Free tool · Canada
FHSA Contribution Room Calculator
FHSAs started in 2023. Room begins here, not at 18.
$16,000 of room for 2026, and $40,000 left of the $40,000 lifetime limit.
| Year | Room | Contributed | Carried forward |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | $8,000 | $0 | $8,000 |
| 2024 | $16,000 | $0 | $8,000 |
| 2025 | $16,000 | $0 | $8,000 |
| 2026 | $16,000 | $0 | $8,000 |
Room is $8,000 a year plus whatever carried in, and the carry-forward is capped at one year’s worth.
Figures from the CRA, checked . They change when the rules do, not annually. Your actual payment also depends on whether you qualify as a first-time home buyer, and transfers in from an RRSP, which this page does not ask about.
The mistake worth $24,000
TFSA room accrues from the year you turn 18 whether or not you ever open one, so people reasonably assume the FHSA works the same way and that theirs has been quietly stacking up since 2023. It has not. FHSA room starts in the year you open your first account, so someone opening one in 2026 has $8,000, not $32,000.
The practical consequence: if a first home is anywhere in your plans, opening an account you cannot fund yet still costs nothing and starts the room accruing. That is the single cheapest thing on this page.
Why waiting does not stockpile room
Unused room carries forward, but only $8,000 of it at a time. So the most anyone can have available in a single year is $16,000, whether they left the account alone for one year or for five. A TFSA rewards patience this way and an FHSA does not.
The lifetime cap is $40,000, which is five full years. Nobody can have reached it yet: 4 years at $8,000 is $32,000, so in 2026 the annual room is what binds for everyone.
Questions
- Does FHSA room build up from when I turned 18, like a TFSA?
- No, and this is the one that costs people money. FHSA room starts in the year you open your first account. Someone opening their first FHSA in 2026 has $8,000 of room, not four years' worth. Opening an account you do not fund yet is what starts the clock.
- How much can I contribute in one year?
- $8,000 a year, plus up to $8,000 of room you did not use last year. That caps a single year at $16,000 no matter how long you have had the account, because only one year's worth of unused room carries forward at a time.
- What is the lifetime limit?
- $40,000 across every FHSA you hold, which is five full years of contributions. Holding several accounts does not raise it; the room is yours, not the account's.
- What happens if I put in too much?
- The CRA charges 1% a month on the highest excess amount in each month it stays over, until it is withdrawn. It is charged on the excess rather than the account, and it keeps running for as long as the extra money is in there.
- Is an FHSA better than a TFSA or an RRSP for a first home?
- It does something neither does alone: contributions are deductible like an RRSP, and a qualifying withdrawal for a first home is tax free like a TFSA. Which suits you depends on your income and your timeline.
$8,000 a year is $667 a month
Which is the number that actually decides whether it happens. A down payment is the largest sinking fund most households will ever run, and it is filled the same way as the small ones: an amount decided before the month starts, rather than whatever is left at the end of it.
Other free tools
Canada Child Benefit Calculator
What the CRA pays you per child, and the income where it phases out.
TFSA Contribution Room Calculator
How much room you have left, and why withdrawals do not come back until January.
Child Tax Credit Calculator
What survives the income phase-out, which moves in $50 steps rather than smoothly.