March 30, 2017

A foreign national who purchases a home within Metro Vancouver (GVRD) pays an additional tax of 15%.  The government recently announced that this tax will no longer apply to foreign nationals who receive confirmation under the B.C. Provincial Nominee Program.  To qualify, the buyer must be a confirmed B.C. Provincial Nominee before the title changes hands and the property must be used as a principal residence.  Further, this exemption may only be claimed once. 

If the foreign national purchases another property, they will pay the additional property transfer tax.

From what I can tell the B.C. Provincial Nominee Program is a program to allow skilled and qualified people to enter the labour market.  Feel free to review www.welcomebc.ca/immigrate-to-b-c/b-c-provincial-nominee-program.

If you are helping a foreign national purchase property within Metro Vancouver you should ask if they are registered under the B.C. Provincial Nominee Program to determine if they are eligible for this exemption.

Also, a refund may be available to a foreign national who has paid the additional property transfer tax between August 1, 2016 and March 17, 2017 and

1.            is subsequently confirmed as a B.C. Provincial Nominee, or

2.            becomes a permanent resident or Canadian citizen within 1 year of the transfer date.

Application forms are available on the government’s website.

With all of the recent changes, some website sand PTT calculators are a little out of date. 

Finally, I send these updates to hundereds of people I have worked with over the years.  There are occasions when these emails generate many questions.  While I will try to answer every question in the order on which they are received.

Best,