year. The lifetime limit is $40,000 across every FHSA you hold. Filling it takes five years at the earliest, because room accrues at $8,000 a year and four years only ever grants $32,000. The $16,000 ceiling does not shorten that: the only way to have $16,000 available is to have skipped the $8,000 the year before, so a catch-up year never puts you ahead.
You can open more than one FHSA, but your limits are shared across all of them: the $8,000 annual limit and $40,000 lifetime limit apply to your combined contributions, not to each account separately. Opening a second account never creates extra room. You can also transfer funds between your own FHSAs without using up contribution room.
The CRA calls your available room your FHSA participation room. You can find it on your latest notice of assessment or your FHSA participation room statement in My CRA Account. This calculator gives you a quick estimate from your opening year and contribution history, but the CRA figure is the official one, since it also reflects transfers and any amounts your issuer reported.
The FHSA combines the best of both: contributions are tax-deductible like an RRSP, and qualifying withdrawals for a first home are tax-free like a TFSA. You can also combine an FHSA with the RRSP Home Buyers' Plan on the same purchase. If you don't end up buying a home, FHSA savings can be transferred to your RRSP or RRIF without using RRSP room. Consult a qualified financial advisor to decide what fits your situation.
If you contribute more than your available FHSA room, the CRA charges a penalty of 1% per month on the excess amount, for every month it stays in the account, until you withdraw it or new room becomes available the following year. This calculator flags an over-contribution and estimates the monthly penalty so you can fix it quickly.