Toronto Vacant Home Tax. How to file Toronto vacant home tax. Top 10 Best Real Estate Agents in Toronto

Calling all fellow Torontonians! 📣

Please ensure to submit your online "Vacant Home Tax" declaration by visiting toronto.ca/VacantHomeTax

To avoid any penalties, submit your declaration before the deadline next week Thursday, February 2nd.

The online declaration only takes approx 10-15 minutes to complete.

You will require either the yellow-coloured letter that the City of Toronto mailed out to you as a property owner, or simply refer to your Property Tax Bill. 

All residential property owners in Toronto are required to file the online declaration: this applies whether the property is a primary residence or an investment property. 

View the online video, by clicking here, for a walkthrough tutorial, or feel free to contact our team with any questions.

00:00 - Intro

00:10 - What is the Vacant Home Tax in Toronto?

00:19 - Deadline for submitting the Vacant Home Tax for the year 2022

00:32 - Information we need to begin our online declaration

00:43 - Who needs to file the Vacant Home Tax declaration?

1:03 - The website to file the Vacant Home Tax declaration

1:22 - Tip for those who are not able to log in using their assessment roll number and customer number on their Property Tax Bill

2:28 - Who has to pay for the Vacant Home Tax?

2:36 - How much is the Vacant Home Tax?

2:50 - Exemptions for the Vacant Home Tax

Hello, everyone. It's Karen from Toronto here.

For those of us who own a property in Toronto, it's time to submit our Vacant Home Tax declaration online.

It's the first year that Toronto is implementing the vacant home tax and it's assessing the occupancy status of your property last year. Now, the deadline for submitting our online declaration is February 2nd. There might be penalties if we submit the declaration after the deadline. So it's best to take 10 to 15 minutes now to complete the online process.

And to begin, all you'll need is this one-page yellow letter that the city mailed out over the past month. Or, if you did not receive this letter, all you need is a copy of your Property Tax Bill.

Now everyone who owns a property in Toronto is required to submit this declaration online. And this applies whether you own a principal residence in Toronto or if you own an investment property in Toronto. For those who own multiple properties in Toronto, you'll be submitting a separate declaration for each one of your properties.

We'll head to the City of Toronto's website for the vacant home tax and the website will also be linked down below in the description box. Enter your property's assessment roll number, as well as your customer number. These numbers are found on the letter or on your property tax bill.

And here's a tip: for those of you who are using your property tax bill, if you find that the website is not recognizing your information, take a look at your customer number. If your customer number begins with zeros, try entering your customer number while removing the zeros at the beginning. I've noticed a bit of a technical glitch on the website, and that seems to be a solution.

The next screen confirms the property address. You'll either declare if you're the registered owner or if you're submitting this on behalf of the property owner.

You'll then enter your phone number and you can provide your email address.

The next screen will ask if the property was used as a principal residence for at least six months of the year. If you're filing this declaration for an investment property, the following question will ask what the occupancy status was. If the property was tenanted, you will be required to submit your tenant's name and their contact phone number.

The next screen summarizes all the information that was entered. And you have a chance to edit the declaration before officially submitting the form.

Now, if your property was vacant for six months or longer last year, you might be subject to a 1% vacant home tax. And the tax is calculated based on 1% of the property's assessed value. As an example, if you have a vacant property that is valued at $1,200,000, the amount of tax would be $12,000.

Now, there are a number of exemptions for properties that are vacant, and you can find those exemptions listed on the website.

I hope this video was helpful. And as always, if you have any real estate questions or needs, give us a call.