Land Transfer Tax by Province: 2026 Rates, Rebates & Toronto's Double Tax Explained

Land transfer tax is a one-time tax you pay when a property changes hands and the title is registered in your name. It goes by different names depending on where you are — property transfer tax in British Columbia, deed transfer tax in Nova Scotia, the "welcome tax" in Quebec, or simply registration fees in Alberta and Saskatchewan — but the idea is the same. When you become the new owner on paper, the government takes a cut.

Most provinces calculate it the same clever way income tax works: in marginal brackets. Rather than one flat percentage on the whole price, each slice of your purchase price is taxed at its own rate, with the rate climbing as the price rises. That's why a modest home and a luxury home can face very different effective rates even in the same city.

Two details trip people up more than any others. First, land transfer tax is almost always the buyer's responsibility, not the seller's. Second, it's due in cash on closing day, and you generally can't fold it into your mortgage the way you might with some other costs. That means it needs to be sitting in your account alongside your down payment, legal fees, and title insurance — real money, ready to go. If you're still mapping out the whole purchase, our guide to buying your first home walks through where this fits in the timeline.

If you're buying anywhere in Ontario, you'll pay the provincial land transfer tax. But if you're buying inside the City of Toronto, you'll pay a second, nearly identical tax on top of it — the Municipal Land Transfer Tax, or MLTT. Toronto is the only municipality in Canada with the power to levy its own land transfer tax, a power granted under the City of Toronto Act and in effect since 2008, according to the City of Toronto. Everywhere else in the province, you pay once. In Toronto, you pay twice.

How the Two Bills Stack

For most homes, the two taxes use the same brackets, which is what makes the "double" framing so apt. The provincial tax runs 0.5% on the first $55,000, 1.0% up to $250,000, 1.5% up to $400,000, and 2.0% above that, rising to 2.5% on the portion over $2 million for properties with one or two single-family homes. Toronto's base municipal rates mirror those tiers almost exactly. So at most price points, whatever you owe the province, you owe the city again.

A worked example makes it concrete. On a $1,000,000 home, Ontario's marginal brackets produce a provincial land transfer tax of $16,475. Buy that same home in, say, Mississauga or Ottawa, and that's the whole bill. Buy it in Toronto, and the city adds roughly another $16,475 in municipal tax — bringing your total to about $32,950 before any rebates. That's not a rounding error. That's a second new car's worth of tax for the privilege of a Toronto postal code. It's worth remembering, too, that softening prices don't soften the tax much — even as Toronto home prices have cooled, the percentage-based tax simply scales with whatever you pay.

What Changed on April 1, 2026

For high-value homes, the math got steeper this year. Effective April 1, 2026, Toronto layered in new graduated "luxury" MLTT rates on residential properties with one or two single-family homes, a change city council approved in December 2025 and which the CBC reported will affect roughly the top half-percent of buyers. Above the existing 2.5% band, the municipal rate now climbs to 4.40% on the portion between $3 million and $4 million, 5.45% up to $5 million, 6.50% up to $10 million, 7.55% up to $20 million, and 8.60% on anything above $20 million. Because these are marginal rates, they apply only to the slice of the price in each band — but on a truly expensive home, the city's share alone can run well into six figures.

The Silver Lining: A Double Rebate

There's a friendlier side to paying two taxes. First-time buyers in Toronto can claim a rebate against both. Ontario refunds up to $4,000 of the provincial tax, and Toronto refunds up to $4,475 of the municipal tax — a combined rebate of as much as $8,475. For a first home at a typical Toronto price, that's a meaningful dent in your closing costs.

Every province handles this differently, and the spread is dramatic. The table below is your at-a-glance map — find your province, get a feel for the ceiling and any relief, then read on for the detail that applies to you.

Ontario

Outside Toronto, Ontario buyers pay only the provincial tax, charged on those marginal brackets from 0.5% up to 2.5%, as set out by the Government of Ontario. First-time buyers can claim a refund of up to $4,000, which fully covers the tax on a home priced around $368,000 and reduces it on anything more expensive. To qualify, you'll need to be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, at least 18, planning to move in within nine months, and you (and your spouse, while married to you) must never have owned a home anywhere in the world.

British Columbia

British Columbia's Property Transfer Tax is charged on the property's fair market value at registration: 1% on the first $200,000, 2% up to $2 million, and 3% up to $3 million. For residential value above $3 million, an additional 2% applies, effectively bringing that top slice to 5%, according to the Province of British Columbia. The relief here is generous. Qualifying first-time buyers pay no tax at all on homes up to $835,000, with a partial break up to $860,000. There's also a separate exemption for newly built homes used as a principal residence — full up to $1.1 million — and unlike the first-time buyer program, you don't have to be a first-timer to use it.

If you're weighing a brand-new build against a resale, that exemption can meaningfully tip the math, something we dig into in our look at new builds versus existing homes.

Quebec and the "Welcome Tax"

Quebec's transfer duty — affectionately, and a little ironically, called the "welcome tax" — is municipal, and the brackets are indexed every year. It's also calculated on a base that's the highest of your purchase price, the price in the deed, or the assessment-roll value adjusted by a comparative factor, so the number isn't always the figure you paid. In Montréal for 2026, the rates run from 0.5% on the first $62,900 up to 4.0% on the portion above $3,113,000, per the Ville de Montréal. One quirk worth planning for: you don't pay at closing. The city bills you afterward, usually one to three months later, and payment is due within 30 days of that invoice. Municipalities outside Montréal set their own rates, so your welcome tax in Québec City or Laval will differ.

