ARTICLE · 03 FEBRUARY 2023

Toronto's New Vacant Home Tax

Robins Appleby LLP

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All residential home owners will have to submit a declaration of occupancy status to the city by February 2, 2023.

CanadaTax

Amelia Briggs-Morris

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On February 3, 2022, the City of Toronto passed By-Law 97-2022, which has implemented a new Vacant Home Tax (the "Tax") with the goal of increasing the supply of housing by taxing homeowners for leaving their residential properties unoccupied.

All residential home owners will have to submit a declaration of occupancy status (the "Declaration") to the city by February 2, 2023. Homeowners must declare whether the property was vacant for the previous tax year and if so, whether it qualifies for an exemption. Those homeowners who declare their property as vacant are subject to a tax of 1% on the current value assessment of the property.

What is considered a Vacant Property?

Under the new By-Law, a property is considered vacant if it was not used as the principal residence by the owner(s) or any permitted occupant(s) (such as tenants), or was unoccupied for a total of six months or more during the previous calendar year.

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