Home Buyers’ Plan and Lifelong Learning Plan: RRSP withdrawals

Updated November 2026

The Home Buyers’ Plan (HBP) lets first-time buyers take up to $60,000 out of their RRSPs to buy or build a home without paying tax on the withdrawal, as long as they pay it back to their RRSPs over 15 years. The Lifelong Learning Plan (LLP) works the same way for full-time education.

How the Home Buyers’ Plan works

You withdraw money from your own RRSP for a qualifying home. No tax is withheld and the amount is not added to your income, as long as you meet the conditions and repay on schedule. It works like an interest-free loan from yourself.

The limit is currently $60,000 per person. It was $35,000 before it was raised for withdrawals made after April 16, 2024. A couple who both qualify can each withdraw up to $60,000 from their own RRSPs for the same home, for up to $120,000 in total.

Who counts as a first-time buyer

You are generally a first-time home buyer if, at any time in the four previous calendar years, or in the current year before the withdrawal (not counting the 30 days just before it), you did not live in a home as your principal residence that you, or your current spouse or common-law partner, owned or jointly owned. Special rules apply in some situations, such as buying a home for a related person with a disability.

Other main conditions:

The 90-day rule for new contributions

Money must sit in your RRSP for a while before you take it out under the HBP, or you can lose the deduction. If you contributed to your RRSP during the 89 days before an HBP withdrawal, all or part of that contribution may not be deductible. In practice: make sure any contribution you plan to withdraw has been in the plan for at least 90 days.

Example. You put $10,000 into an RRSP on March 1 and withdraw $10,000 under the HBP on April 15. The money was in the plan for only 45 days, so you may lose the $10,000 deduction, which at a 30% rate is about $3,000 of tax relief. Waiting until late May avoids the problem.

Repaying the HBP

You must repay what you withdrew to your RRSPs over a period of up to 15 years. The minimum each year is generally the balance divided by the years left, so one-fifteenth at the start. You make repayments as normal RRSP contributions, during the year or in the first 60 days of the next year, and then designate them as HBP repayments on Schedule 7 of your return. Repayments do not use your RRSP room and are not deducted.

When repayment starts

If you miss a repayment

Any part of the required yearly repayment that you do not make is added to your income as RRSP income for that year and taxed at your marginal rate. Your HBP balance goes down by the same amount, but that RRSP room is lost for good. You can always repay more than the minimum, which lowers later payments.

Example. You withdrew $30,000 and your repayment period has started. The minimum is $2,000 a year ($30,000 ÷ 15). If you repay only $500, then $1,500 is added to your income. At a 30% rate that costs about $450 in tax.

Combining the HBP with an FHSA

You can use both the HBP and a first home savings account (FHSA) for the same qualifying home. The FHSA has a big advantage: a qualifying withdrawal is tax-free and never has to be repaid. Many first-time buyers fill the FHSA first ($8,000 a year, $40,000 lifetime) and use the HBP as a top-up. See FHSA and RRSP, TFSA or FHSA?.

Think about the cost to your retirement. Money taken out under the HBP stops growing in your RRSP until you put it back. If repayments slip, retirement savings fall behind. See Mortgage or RRSP? for the wider mortgage-versus-RRSP question.

Lifelong Learning Plan

The Lifelong Learning Plan lets you withdraw from your RRSPs to pay for full-time training or post-secondary education for you or your spouse or common-law partner (not your children).

Check the CRA’s LLP pages for the full conditions before you withdraw.

Sources