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Toronto Vacant Home Tax

January 23, 2023 | Homeowners

With just under two weeks to go before the deadline for the freshly introduced Toronto Vacant Home Tax, it’s time for you as a property owner in Toronto to file your declaration, if you haven’t done so already!

It’s straight-forward and quick to do online, covering multiple scenarios that may have occurred for the use of the property over the 2022 calendar year, whether as a primary residence, tenanted property, mixed use and more. The important element to consider is whether it was vacant for more than 6 months of the year. If so, the Vacant Home Tax of 1% of the assessed property value may be applicable, which will be applied to your 2023 tax bill.

To put things in perspective using the most up-to-date market statistics from TRREB (Toronto Regional Real Estate Board), the average price of a condo in the Toronto Central Area in December 2022 was $809,912, meaning an applicable tax of $8,099. Thankfully the MPAC (Municipal Property Assessment Corporation) assessed property values are often times quite a bit below the actual market value of a property. But still! There is a substantial amount of money on the line for letting the deadline lapse and not submitting your declaration, particularly if you would have otherwise been exempt from paying the Toronto Vacant Home Tax.

You may fall into some other specific scenarios for 2022, such as having purchased a property, vacant or not, mid-way through the year, or working through a transition with an occupant into a long term care facility, or working through an extensive repair or renovation that made habitation within the property impossible. Just be prepared to provide documentation, if requested, to support your declaration.

Time will tell if this new measure to incentivize property owners to make fuller use of their real estate will have a positive impact on increasing the housing supply in Toronto. If it translates into more available properties for tenants, or creates the push for owners of vacant properties to sell their real estate in order to put it in the hands of new residents or tenants, even just slightly, that would help the city overall. Every little bit counts in helping to ease the housing concerns in Toronto. 

To submit your declaration, visit the city of Toronto website right here and check this item off of your to-do list now.

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