PwC recently released an article with regards to the Underused Housing Tax (UHT) and the extension given on the filing deadline that was given by the Government of Canada. They moved the previous filing deadline of October 31, 2023 to April 30, 2024. This may be a relief to those that weren’t able to file on time.
For those that may not have heard of it, the UHT is an annual federal 1% tax on the ownership of vacant or underused housing in Canada.
The reason this new filing requirement has caused quite a bit attention and concern is because of the high penalty of up to $5,000 for individuals and $10,000 for corporations, per property for anyone that did not file and was supposed to. This is regardless of whether you are required to pay tax or whether you are exempt and don’t need to pay the tax.
So if you are an owner of residential real estate aside from your primary residence, you should make sure you understand if you are an impacted owner that needs to file.
What has made this requirement somewhat frustrating to many is that there were a number of ambiguous criteria. The CRA has since provided further clarity through it’s questions and answers page: https://lnkd.in/geRQ4-n7 . But this PwC article is a good comprehensive summary for those wanting to get more clarify and so I thought I would share with my fellow investors!