If you build or purchase a new home, you may qualify for a rebate of a portion of the GST/HST paid on the purchase if the home is purchased for use as the primary place of residence of the purchaser or a relation of the purchaser, at the time that the purchaser becomes liable under a purchase agreement. See link to Tax Court case at bottom. See the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) guide RC4028 GST/HST New Housing Rebate (link at bottom) for more information on this.
The Federal 2021 Budget included a proposal to remove the condition that where 2 or more individuals buy a new home together, each of them must be acquiring the home for use as their primary place of residence or the primary place of residence of a relation. The rebate would be available as long as the new home is acquired for use as the primary place of residence of any one of the purchasers or a relation of any one of the purchasers. This measure would apply to a supply made under an agreement of purchase and sale entered into on or after April 20, 2021. See GST New Housing Rebate Conditions on the Budget 2021 website.
Guide RC4028 also has information on provincial new housing rebates for the provincial part of the HST, which may be available even if the new housing rebate for the federal part of the HST is not available. The guide also includes information on:
| BC transition tax rebate |
| Provincial transitional new housing rebates |
If you substantially renovate your home, you may qualify for a rebate of a portion of the GST/HST paid on labour and materials. See the CRA RC4028 information on Substantial renovations, conversions and major additions (link at bottom) for more information on this.
If you are building or substantially renovating a home on land that you own, and the house is your primary place of residence, you are not a builder of a house for GST/HST purposes. If you are building a home, or have hired someone else to build it for you, in the course of a business or an adventure or concern in the nature of trade (i.e, you're building the home to sell it), then you are likely considered a builder for GST/HST purposes. In this case, you may or may not have to register for GST/HST, but your sale of the property may still be taxable and you may have to charge and collect the tax. See the CRA guide RC4052 GST/HST Information for the Home Construction Industry (link at bottom).
This rebate is available for eligible rental accommodation and for land leased for a residence. The rental accommodation or land must be intended for long-term use as a residence.
You may qualify for this rebate if you:
| purchased or built a new residential rental property |
| substantially renovated residential rental property |
| made an addition to a multiple-unit residential rental property |
| converted a commercial property into a residential rental property, or |
| leased land for residential purposes (including the lease of sites in a residential trailer park). |
| purchased or built a residential complex that is a residential care facility |
Tax Court Case: L'�cuyer v. the Queen, 2019 TCC 41 re primary place of residence.
On September 21, 2023, Bill C-56, the Affordable Housing and Groceries Act, was introduced to increase the GST Rental Rebate on new rental housing from 36% to 100%. The rebate increase is subject to the passage of Bill C-56, and is effective for projects that begin construction on or after September 14, 2023 and before December 31, 2030, and complete construction by December 31, 2035. See the September 21, 2023 Department of Finance news release.
Not all projects eligible for the existing GST rental rebate will qualify for the enhanced rebate.
The enhanced GST rebate is available to those that qualify for the existing GST rental rebate (see above), and are in buildings with at least:
| 4 private apartment units or at least 10 private rooms or suites; and |
| 90% of residential units designated for long-term rental |
If existing non-residential real estate is converted into a residential complex it will be eligible for the enhanced rebate if all other conditions are met, but the enhanced rebate will not apply to substantial renovations of existing residential complexes.
See the Backgrounder for more details.
See the October 2023 Life in the Tax Lane video from Video Tax News.