The Home Buyer's Plan

The Home Buyers' Plan (HBP) is a program that allows you to make a withdrawal from your registered retirement savings plans (RRSPs) to buy or build a qualifying home for yourself or for a specified disabled person. The HBP allows you to pay back the amounts withdrawn within a 15-year period.

You can make a withdrawal from more than one RRSP as long as you are the annuitant of each RRSP account. Your RRSP issuer will not withhold tax on withdrawn amounts of $35,000 or less. Some RRSPs, such as locked-in or group RRSPs, do not allow you to make a withdrawal from them.

Certain conditions must be met in order to be eligible to participate in the HBP, including the following:

• you must be considered a first-time home buyer. If your participation is in respect of a specified disabled person, this condition does not have to be met
• you must have a written agreement to buy or build a qualifying home, either for yourself or for a specified disabled person
• you have to be a resident of Canada throughout the period that starts when you make your first eligible withdrawal from your RRSPs under the HBP and ends when you buy or build a qualifying home
• you must intend to occupy the qualifying home as your principal place of residence within one year after buying or building it. If you buy or build a qualifying home for a specified disabled person, or help a specified disabled person to buy or build a qualifying home, the specified disabled person must intend to occupy the qualifying home as their principal place of residence within one year after buying or building it

In all cases, if you have previously participated in the HBP, you may be able to do so again if your HBP balance on January 1st of the year of the withdrawal is zero and you meet all the other HBP eligibility conditions.

In order for withdrawals from your RRSPs to be treated as eligible withdrawals under the HBP, you must meet the conditions outlined below. If you are making withdrawals from your RRSPs under the HBP to buy or build a qualifying home for the benefit of a specified disabled person, or to help a specified disabled person buy or build a qualifying home, you are the one who must meet the conditions outlined below.

The HBP conditions that you must meet are as follows:

• You must be a resident of Canada at the time of your withdrawal from your RRSPs under the HBP.
  • If you have not acquired the qualifying home before your first withdrawal, you have to be a resident of Canada throughout the period that starts when you make your first withdrawal and ends when you or the specified disabled person has acquired the qualifying home.
• You or the specified disabled person must have a written agreement to buy or build a qualifying home at the time of your withdrawal.
  • A qualifying home is a housing unit located in Canada. This includes existing homes and those being constructed. Single-family homes, semi-detached homes, townhouses, mobile homes, condominium units, and apartments in duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes, or apartment buildings all qualify. A share in a co-operative housing corporation that entitles you to possess, and gives you an equity interest in a housing unit located in Canada, also qualifies. However, a share that only provides you with a right to tenancy in the housing unit does not qualify.
  • Obtaining a pre-approved mortgage is not considered a written agreement to buy or build a qualifying home and therefore will not satisfy this condition.
  • In order to be considered an eligible withdrawal, the qualifying home must be acquired or built before October 1st of the year after the year of the first withdrawal. If the qualifying home is being built, the home will be considered built on the date it becomes habitable. If it is an agreement to purchase a condo unit, it will be considered acquired on the day the purchaser is entitled to immediate vacant possession of it.
    • If you do not buy or build the qualifying home before October 1st of the year after the year you made your first withdrawal, you must do one of the following:
      • cancel your participation in the HBP
      • buy or build a replacement property before October 1st of the year after the year you made your first withdrawal
    • We still consider you to have met the deadline if either of the following situations applies:
      • If the qualifying home is being acquired, you or the specified disabled person must have another written agreement before that October 1st date to acquire the qualifying home or a replacement property before October 1st of the 2nd year after the year you made your first withdrawal (i.e. an additional year).
      • If the qualifying home or replacement property is being constructed, you or the specified disabled person must have made payments to the contractors or suppliers (with whom you deal at arm's length) for materials for the home being built, or towards its construction, that was at least equal to the total of all withdrawals under the HBP. These payments must have been made during the period that starts on the date of the first withdrawal and ends before October 1st of the year after the year you made your first withdrawal.

A replacement property has to meet the same conditions as a qualifying home. To inform us that you are buying or building a replacement property, send a letter to:

To make withdrawals from your RRSPs under the HBP, fill out Form T1036, Home Buyers' Plan (HBP) Request to Withdraw Funds from an RRSP. You have to fill out a separate form for each withdrawal you make.

After filling out Area 1 of Form T1036, give it to your RRSP issuer. The RRSP issuer must fill out Area 2.

You are permitted to make multiple withdrawals from your RRSPs under the HBP; however, you are only permitted to make those withdrawals in the same calendar year as your first withdrawal, and in January of the following calendar year.

