Form T1036 is the request you give your RRSP issuer to withdraw funds under the Home Buyers' Plan (HBP) to buy or build a qualifying home. You can withdraw up to $60,000, and the issuer won't withhold tax on it. You must be a first-time home buyer with a written agreement to buy or build, and you repay the amount to your RRSP over up to 15 years.
The rules below come from the 2025 Form T1036 and the CRA's Home Buyers' Plan pages, as of October 2026. You don't send the form to the CRA: your RRSP issuer keeps it.
Who can use the Home Buyers' Plan
Part A of the form is a questionnaire. To be eligible, you generally need to:
- Be a resident of Canada.
- Have a written agreement to buy or build a qualifying home, for yourself or for a specified disabled person.
- Intend to live in the home as your principal place of residence within one year after buying or building it.
- Be a first-time home buyer, unless the withdrawal is for a specified disabled person.
- Have an HBP balance of zero on January 1 of the year, if you've used the HBP before.
You count as a first-time home buyer if, in the current year before the withdrawal, except the 30 days just before it, or in the preceding four calendar years, you didn't live in a home as your principal residence that you or your current spouse or common-law partner owned. The CRA's example: for a withdrawal on July 31, 2025, the period is January 1, 2021 to June 30, 2025. There are separate rules if your marriage or common-law partnership has broken down.
What counts as a qualifying home
A qualifying home is a housing unit in Canada, existing or being built: single-family, semi-detached, townhouses, mobile homes, condominium units and apartments in duplexes, triplexes, fourplexes or apartment buildings. A share in a housing co-operative counts if it gives you possession and an equity interest, but not if it only gives you a right to rent.
How to fill in and use T1036
- Answer the Part A questionnaire to confirm you're eligible.
- Complete Part B: your name, SIN and the address of the home you're buying or building, and the details of a specified disabled person if that applies.
- Complete Part C with the amount, the date you need it and the RRSP contract number, then sign.
- Give the form to your RRSP issuer. They complete Area 2 and keep it.
- You can withdraw from more than one RRSP, as long as you're the annuitant of each.
Generally, you must receive all your HBP withdrawals in the same calendar year. Some RRSPs, such as locked-in or group RRSPs, don't allow withdrawals at all.
The 89-day trap
This is the rule that catches people who top up their RRSP just before buying. If you made contributions to the RRSP in the 89-day period before the HBP withdrawal, those contributions may not be deductible. To be fully deductible, the RRSP's value after the withdrawal must be at least equal to those recent contributions. If your spouse or common-law partner also contributed to the same RRSP in that window, the earliest contributions are treated as the non-deductible ones.
So if you plan to contribute and then withdraw straight away under the HBP, leave at least 90 days between the two, or make sure enough stays in the plan to cover what you added.
Deadlines after the withdrawal
| Deadline | Rule |
|---|---|
| Buy or build the home | Before October 1 of the year after the year of your first withdrawal, with some exceptions |
| Move in | Within one year after buying or building it |
| Start repaying, first withdrawal before 2022 | The second year after the year of the first withdrawal |
| Start repaying, first withdrawal 2022 to 2025 | Temporary relief: the fifth year after the year of the first withdrawal |
| Repayment period | Up to 15 years, and you can repay early at any time |
If you don't buy or build by that October 1 date and no exception applies, you must cancel your participation. The CRA's example for the relief: a first withdrawal in 2022 means the first repayment year is 2027.
What happens if you don't repay
Each year you have a minimum repayment, which you make by contributing to your RRSP, PRPP or SPP and designating it as an HBP repayment on your return, including contributions in the first 60 days of the next year. If you repay less than the minimum, the shortfall is added to your income on line 12900 for that year.
Want AI doing the heavy lifting in your marketing?
I build the systems that handle the boring 80 percent, so you get your week back. Done properly, with the human kept in.
Taking more than the limit has its own cost. Any part of HBP withdrawals above $60,000 is reported as income for the year you received it, and the issuer has to withhold tax on the excess. A second withdrawal while you still owe on the first isn't an HBP withdrawal at all: the CRA treats it as a regular RRSP withdrawal, added to your income and taxed, as shown on a T4RSP.
HBP and FHSA together
You can withdraw from your RRSP under the HBP and make a qualifying withdrawal from your first home savings account for the same home, as long as you meet the conditions for each at the time of each withdrawal. Check your RRSP room and deduction limit on your notice of assessment before repaying, and keep the T1036 copy with your records along with your T4 slips.
The verdict
T1036 is a simple form that unlocks up to $60,000 of your RRSP for a first home without tax withheld. Check the first-time buyer window, avoid contributing in the 89 days before you withdraw, take all withdrawals in one calendar year, and diarise the October 1 purchase deadline and your first repayment year.
Frequently asked questions
How much can I withdraw with Form T1036?
Up to $60,000 in total from your RRSPs under the Home Buyers' Plan in each participation period.
Is tax withheld on a Home Buyers' Plan withdrawal?
No. Your RRSP issuer won't withhold tax on HBP withdrawals of $60,000 or less.
Do I send Form T1036 to the CRA?
No. You give it to your RRSP issuer, which completes Area 2 and keeps it.
When do I start repaying the Home Buyers' Plan?
For a first withdrawal between January 1, 2022 and December 31, 2025, repayments start in the fifth year after the withdrawal. Earlier withdrawals started in the second year.
Can I contribute to my RRSP right before an HBP withdrawal?
Contributions made in the 89-day period before the withdrawal may not be deductible unless enough stays in the RRSP to cover them.
