Buying a home in Ontario triggers a tax on the price, paid in cash at closing and not added to the mortgage. Homes in Toronto pay a second, municipal tax on top. It is one of the closing costs a down payment has to cover beyond the price itself. The cash needed on closing day adds up every one of them.
The rules
Both taxes are marginal: each rate applies only to the part of the price in its bracket, as with income tax brackets. For a property with one or two single-family residences:[1][2]
| Part of the price | Ontario | Toronto |
|---|---|---|
| Up to $55,000 | 0.5% | 0.5% |
| $55,000 to $250,000 | 1.0% | 1.0% |
| $250,000 to $400,000 | 1.5% | 1.5% |
| $400,000 to $2,000,000 | 2.0% | 2.0% |
| $2,000,000 to $3,000,000 | 2.5% | 2.5% |
| $3,000,000 to $4,000,000 | 2.5% | 4.40% |
| $4,000,000 to $5,000,000 | 2.5% | 5.45% |
| $5,000,000 to $10,000,000 | 2.5% | 6.50% |
| $10,000,000 to $20,000,000 | 2.5% | 7.55% |
| Over $20,000,000 | 2.5% | 8.60% |
The Toronto rates above $3,000,000 took effect on April 1, 2026; before that date they were lower. Toronto also charges an administration fee of $102.56[3] plus 13% HST,[4] on prices of $14,399 or more.[5]
First-time buyer refunds. Ontario refunds up to $4,000,[6] which covers all the tax on the first $368,000. Toronto refunds up to $4,475,[7] which covers all of its tax on the first $400,000. Each refund is limited to its own tax, and the administration fee is not refunded. Both require that the buyer has never owned a home anywhere in the world, is a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, and moves in within nine months.
The plan asks one question, whether you are a first-time buyer, and takes a yes to mean every buyer qualifies. The law tests each buyer: Ontario cuts its refund to the share bought by first-time buyers, and gives none when a spouse owned a home while married to the buyer.[8]
In Quebec
Quebec has one transfer duty, often called the welcome tax, set by provincial law and collected by the municipality. Every municipality applies the statutory schedule: 0.5% up to $62,900, 1% to $315,000, and 1.5% above. A municipality may charge more on the part above $500,000, at most 3%, except Montréal.[9]
- Montréal has seven tiers of its own, reaching 4% above $3,113,000. They replace the statutory schedule rather than adding to it, so a Montréal buyer pays one duty, not two.[10]
- Québec City charges 2.5% from $500,000 to $750,000 and 3% above.[11]
A Quebec home whose municipality is not given is priced in Montréal, whose duties are the highest, and the plan says so.[12] There is no first-time-buyer refund at closing. The law taxes the greatest of the price and the assessed value times the municipality's comparative factor; All the Numbers uses the price.[13] The default-insurance premium bears a 9% tax, paid in cash at closing; it rises to 9.975% for premiums paid after 2026.[14]
In British Columbia
British Columbia's property transfer tax is 1% up to $200,000, 2% to $2,000,000 and 3% above; a further tax on the residential value over $3,000,000 brings the rate there to 5%. No municipality adds a tax of its own.[15]
A first-time buyer pays no tax on the first $500,000 of the price when the home is worth at most $835,000; above that the exemption shrinks to nil over the next $25,000, and a co-buyer who does not qualify keeps their share of the tax.[16] British Columbia charges the buyer no tax on the default-insurance premium.[17]
In Alberta
Alberta has no land transfer tax. Land Titles charges a levy to register the transfer — $50 plus $5 for each $5,000 or part of the value — and the same again on the mortgage.[18] There is no tax on the default-insurance premium.[19]
In Manitoba
Manitoba's land transfer tax is nil on the first $30,000, then 0.5% to $90,000, 1% to $150,000, 1.5% to $200,000 and 2% above, with no first-time-buyer relief and no municipal tax.[20] There is no tax on the default-insurance premium.[21]
In Newfoundland and Labrador
Newfoundland and Labrador has no land transfer tax. Its Registry of Deeds charges $100 for the first $500 of value and $0.40 for each further $100 or part, on the deed and again on the mortgage; the mortgage fee is at most $5,000.[22] Mortgage default insurance is exempt from the province's tax on insurance premiums.[23]