Your RRSP deduction may be affected by your participation in the HBP

If you participate in the HBP, certain rules limit the deduction of your RRSP contributions made during the 89-day period before you made a withdrawal under the HBP. Under these rules, you may not be able to deduct part or all of the RRSP contributions made during this period.

You cannot deduct the amount by which the total of your contributions during the 89-day period to your RRSP is more than the fair market value of that RRSP after the withdrawal.

The same rules apply if you contributed to your spouse's or common-law partner's RRSP during the 89-day period before that individual made the withdrawal from the same RRSP under the HBP.

In other words, for contributions made to an RRSP in the 89-day period to be fully deductible, the value of that RRSP after you made a withdrawal under the HBP must be at least equal to those contributions.

To determine the part of the contributions you or your spouse or common-law partner made to an RRSP that are not deductible for any year, you can use the calculation that follows.

Calculating the part of the contributions you or your spouse or common-law partner made to an RRSP that are not deductible for any year

Make a separate calculation for each withdrawal made under the HBP.

Area 1 – If you are the only one who contributed to your RRSP during the 89-day period just before you withdrew an amount from that RRSP, complete the following calculation:

1. Amounts you contributed to the RRSP during the 89-day period just before you withdrew an amount from that RRSP under the HBP.^Footnote1
2. Fair market value of the property held in the RRSP just after you made your withdrawal.
3. Line 1 minus line 2 (if negative, enter "0"). This is the amount of your contributions to the RRSP that you cannot deduct for any year.

Area 2 – If you contributed to your spouse's or common-law partner's RRSP during the 89-day period just before your spouse or common-law partner withdrew an amount from that RRSP, complete the following calculation:

4. Amounts you and your spouse or common-law partner contributed to the RRSP during the 89-day period just before your spouse or common-law partner withdrew an amount from that RRSP under the HBP.^Footnote2
5. Fair market value of the property held in the RRSP just after your spouse or common-law partner made their withdrawal.
6. Line 4 minus line 5 (if negative, enter "0"). This is the amount of the contributions to the RRSP that is not deductible for any year.^Footnote3

You have up to 15 years to repay to your RRSP, pooled registered pension plan (PRPP) or specified pension plan (SPP) the amounts you withdrew from your RRSP under the Home Buyers' Plan (HBP).

Your repayment period starts the second year after the year when you first made your first withdrawal from your RRSPs under the HBP. For example, if you made your first withdrawal in 2024, your first year of repayment will be 2026.

You can repay the full amount into your RRSPs, PRPPs, or SPP at any time.

How to view your HBP statement of account

Use one of our online services for direct access to your HBP balance by going to My Account for Individuals. An authorized representative can also access this information online through Represent a Client.

Repaying the amount you withdrew

To make a repayment under the HBP, you have to make contributions to your RRSPs, PRPPs, or SPP in the year the repayment is due or in the first 60 days of the year after. Once your contributions are made, you can designate all or part of the contributions as a repayment.

To designate your repayment, fill out Schedule 7, RRSP, PRPP, and SPP Contributions and Transfers, and HBP and LLP Activities and enter the amount of the repayment on line 24600 and attach it to your income tax and benefit return. You have to fill out and send the CRA an income tax and benefit return until you have repaid all of your HBP withdrawals or included them in your income.

Each year, the CRA will send you an HBP statement of account, with your notice of assessment or notice of reassessment.

The statement will include:

• the amount you have designated as a repayment so far (including any additional payments and amounts you included on your income tax and benefit return because they were not repaid)
• your remaining HBP balance
• the amount you have to contribute to your RRSPs, PRPPs or SPP and designate as a repayment for the following year

Repaying more than the minimum required repayment

If you repay more than the minimum required annual repayment for a particular year, your minimum required repayments for later years will be reduced.

You will still have to make repayments in the following years until the remaining HBP balance is zero.

The annual HBP Statement of Account that the CRA will send with your notice of assessment or notice of reassessment takes into account any additional repayments you made. It will give you the minimum required repayment you have to repay for the next year. If you want to calculate the minimum required repayment you have to repay for the next year, divide your HBP balance by the number of years remaining in your repayment period. For an example, see Example – Calculation of annual minimum required repayment.

Repaying less than the minimum required repayment

If you repay less than the required minimum annual repayment for a particular year, you have to include the difference between your designated HBP repayments for the year and the minimum required repayment for that year as RRSP income on line 12900 of your income tax and benefit return. You cannot include in your income more than the minimum required repayment for the year minus the amount you repay and designate as an HBP repayment.

Repaying none of the minimum required repayment

If you do not make the minimum required repayment to your RRSPs, PRPPs, or SPP, you have to include it as RRSP income on line 12900 of your income tax and benefit return. The amount you include on line 12900 is the minimum required repayment as shown on your HBP Statement of Account. Your HBP balance will be reduced accordingly.