Advocacy Navigating Canada’s Underused Housing Tax

On June 9, 2022, the federal government enacted the Underused Housing Tax. While REALTORS® do not assume direct responsibility, they can help inform their clients of their tax filing obligations.

Advocacy Helping Homeowners and Buyers Navigate New Federal Tax Changes

The federal government is introducing new tax changes that may impact homeowners and potential homebuyers beginning January 1, 2023.

Legally Speaking Avoid Costly Mistakes Concerning the Foreign Buyers’ Tax #549

A recent BC Supreme Court decision highlights the potential risks for REALTORS® working with buyers whose residency or citizenship status is unknown or has recently changed.

Legally Speaking Federal Budget 2022: Taxation of Property Flipping, GST and Assignment Sales #548 

The proposed federal budget for 2022 has introduced a number of new rules relating to real estate, including rules to dampen speculation in the market. REALTORS® should be aware of these changes.

Advocacy Government Needs Transitional Rules for All Transactions Impacted By Taxes Introduced in Budget 2018 — New Taxes Unlikely to Stabilize Housing Market

BCREA calls on the government to introduce transitional rules for all transactions impacted by the new tax measures introduced in Budget 2018…

Legally Speaking Home Office or Work Space Expense Deductions #414

Section 18(12) of the Income Tax Act permits a self-employed individual to deduct expenses associated in using part of the home as a place of business…

Legally Speaking A Judge’s Guide to Whim and Fancy, or Best Efforts Clauses; Seller Had to Have Actual Knowledge of Default, Not Deemed Knowledge of Agent, to Be Liable Under Contract; Note Re: Legally Speaking 332 #333

In one case, the conditional clause in a Contract of Purchase and Sale required the buyer to satisfy himself as to the tax implications of Canadian/USA/international law upon his purchase of Canadian property…

Legally Speaking Benefits – Taxable or Not? #168

National Revenue’s unsuccessful attempt to add to a taxpayer’s income may be of interest to your clients whose employers require them to move and to all licensees wearing uniforms…

Legally Speaking Principal Residence – Calculations and Exemptions #147

A taxpayer bought a home and occupied it as his principal residence for 18 months and then rented one-third of it for 46 months. He then sold the home for a gain of $52,000, which the Minister of National Revenue…

Legally Speaking Tax Deductibility of a Real Estate Training Course #133

A real estate salesperson in Ontario paid $525 in 1985 to attend a four-day course “List More – Sell More,” which she found to be useful in increasing her commission income…

Legally Speaking Professional Incorporations – Continued #123

The response to the previous column discussing the lower rate of tax paid by a corporation carrying on an active real estate business confirmed that while everyone…

Legally Speaking Professional Incorporations #122

As a result of changes in legislation, lawyers may now join the ranks of businessmen and other professionals who are allowed to incorporate their…

Legally Speaking Property Purchase Tax Act and Other Odds and Sods #104

The Property Purchase Tax Act, although it has only received first reading, is here to stay.

Legally Speaking Condominium Act, Municipal Act, Social Service Tax Act #98

These three Acts proclaimed by the Legislature in Victoria may contain a number of booby traps waiting to explode in the face of the unwary, but each contains at least one…

Legally Speaking Capital Gains Tax – Principal Residence #96

Following the death of a woman in 1982 who lived on a parcel of land of 6.09 acres, the Department of National Revenue assessed a taxable capital gain of $202,800.00 on the deemed disposition of the property…

Legally Speaking Marketing – Another Product? #91

For some years Victoria has had double the average population of Canadians over the age of 65 years, the result, of course, of its incomparable beauty and moderate climate….

Legally Speaking Fire Alarm Systems; Income Tax – Agent’s Waiver of Its Commission Share #81

The high energy costs of the 70’s led to an increase in the number of free-standing wood stoves providing heat to economy minded home owners. This in turn led to a problem when the owner of the home containing the…

Legally Speaking Principal Residence Exemptions #42

In the first case, the question was whether or not the sale of 9.3 acres made by the taxpayers under threat of expropriation by a municipality, leaving 7/10ths of an acre upon which the taxpayers’ house was situated…

Legally Speaking Income Tax, Income or Capital Gain #31

The intention of the taxpayer as the determinative factor in whether one hundred per cent of the profit realized on the sale of property is taxed as income, or only fifty per cent as capital gain, is described in the…

Legally Speaking Income Tax #25

One of the results of the reduction in residential sales has been an increase in the number of trades of residential properties between people who can’t find a satisfactory cash buyer. For any one entitled to deduct…

Legally Speaking Damages Awarded When Prospective Buyers Failed to Complete the Sale of Their Home #18

Two commissions paid but only one completed sale, and damages awarded of $43,588.98, all arising from the failure of prospective purchasers to complete the sale of their own home…