In New Brunswick
New Brunswick's real property transfer tax is 1% of the greater of the price and the assessed value, with no first-time-buyer relief and no municipal tax.[24] The plan has only the price, so it works the tax out on that.[25] There is no tax on the default-insurance premium.[26]
In Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia has no provincial transfer tax. Each municipality charges a deed transfer tax, one rate on the whole price: 1.5% in Halifax, as low as 1% in New Glasgow and the rest of Pictou County, and 1.25% in Berwick.[27] There is no first-time-buyer relief. Until a home's municipality is chosen the plan takes it as Halifax.[28] There is no tax on the default-insurance premium.[29]
In Prince Edward Island
Prince Edward Island's real property transfer tax is 1% of the greater of the price and the assessed value.[30] The plan has only the price, so it works the tax out on that.[31] There is none on a home worth $30,000 or less,[32] and none for a first-time buyer who will live in it, at any price.[33] The Act gives the exemption to the deed and has no rule for splitting it, so the plan reads it as all or nothing: buying with someone who is not a first-time buyer, you pay the whole tax.[34] There is no tax on the default-insurance premium.[35]
In Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan has no land transfer tax. Land Titles charges a fee to register the transfer and the mortgage, which the plan does not include yet. The default-insurance premium carries 6% PST, paid at closing.[36]
In the Northwest Territories
There is no land transfer tax. The Land Titles Office charges $2 for each $1,000 of value or part to register the transfer (at least $100; $1.50 for each $1,000 above $1,000,000), and $1.50 for each $1,000 of the mortgage (at least $80). The plan adds both to the cash needed at closing.[37] There is no tax on the default-insurance premium.[38]
In Nunavut
There is no land transfer tax. The Land Titles Office charges $1.50 for each $1,000 of value to register the transfer (at least $60; $1 for each $1,000 above $1,000,000), and $1 for each $1,000 of the mortgage (at least $40). The plan adds both to the cash needed at closing.[39] There is no tax on the default-insurance premium.[40] Much of Nunavut's housing is public, employer-provided or leasehold, so a purchase fits fewer households than elsewhere.
In Yukon
Yukon has no land transfer tax.[41] The Land Titles Office charges flat fees to register the transfer and the mortgage, a few hundred dollars, which the plan does not include. There is no tax on the default-insurance premium.[42]
What the engine does
- Works out each tax from its brackets, adds the two, subtracts the refunds the buyer is marked as eligible for, and includes the result in the cash needed at closing.
- Treats the home as in Toronto unless told it is elsewhere in Ontario, and the plan says so when it assumed it. Outside Toronto there is no municipal tax.[43]
- Uses the Toronto rates in force on the closing date.
- Applies the 2026 brackets and refunds to a purchase in any later year, unindexed, which is also what the law says as written.[44] The plan's assumptions note the closing year.
- Adds the tax to the home's cost for the capital gain on a sale.
Together with default insurance tax, this is most of the closing cash beyond the down payment; see down payment sourcing.
What it deliberately does not
- Eligibility. All the Numbers takes the first-time buyer box as the buyer's own statement and does not check it, nor the nine-month and 18-month deadlines.
- Buildings of three or more units in All the Numbers, which prices a home as one unit or, with a suite, two. The engine itself holds a separate set of brackets for three or four units. Also new-build rebates and non-resident speculation taxes.
- Legal fees, title insurance and other closing costs. These are entered as one amount, which starts at $3,000: CMHC's figures for a home inspection, an appraisal, legal fees and a land survey.[45]