Tax auditors target condo sellers in hunt for ‘flippers’
http://www.thestar.com/business/rea...arget_condo_sellers_in_hunt_for_flippers.html
Aug 29 2013
They’re looking primarily for people who bought condos before they were built, intending to flip them for a profit as soon as the project is complete.
A Toronto tax lawyer is warning realtors — and people who’ve bought and sold new condos over the past seven years — that they could become unwitting victims of what he calls “abusive audit practices” by the Canada Revenue Agency.
Tax auditors have been targeting the once red-hot Toronto and Vancouver real estate markets, looking primarily for people who bought condos before they were built, intending to flip them for a profit as soon as the project is complete.
Some folks have received tax bills on the full gains. About 250 buyers in Toronto and Vancouver have been asked to refund GST and HST rebates on homes that auditors have deemed aren’t being used as primary residences.
Even some with no history of buying and selling multiple properties are being treated as if they are flippers and slapped with tax bills on 100 per cent of the gains, plus 50 per penalties, said Kitchener tax lawyer James Rhodes.
http://www.thestar.com/business/rea...arget_condo_sellers_in_hunt_for_flippers.html
Aug 29 2013
They’re looking primarily for people who bought condos before they were built, intending to flip them for a profit as soon as the project is complete.
A Toronto tax lawyer is warning realtors — and people who’ve bought and sold new condos over the past seven years — that they could become unwitting victims of what he calls “abusive audit practices” by the Canada Revenue Agency.
Tax auditors have been targeting the once red-hot Toronto and Vancouver real estate markets, looking primarily for people who bought condos before they were built, intending to flip them for a profit as soon as the project is complete.
Some folks have received tax bills on the full gains. About 250 buyers in Toronto and Vancouver have been asked to refund GST and HST rebates on homes that auditors have deemed aren’t being used as primary residences.
Even some with no history of buying and selling multiple properties are being treated as if they are flippers and slapped with tax bills on 100 per cent of the gains, plus 50 per penalties, said Kitchener tax lawyer James Rhodes.
