How to repay the amounts withdrawn from your RRSPs under the Home Buyers' Plan

On this page

• When do you start making repayments?
• Repaying the amount you withdrew
• Special repayment situations

When do you start making repayments?

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

Under the current rule, your repayment period starts the second year after the year when you made your first withdrawal from your RRSP under the HBP.

Where the repayment relief does not apply, the current rule applies. Therefore, if you made your first withdrawal before January 1, 2022, your repayment period started the second year after the year you made your first withdrawal from your RRSPs under the HBP. For example, if you made your first withdrawal in 2020, your first year of repayment was 2022.

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 reassessment. In some cases, the CRA will send you an HBP statement of account on a Form T1028, Your RRSP, HBP, LLP and FHSA Information.

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 reassessment or on the Form T1028 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.

Special repayment situations

Some special repayment situations may apply. For example, certain contributions cannot be designated as a repayment. Other special repayment situations happen when a participant:

• dies
• reaches the age of 71
• becomes a non-resident

Contributions that cannot be designated as repayments

Not all contributions you make to your RRSPs, PRPPs, or SPP in the repayment year or in the first 60 days of the year after can be designated as a repayment under the HBP. You cannot designate contributions that:

• you make to your spouse's or common-law partner's RRSPs or SPP (or that they make to your RRSP)
• you transfer directly to your RRSPs, PRPPs, or SPP from a registered pension plan (RPP), deferred profit sharing plan (DPSP), registered retirement income fund (RRIF), first home savings account (FHSA), SPP, or another RRSP or PRPP
• you withdrew from one of your RRSPs, PRPPs or SPP to have a provisional past service pension adjustment approved and that you re-contributed to this RRSP, PRPP or SPP and for which you can claim a deduction
• you designate as a repayment under the Lifelong Learning Plan (LLP) for the year
• you made in the first 60 days of the repayment year, that you already deducted on your income tax and benefit return for the previous year
• you already designated as a repayment for the previous year under the HBP or the LLP
• you receive in the repayment year (such as retiring allowances) that you transfer to your RRSPs, PRPP or SPP and deduct or will deduct on your income tax and benefit return for that year

The deceased participated in the Home Buyers' Plan (HBP)

General rule – If the participant of the HBP dies, the legal representative has to include the participant's remaining HBP balance in the participant's income for the year of death.

The amount to be included in a participant's income for the year of death is equal to the participant's HBP balance before death less any RRSP contributions (made before the participant died) designated as an HBP repayment for the year of death.

HBP election – If, at the time of death, the participant had a spouse or common-law partner who is a resident of Canada, that individual can jointly elect with the participant's legal representative to make the repayments under the HBP. By doing so, the income inclusion rule will not apply for the participant.

The participant's HBP balance at the time of death less any RRSP contributions designated as an HBP repayment for the year of death is treated as if the surviving spouse or common-law partner withdrew it, and it has to be repaid to that individual's RRSPs.

Make a joint election

The surviving spouse or common-law partner and the deceased participant's legal representative must attach completed Form RC98, Election to transfer the Home Buyers’ Plan (HBP) or Lifelong Learning Plan (LLP) balance at time of death or signed letter to the deceased's final income tax and benefit return. The letter must state that an election is being made to have the surviving spouse or common-law partner continue making repayments under the deceased participant's HBP, and to not have the income inclusion rule apply for the deceased participant.

Generally, if the surviving spouse or common-law partner was not participating in their own HBP but elects to continue making the repayments of the deceased individual, the surviving spouse or common-law partner would be considered a participant of an HBP and cannot make any withdrawals under the HBP until the HBP balance is completely repaid and all the other applicable HBP conditions are met.

The participant of the HBP reaches the age of 71

You cannot contribute to an RRSP, PRPP, or SPP after the end of the year in which you turn 71 years of age. As a result, you will not be able to repay any amounts you withdrew from your RRSPs after the end of the year you reach the age of 71.

In the year you turn 71, you can choose one of the following:

• repay the remaining HBP balance to your RRSPS, PRPPs or SPP
• make a partial repayment to your RRSPs, RPPs or SPP. Your remaining HBP balance at the beginning of the year you turn 72 will be divided by the number of years remaining in your repayment period. That calculated amount will be included as income on line 12900 of your income tax and benefit return for each of the years after
• make no repayment to your RRSPs, PRPPs or SPP. Your HBP balance at the beginning of the year you turn 71 will be divided by the numbers of years remaining in your repayment period. That amount will be included as income on line 12900 of your income tax and benefit return for each of the years after.

The participant of the HBP becomes a non-resident

If you become a non-resident after you make your withdrawals from your RRSPs under the HBP but before you buy or build a qualifying home, you must do one of the following:

• cancel your participation in the HBP
• enter the amount you did not repay on line 12900 of your income tax and benefit return for the year you made the withdrawals.

If you were a non-resident at the time you filed an income tax and benefit return for the year you made your first withdrawal under the HBP, your cancellation payments are due by the earliest of the following two dates:

• December 31 of the year after the year you made your first withdrawal (if you have permitted a one year extension to acquire or build a qualifying home or replacement home, this specific date will be extended by an additional year)
• the day you filed an income tax and benefit return for the year you made your first withdrawal

If you become a non-resident after you buy or build a qualifying home, you must choose one of the following options:

• repay the remaining HBP balance to your RRSPs, PRPPs or SPP by the earliest of the following dates:
  • before the time you file your income tax and benefit return for the year that you become a non-resident
  • 60 days after you become a non-resident
• include the remaining HBP balance as RRSP income on line 12900 of your income tax and benefit return for the year that you become a non-resident.

Forms and publications

• Form T2019, Death of an RRSP Annuitant – Refund of Premiums
• Form RC98, Election to transfer the Home Buyers’ Plan (HBP) or Lifelong Learning Plan (LLP) balance at time of death
• Information Sheet RC4177, Death of an RRSP Annuitant
• Interpretation Bulletin IT-500R ARCHIVED, Registered Retirement Savings Plans – Death of an Annuitant
• Schedule 7, RRSP, PRPP and SPP Contributions and Transfers and HBP and LLP Activities
• T4RSP slip, Statement of RRSP Income