Non-Resident Tax:
A Sleeping Bear with a Big Bite.

As a real estate lawyer, I was happy to have one of my favourite realtors send me a new deal where I would be the seller’s lawyer. The first sign of trouble was a big add-on clause that confirmed the sellers were non-residents of Canada. “Uh-oh, could be trouble,” was my first reaction. Then I thought, “if the contract is making a special note that the sellers are non-residents, maybe they have the non-resident tax thing under control…?” When I chatted with the sellers and asked the question, no such luck. They knew nothing about any Canadian tax they might have to pay as non-residents and, in fact, had done nothing about tax of any kind in the 12 years they had owned the property. Now I’m really concerned and here’s why. Continue reading →