On October 3, 2016, the Government announced administrative changes to Canada Revenue Agency’s reporting requirements for the sale of a Principal Residence.
In the past when you sold your principal residence you did not have to report the sale on your income tax return and you did not have to pay tax on any gain from the sale. This was the case if you were eligible for the full income tax exemption (principal residence exemption) because the property was your principal residence for every year you owned it.
Starting with the 2016 tax year, you will be required to report basic information (date of acquisition, proceeds of disposition and description of the property) on your income tax and benefit return when you sell your principal residence to claim the full principal residence exemption. Reporting will be required for sales that occur on or after January 1, 2016.
You will complete Schedule 3 and file it with your T1 Income Tax and Benefit Return for the year you sell the property. If the property was your principal residence for every year that you owned it, you will make the principal residence designation in your Schedule 3. In this case, the year of acquisition, proceeds of disposition and the description of the property are the information that will have to be reported. Schedule 3 will be modified accordingly. Form T2091 (or Form T1255) will still be required for the designation in the case the property was not your principal residence for all of the years that you owned it.
For the sale of a principal residence in 2016 or later tax years, CRA will only allow the principal residence exemption if you report the sale and designation of principal residence in your income tax return. If you forget to make a designation of principal residence in the year of the sale, it is very important to ask the CRA to amend your income tax and benefit return for that year. Under proposed changes, the CRA will be able to accept a late designation in certain circumstances, but a penalty may apply.
The penalty is the lesser of the following amounts:
- $8,000; or
- $100 for each complete month from the original due date to the date your request was made in a form satisfactory to the CRA.
The new rules also apply for deemed dispositions. A deemed disposition occurs when you are considered to have disposed of property, even though you did not actually sell it. For example, a deemed disposition will occur if there is a change in use of the property:
- You change all or part of your principal residence to a rental or business operation.
- You change your rental or business operation to a principal residence.
When you change the use of a property, you are generally considered to have sold the property at its fair market value and to have immediately reacquired the property for the same amount. You have to report the disposition (and designation) of your principal residence and/or the resulting capital gain or loss (in certain situations) in the year the change of use occurs.
When an individual dies, there is a deemed disposition of property. The legal representative of the deceased individual will report the disposition on Schedule 3 of the final return of the deceased individual.
For additional information follow this link to the CRA website.
