Introduction
In 2017, the City of Vancouver introduced its annual residential vacancy tax (or “empty homes tax”). At that time, the tax rate was 1% of the assessed value of a subject property. The governing statute and administration program were…
Vacant housing taxes came into effect in Toronto and Ottawa for 2022, meaning that homeowners will have to file their first occupancy status declaration by February 2023 (for Toronto) and March 2023 (for Ottawa). Toronto’s portal is now open for…
Authors: Alexander Demner, Tyler Berg, and Gloria Wang
The federal government released its 2021 budget on April 19, 2021. Coming in as the longest budget in Canadian history, Budget 2021 proposes a myriad of income tax…
Taxes on residential realty in and around Greater Vancouver have been steadily proliferating over the past few years: first the provincial Foreign Buyer Tax (2016), then the municipal Vacancy Tax (2017) and, most recently, the provincial Speculation Tax (2018). All…
Last week the BC government tabled Bill 45, which seeks to implement the province’s new Speculation and Vacancy Tax. A careful review of the Bill suggests that it is overreaching and lacking in taxpayer fairness. Critical aspects of the…
For the past few months, the City of Vancouver has been conducting audits to verify the 2017 vacancy tax declarations filed by owners under the City’s Vacancy Tax By-Law No. 11674. Observers of the tax, which is unique in Canada, have…
A few months ago, BC announced a new “speculation tax” that will apply to certain residential properties in the province. The tax is intended to capture foreign and domestic speculators, “satellite families” who live in BC but pay little BC…
The BC government has proposed to introduce a new residential realty tax, taking effect this year. While BC has provided a general overview of the new tax by way of information sheets and public announcements, the government has yet to…
If you thought Vancouver’s vacancy tax (or “empty homes tax”) was a problem only for absentee condo owners, think again. A flaw in the scheme of the tax makes it a serious risk for virtually anyone who buys a home…