Can foreigners buy a house in Canada?

However, as foreign buyers, they will still be different from local residents in the process of selling houses and the tax treatment after selling houses in the future. China information residents in seaports can be exempted from capital gains tax if they meet the conditions of their main residence. Non-residents must pay capital gains tax. When a non-resident sells a house, he must notify the Canadian Taxation Bureau and apply for a clearance certificate to confirm the amount of tax that must be paid due to the appreciation of the house. The certificate will be sent to the buyer and the seller to protect the interests of both parties. If the seller fails to act in accordance with this regulation, then the buyer may be responsible for the tax owed by the seller. -Toronto Therefore, if the seller is not a local resident, the lawyer has the right to withhold up to 25% of the house price in advance and put it into a trust account. After receiving the customs clearance certificate issued by the government, the lawyer will use this deposit to pay off the seller's customs duties and then return the balance to the seller. If the seller fails to obtain the tax payment certificate within 30 days after the transaction, or fails to settle the value-added tax payable with the IRS, the lawyer will contact the IRS with this deposit. Settled by the seller at the time of tax return. In addition, the lawyer will also ask the non-resident sellers to add a deposit, and after settling the local taxes, management fees, utilities and other miscellaneous fees, the balance will be settled in the form of more refunds and less supplements. In fact, buying a house in Canada by foreigners is not as complicated as expected. To put it simply, except that banks require more down payment than local residents, and they need to pay a certain capital gains tax when selling houses, there is not much difference with local residents buying houses. In practice, due to the limited short-term visa time, overseas buyers can't wait for the transaction, which involves the Power of attorney (POA). The buyer's real estate agent or lawyer shall not be the customer of the buyer's POA. In other words, the buyer can only entrust his own real estate agent or someone other than a lawyer as his sole agent to buy a house in Canada and exercise the right to sign a contract. Moreover, he must use the prescribed unified form, which can be downloaded from the internet, and of course he can also ask a lawyer to write it for him. Two witnesses witnessed the signature; And you need a lawyer or other notary office to notarize. Any other form of power of attorney is not accepted. However, even if there is nothing wrong with your power of attorney, the bank may not accept it. Because more than 90% of mortgage fraud cases are related to power of attorney, banks are very sensitive to this. For example, TD Bank and Royal Bank stipulate that the official documents for closing the loan must be signed by the buyer himself. According to the current situation in Toronto, lawyers can generally accept the signature of POA clients when signing, but most banks will not accept it. Unless the bank has a certain degree of understanding of the buyer himself, ERICA should especially remind the buyer to ask whether the loan bank accepts POA before leaving Canada. Otherwise, it's not the ticket. Attachment: The Canadian Chinese Harbor Taxation Bureau expanded the establishment of the International Tax Investigation Department to track down the "astronauts" selling houses. Toronto Ming Pao, a Canadian Chinese Harbor feature, revealed that according to sources close to the federal government, the Vancouver International Tax Investigation Department of the Federal Taxation Bureau (CRA) has quietly expanded its establishment and increased its staff to investigate overseas tax evasion cases; Those "astronauts" who have lost their permanent resident status may become the focus of this tax investigation if they fail to declare their capital gains in accordance with the provisions of "non-residents" when selling Canadian real estate. Richard Kurland, an immigration lawyer, recently got the news about the expansion of the tax investigation department. He explained that although the definition of residents in the tax law is not exactly the same as that in the immigration law, they are related to some extent. He said: "Those astronauts who no longer call Canada their home and live in Canada have lost their permanent resident status. Generally speaking, they are regarded as' non-residents' by the tax law. " China Harbor Information "non-residents" house price income is not tax-free. Li Kelun, a Canadian harbor, pointed out that if they are "non-residents", the house they just bought to settle their wives and daughters can no longer be counted as owner-occupied, and the profits from rising house prices, that is, the capital appreciation part, are no longer tax-free. According to the regulations, when a "non-resident" sells a Canadian property, 25% of the total proceeds from the sale of the house (if the house is occupied by the owner) will be retained and temporarily handed over to the tax bureau, and the difference will be returned to the seller until the capital gains tax owed by the seller and the tax bureau is settled. As for the rental housing, in the process of housing transfer, the retained part will be as high as 50% of the total income from housing sales. The capital gains tax rate for housing transactions is 25%. The Canadian Chinese Harbor newspaper inquired about the Canadian Inland Revenue Department, hoping to confirm that the Inland Revenue Department expanded the number of tax inspectors in Vancouver and aimed at international tax evasion. However, a spokesman for the tax bureau, Philippe Brideau, said there was no immediate reply. Li Kelun, a Chinese haven in Canada, has always been concerned that "astronauts" do not live in Canada and may conceal their income. Li Kelun emphasized that the Canadian tax law has clear tax provisions for "non-residents" who do not live in Canada. In his view, from the standpoint of protecting the rights and interests of buyers, prospective buyers and real estate agents should be reminded to determine whether the seller is a resident or a non-resident, so as to avoid the tax bureau from being implicated in the responsibility of exposing "non-resident" houses to sell houses for residents after expanding tax inspection. For example, Li Kelun said that if a "non-resident" sold his house and got millions of cash, he had returned to Beijing, but the tax bureau could not go to Beijing to check taxes. At this time, the tax bureau may turn to the real estate agent who sells the house as an agent, or take over the owner of the "non-resident" house and ask them to pay off the tax arrears on their behalf.