We love the property purchase tax calculator from the British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA), which launched its mobile-friendly version May 24.
Just type in your purchase or offer price, and the calculator shows how much Goods and Services Tax (GST) and Property Transfer Tax (PTT) will be charged, minus any PTT exemptions (for first-time home buyers and/or new homes), as well as any eligible federal rebates. The result gives you the total cost of the home.
The mobile version is available at www.bcrea.bc.ca/taxapp – and you can bookmark it so that it works offline wherever you are.
There’s also a non-mobile, full-website version at www.bcrea.bc.ca/government-relations/tax-calculators, where there are three calculator options, depending on which price you’re starting from:
- price includes sales taxes, net of available rebates;
- price includes full sales taxes; or
- price does not include any taxes.
Read REW.ca editor Joannah Connolly's viewpoint on the BC Budget's changes to PTT
The BCREA's tax calculators are particularly useful since recent changes have been made to PTT in the BC Budget earlier this year.
New-build homes priced up to $750,000 are now exempt from the PTT for all buyers, as long as occupancy requirements are met. A partial exemption is available for new homes up to $800,000. The PTT rate was also increased to three per cent on the portion of any property's purchase price above $2 million.
In its mobile tax calculator launch announcement May 24, the BCREA added, “The PTT still negatively impacts housing affordability in BC and BCREA therefore has recommendations to the provincial government on potential improvements.”
To view BCREA's recommendations, click here, and for editorial comment on the recommendations, click here.
