My wife and I bought a home in January of 2024. At the same time, I came across the First-Time Homebuyer Savings Account.
We have been sharing a joint savings account since 2022 and have been saving money towards a down payment for a home. We turned a pre-existing individual savings account into a joint account (did not create a new one). We saved consistently, well over the $5,000 deduction max; however, over the last year, twice, we unfortunately over-saved and ultimately had to draw some funds back out. We never pulled out the "first $5,000" for the year.
Are we still eligible for the first-time homebuyer savings account deduction? We ended 2022, 2023, and 2024 (before our down payment) with a net of +$5,000 contributions per year.
Ultimately, >$15,000 saved over three years, >$15,000 spent on down payment; however, we "recycled" an old savings account and had additional transactions (due to over-committing savings in excess of the $15,000).
