Land transfer tax Rebate

The land transfer tax rebate is provincially instituted with the intent of giving first time home buyers a break on the tax that is owed when purchasing a property. When you buy any property in Ontario, you are required to pay land transfer tax. 

HOW BIG IS THE REBATE?
First time buyers are given a tax break of up to $4,000. Based on this maximum amount, first time purchasers would receive the maximum tax credit on homes purchased for more than $368,000. 

ELIGIBILITY
- Purchaser must be 18 years of age or older
- Purchaser must occupy the home as a principal residence within 9 months of the transfer
- Canadian citizen or permanent resident of Canada
- Purchaser cannot have owned or have had ownership interest in any home anywhere in the world
- Spouse cannot have owned or have had ownership interest in any home anywhere in the world

* If your spouse has owned property anywhere in the world than the refund is not available to EITHER spouse.

LIMITATIONS
The refund will be reduced if one (or more) of the purchasers is not a first time home buyer. The refund would be proportionate to the amount of interest acquired by the individuals qualifying for the refund. An example of this would be a parent and child, who if they split the interest in the property 50/50, then the child's claim would not be able to exceed 50% of the rebate. This would mean only $2,000 of a possible $4,000 would be able to be claimed.

* If a parent is required to be on title for the purpose of lending, often they will only give themselves 1% interest in the property, leaving 99% of the interest to the child. The child would then be able to claim 99% of the rebate instead of just 50% if the interest was split equally.

For more information on this program, please visit the Government of Canada website here.