How it works: Capital gains tax on the sale of a property

Every week, our inbox is full of letters from readers asking how to avoid the capital gains tax. They want to know how to work the system and keep more money in their pockets. Listen, it’s valid to want to hold on to the money earned off of the sale of a secondary residence (cottage or second home) or an investment property (rental or commercial property). But the idea that you’re forking over half your money simply isn’t true. The need to dispel this rumour is what inspired this guide to capital gains on the sale of property, which will answer the most common questions with our most popular articles on the topic. 

And while we cannot show you how to avoid taxes (it’s one of two things you can’t avoid in life—death is the other), I can share insights on how to use any Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) rules in your favour. 

What are capital gains in Canada?

According to the MoneySense Glossary, “a capital gain is the increase in value on any asset or security since the time it was purchased, and it is ‘realized’ when the asset or security is sold.” In the case of this article, the asset we are dealing with is property, which could be a cottage, second home, investment or rental property, as stated above.

Can you have a capital loss?

Our definition of capital gains begs the question: “Can you have a capital loss?” Yes, you can. A capital loss occurs when you sell a property for less money than you originally purchased it. In some cases, you might be able to use a capital loss to reduce your income for your tax return, if you are reporting capital gains in the same year. 

Speaking of tax, a capital gains tax is the money owed in taxes from the income earned. It’s not a specific tax, per se…. But more on that below.

For more on the ins and outs of how capital gains works, read: Capital gains explained.

How are capital gains calculated? How are they taxed?

Before we dive into the tax part, let’s go through how to calculate capital gains on the sale of a property. Essentially, this calculation figures out how much the property’s value grew from when you first bought it to the day you sold it. This above is a simple-math calculation of the capital gain.

Capital gain = purchase price – selling price 

We will dive even deeper to reduce the amount of capital gains you would claim on your tax return (more on that below).

So, it’s not that capital gains are taxed at a rate of 50%, but it’s that 50% of the capital gains are taxable. And the capital gains tax rate depends on the amount of your income. You add the capital gain to your income for the year, including money you receive from your job, side hustles, dividends in non-registered accounts, any selling of assets and so on. 

Capital gains are taxed as part of your income on your personal tax return. Below are the federal tax brackets for 2024, which can give you an idea of how much tax you may owe for the year. You will need to figure out the provincial tax bracket rate for your province or territory, too. Since Canada has a tiered tax system, you will have to do a bit of math to estimate your annual income tax, breaking down your total tax into the brackets, and the amount owed for each bracket. 

The first column is the tax rate, meaning the percentage of the income that is considered taxable (this doesn’t include deductions, of course). The second column is the range of income for that tax rate. Say you earn $60,000 a year, $55,867 would be within the 15% tax rate and $4,133 is in the 20.5% rate ($60,000 – $55,867). That’s right your income is taxed through the tax brackets, and not on a flat tax rate. This is what’s called “a progressive tax system,” meaning that Canadians with lower incomes are taxed at a lower rate, and tax rates rise incrementally for higher-income earners.

Read more about Canada’s provincial and territorial tax brackets.

And, of course, to really get down to the nickel of how much you ultimately owe, you will need to do your tax return and receive a notice of assessment. 

It’s worth noting that there can be other factors for calculating capital gains. Here are some articles that delve deeper into some of these specific situations.

• Can transferring ownership of a house help avoid probate tax?
• Cutting down on tax payable when selling real estate

Can you avoid capital gains tax?

It’s not so much that you can avoid capital gains tax, but that there are CRA rules that you can take advantage of to reduce the amount you may owe. Here are a few: 

Principal residence exemption

First is the principal residence exemption. You don’t pay tax on the sale of your home, but you may have to for a secondary property or residence, and/or investment property. According to the CRA, a property is exempt from capital gains tax if your situation meets these four criteria:

• “It is a housing unit, a leasehold interest in a housing unit, or a share of the capital stock of a co-operative housing corporation you acquire only to get the right to inhabit a housing unit owned by that corporation.
• “You own the property alone or jointly with another person.
• “You, your current or former spouse or common-law partner, or any of your children lived in it at some time during the year.
• “You designate the property as your principal residence.”

Accounting for outlays and expenses

There is also accounting for outlays and expenses. From your capital gain, you can subtract the costs necessary for selling the property, such as renovations and maintenance expenses, finders’ fees, commissions, brokers’ fees, surveyors’ fees, legal fees, transfer taxes and advertising costs.

Claiming capital losses

You can also claim capital losses when you have capital gains. So if you have assets, not limited to property, that you earned income on, you can lower your gains by applying your capital losses to that amount (until it reaches $0). That can be losses from other property, investments in non-registered accounts, and other capital. 

The Ask MoneySense column has answered the following questions on reducing the amount of income for capital gains: 

• When does the “plus 1” rule apply to a principal residence?
• How capital gains tax on property is divided in a divorce
• The tax implications for Canadians selling foreign real estate
• Capital gains when selling property to family

Who pays capital gains?

The obvious answer is whomever is earning the capital gain, right? Not always. There can be less obvious scenarios involving multiple owners or even unfortunate situations that include the death of a property owner. If that’s the case for you, our readers can relate. Here are some of the tricky circumstances they have faced when selling a property. 

• How to carry back a capital loss for a tax refund
• The tax implications of buying a second home in Canada
• When your child moves into your rental property: Capital gains and how to claim principal residence exemption

Other questions about capital gains

We also have a category of questions about capital gains that can’t be categorized, but these articles are popular with readers. So we hope that they may be an asset to you, too—free of charge (see what I did there?).

• Reducing capital gains on a cottage
• Can you save tax by moving into your rental property?
• Principal residence exemption on death and capital gains with joint tenancy

About Lisa Hannam

Lisa Hannam is the editor-in-chief at MoneySense.ca. She is an award-winning editor with over 20 years of experience in service journalism.

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