FHSA (First Home Savings Account)
A registered account for first-time home buyers that combines RRSP-style deductions with TFSA-style tax-free withdrawals.
The FHSA launched on April 1, 2023. You can contribute up to $8,000 per year with a $40,000 lifetime cap, and contributions are deductible against income like an RRSP. Qualifying withdrawals (to buy your first home) come out completely tax-free like a TFSA. Unused annual room carries forward but only after you open the account, so open one as soon as you turn 18 (or once you are a resident) even if you cannot contribute yet. You must be a first-time home buyer, meaning you have not lived in a home you or your spouse owned in the current year or the previous four calendar years.
A 60-second lesson that puts this term in context, alongside the others, lives inside the Finlo app.