The legislation for the Underused Housing Tax (UHT) was enacted by the Federal Government on June 9, 2022, effective on January 1, 2022. The UHT is a 1% tax on the ownership of vacant or underused housing located in Canada.
While this tax generally applies to non-resident, non-Canadian owners, there are circumstances in which it may also apply to Canadian owners. Affected owners must now file a UHT return and remit the UHT by April 30, 2023 for every qualifying residential property owned on December 31, 2022.
Canadian residential property owners, nominee corporations, corporations wholly owned by Canadian citizens and subsidiaries of public corporations may also be defined as affected owners and required to file the UHT return, even where there are no taxes owing.
It should also be noted that other new vacant home taxes at the provincial and municipal government levels may also apply.
For more information and to determine if you are an affected owner, please see the information on the Canada Revenue Agency’s website at:
https://www.canada.ca/en/services/taxes/excise-taxes-duties-and-levies/underused-housing-tax.html
In addition, the newly released Form UHT-2900 can be found here:
https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/forms-publications/forms/uht-2900.html
In the event you require assistance with this matter, please contact your Lipton advisor.