Manitoba

Manitoba charges land transfer tax on the property's fair market value at registration, with marginal rates of 0% on the first $30,000, then 0.5%, 1.0%, and 1.5% across the next bands, reaching 2.0% on everything above $200,000, as outlined by the Province of Manitoba. There's no first-time buyer rebate, and a small land titles registration fee applies on top. One thing to keep on your radar: the province announced in its 2026 budget that it intends to revise the land transfer tax framework, with changes slated to take effect in 2027 — so the 2026 rates above are current, but worth re-checking if your purchase lands next year.

The Atlantic Provinces

The East Coast keeps things comparatively simple, with one important exception for non-residents. New Brunswick charges a flat 1.0% on the greater of the purchase price or assessed value, with no first-time buyer break. Prince Edward Island also charges 1.0%, but offers a full exemption to qualifying first-time buyers who meet its residency and citizenship rules, as described by the Government of Prince Edward Island. Newfoundland and Labrador doesn't levy a percentage tax at all — instead it charges a registration of deeds fee, roughly $100 plus $0.40 for every $100 of value above a small threshold.

Nova Scotia is the one to read closely. Its deed transfer tax is set by each municipality up to a provincial maximum of 1.5%, and Halifax charges the full 1.5%. On top of that, non-resident buyers of residential property now face a provincial Non-Resident Deed Transfer Tax of 10% — doubled from 5% effective April 1, 2025, according to the Government of Nova Scotia — unless they relocate to the province within six months of closing.

Alberta and Saskatchewan: Fees, Not Taxes

Here's the good news if you're buying out west. Alberta has no land transfer tax. Instead, you pay land titles registration fees on both the transfer and any mortgage, calculated as a $50 base plus $5 for every $5,000 of value, under a structure the Government of Alberta set in late 2024. On a typical home, that's hundreds of dollars rather than thousands.

Saskatchewan works similarly. There's no land transfer tax, but you'll pay a title transfer fee of 0.4% of the property's value through the province's land titles registry, with only a token fee on very low-value transfers. For a $400,000 home, that's about $1,600 — still well below what an Ontario or BC buyer would face at the same price.

The Territories

Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut don't charge a land transfer tax either. Buyers pay only modest land title and registration fees. Because these are nominal and updated periodically, it's best to confirm the current amounts with the relevant territorial land titles office when you're close to purchasing.

If you're buying your first home, this is the section that can save you the most. Three provinces and one city offer meaningful first-time buyer relief, and the structure matters as much as the dollar figure.

Ontario refunds up to $4,000 of provincial land transfer tax, and Toronto adds up to $4,475 of municipal tax for buyers in the city — the combined $8,475 we covered earlier. British Columbia takes a different approach, exempting qualifying first-time buyers entirely up to $835,000 rather than capping the refund at a flat dollar amount, which is why BC's relief is so valuable in a high-priced market. Prince Edward Island offers a full exemption with no price ceiling, provided you meet its residency requirements.

The eligibility rules rhyme across all of them: you generally need to be a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, you can't have owned a home before (often anywhere in the world), and you have to actually live in the place as your principal residence within a set window. Rebates are typically claimed at registration by your lawyer, but a few have application deadlines after closing, so it pays to line up the paperwork early. Our first-time buyer closing checklist is a good companion for keeping all of it straight.

If you're not a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, the picture changes significantly, and the extra taxes can dwarf the base land transfer tax. These surcharges stack on top of everything above.

In Ontario, a 25% Non-Resident Speculation Tax applies to residential purchases by foreign buyers anywhere in the province, on top of the regular land transfer tax, as set by Ontario's Non-Resident Speculation Tax rules. Buy in Toronto, and the city adds its own Municipal Non-Resident Speculation Tax of 10% on top of that — meaning a foreign buyer in Toronto could face the provincial 25%, the municipal 10%, the provincial land transfer tax, and the municipal land transfer tax, all at once. British Columbia applies a 20% Additional Property Transfer Tax on residential purchases by foreign buyers in its designated regions. And as noted above, Nova Scotia charges non-residents a 10% deed transfer tax unless they move to the province within six months. These rules have detailed exemptions and rebates of their own, so non-resident buyers should get tailored legal advice before committing.

The best way to avoid a closing-day shock is to treat land transfer tax as a known number from the very start, not a surprise at the end. A few habits make that easy.

Estimate it the moment you set a target price. Most provincial and municipal websites, including Toronto's, offer free calculators, and plugging in your price range takes seconds. Build the result into your cash-to-close budget right alongside your down payment, legal fees, and title insurance — and remember it has to be cash, because you can't borrow it through your mortgage. If you're a first-time buyer, confirm which rebates you qualify for and roughly what they're worth, since that can change your real out-of-pocket number by thousands. And if you're still building your savings, a registered account designed for the purpose can help; our explainer on the First Home Savings Account covers how it works for new buyers.

One last bit of timing wisdom: rates and rebate thresholds do shift, often with provincial budgets in the spring. If your purchase is months away, re-check the numbers closer to closing rather than trusting an estimate you ran last year. A quick confirmation with your lawyer is the cheapest insurance you'll buy all year.