When GST Applies, and When It Does Not

The line the statute draws. Section 2 of Part I of Schedule V exempts the sale of a previously occupied residential complex where the vendor is not a builder. That one provision is why most Langley resales close without anyone mentioning GST. New housing, and housing that has been substantially renovated, falls outside it and is taxable at 5% on the full consideration, the price, not the gain, with no harmonised provincial component in British Columbia. The exemption also fails, memorandum 19.2.1 notes, where the vendor claimed input tax credits on the last acquisition of the complex or on improvements to it. A house run through a business can come back taxable.

What "substantially renovated" means. Not a big renovation. CRA's bulletin B-092 sets the test at all or substantially all of the building removed or replaced, quantified at at least 90%, measured excluding six elements: foundation, external walls, interior supporting walls, floors, roof and staircases. Its benchmark is walls removed or replaced together with either the ceilings or the floors throughout at least 90% of the building, stripped to the studs, and it states flatly that removing or replacing does not include repairing. New kitchen, new baths, new flooring and paint is not a substantial renovation, whatever the invoice. Crossing the line makes the vendor a builder and the entire price taxable.

The rebate that no longer reaches this market. The GST New Housing Rebate returns 36% of the tax to a maximum of $6,300 where consideration is $350,000 or less, then declines on a straight line, $6,300 × ($450,000 − price) ÷ $100,000, to nil at $450,000. It is unavailable to a corporation or a partnership, and the thresholds have not moved. Set them against the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board's July 2026 report: composite $877,600, detached $1,335,200, townhouses $757,300. Nothing newly built in Langley approaches $450,000, so the headline federal rebate has been, in practical terms, zero here for two decades.

The rebate that does, and it is only months old. Bill C-4, the Making Life More Affordable for Canadians Act, received Royal Assent on 12 March 2026 as chapter 2. The First-Time Home Buyers' GST Rebate refunds 100% of the GST on a new home up to $1,000,000, to a maximum of $50,000, phasing out linearly to nil at $1,500,000; CRA's worked midpoint of $1,250,000 recovers $25,000. The conditions run in series: at least 18 years old, a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, no home owned by you or your spouse lived in as a primary residence in the calendar year or the previous four calendar years, first occupancy before 2036, an agreement with the builder on or after 20 March 2025 and before 2031, construction beginning before 2031 and substantially complete before 2036, and the existing rebate's criteria met as if its ceiling were $1,500,000. The builder may credit it at closing or you claim it afterwards, and which of those your contract assumes is a term, not a formality.

Investors, and the two rental rebates. Buying new to rent, the equivalent relief is the New Residential Rental Property rebate, claimed on form GST524 rather than credited by the builder, and it inherits the same arithmetic: fair market value under $450,000, maximum $6,300. Here it delivers nothing. The live instrument is the Purpose-Built Rental Housing rebate, 100% of the GST, no value ceiling, where construction began after 13 September 2023 and before 2031 and is substantially complete before 2036, the building holds at least four private apartment units each with its own kitchen, bath and living area, and at least 90% of units are held for long-term rental. That is a developer's instrument, not relief on one investment condominium.

The used home that is not exempt. Four cases recur. A builder's own residence stays exempt only on memorandum 19.2.3's conditions: used primarily, more than half, as the individual builder's place of residence after substantial completion, with no input tax credits claimed. Second, a house substantially renovated for resale is taxable on the entire price. Third, bare land: GI-003 makes a sale of personal-use land by an individual generally exempt, but subdivide into more than two parts and the severed portions are taxable unless sold to a relative for personal use. Fourth, assignments: for agreements entered into on or after 7 May 2022 every assignment of new housing is taxable, the assignor remits, and the deposit reimbursement leaves the consideration only where the agreement says so in writing. GI-120 adds that with two builders the assignee pays GST twice, to the builder on the house, to the assignor on the interest.

The Langley acreage with a farm on it. Info sheet GI-002 is plain: the sale of farmland by an individual is usually taxable, exempt only in limited cases such as a transfer to a related individual who then uses it for personal use and enjoyment. Selling to a neighbour attracts GST whether he farms it or not. But the house does not follow the land. Under subsection 136(2) the parcel is deemed two supplies, the house plus the land reasonably necessary for its use and enjoyment, which memorandum 19.1 puts at usually half a hectare, about 1.24 acres, and the remainder. The first is exempt, the second taxable, and the price must be allocated between them reasonably; subsection 153(2) lets CRA substitute its own allocation where it is not. On a ten-acre parcel at $2,400,000, putting $900,000 on the land carries $45,000 of GST.

Included, plus, and who pays it over. BCFSA and BCREA both confirm that the standard-form Contract of Purchase and Sale now puts GST inside the purchase price unless the parties agree otherwise in writing. That is not cosmetic: a $1,400,000 price GST-included carries $1,333,333 of consideration and $66,667 of tax, while the same figure written "plus GST" costs $1,470,000. The vendor normally collects and remits, but under subsection 221(2), as set out in memorandum 19.1, the supplier need not collect where it is a non-resident or the recipient is registered for GST, excluding an individual buying a residential complex. The registrant purchaser then self-assesses on its own return: a cash-flow advantage handled, an assessment forgotten. And a vendor who certifies in writing that a taxable supply is exempt when it is not is treated as having collected the tax inside the price, which is why we ask what the seller is before we ask what the property is.

Verified 25 August 2026 against the Canada Revenue Agency's GST/HST pages and publications, the new housing rebate, the first-time home buyers' rebate and its eligibility page, the new residential rental property and purpose-built rental housing rebates, memoranda 19.1, 19.2.1 and 19.2.3, bulletin B-092 on substantial renovations, info sheets GI-002, GI-003 and GI-120, and notice 323 on assignment sales, together with the Department of Finance Royal Assent release and the Parliament of Canada text of Bill C-4, section 136 of the Excise Tax Act on the Justice Laws site, the BC Financial Services Authority and BCREA on the standard-form contract, and benchmark prices from the Fraser Valley Real Estate Board's July 2026 report. This report describes and informs, it is not tax or legal advice, and specifics deserve specific verification with your accountant before you sign anything. Is your purchase price GST-included or plus GST, and has anyone confirmed the property is exempt in the first place?