Who must file a return and pay the tax

You must file an Underused Housing Tax (UHT) return for each of your properties in Canada for which all of the following conditions are met on December 31 of a calendar year:

• The property is a residential property for UHT purposes
• You are an owner of the residential property
• You are not an exluded owner of the residential property, that is, you are an affected owner.

Affected owner

As an affected owner, you must file an annual return.

You will also have to pay the tax unless you qualify for an exemption.

If you are an affected owner of more than one residential property in Canada, you must file a separate return for each property.

If you are one of several affected owners of the residential property, each of you must file a separate return for the property.

Determine the type of owner you are

Excluded owner

Generally, Canadian owners of residential property are excluded owners.

If you are an excluded owner you do not have to:

• File a return
• Pay the tax

Determine the type of owner you are

If you are an owner in more than one capacity

Starting with the 2022 calendar year, if you own the residential property in more than one capacity, you will be treated as a separate person for each of your ownership capacities, if one of those capacities is either:

• A partner of a partnership
• A trustee of a trust

You may be an affected owner in one capacity, but an excluded owner in another capacity. You must file a separate return for each capacity in which you are an affected owner of the residential property.

You may need to amend a return you previously filed and file additional new return(s) for a residential property for a previous calendar year if:

• You determine that you needed to file multiple returns based on your ownership capacities

• You filed only one return for all ownership capacities

Review tax notice: UHTN16, Ownership in multiple capacities