Underused Housing Tax with Carol Sadler

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Clayton Achen (00:40):

Thank you very much for joining us, Carol Sadler, for another edition of Your Business Unleashed podcast. Today we’re going to be talking about the underused housing tax, and I figured who better to have on the podcast than my business partner, Carol Sadler, who is our cross border and US tax specialist, and has been at it for quite a while. But I’ll leave that to you. Carol, please give us your intro and tell us a little bit about your past.

Carol Sadler (01:05):

I’m both a CPA in Canada and a CPA in the US. I’m licensed for all parts of the United States, and I’ve also done a lot of work in the trust and estates area with a group called Step Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners.

Clayton Achen (01:23):

You’ve been volunteering with them for quite a while, haven’t you?

Carol Sadler (01:26):

I have, and it’s really exciting. I’ve been deputy chair for a bit of time, and I’ll take the chairpersonship this May and it’s going to be really exciting. It gives us access to a lot of great talent across the country.

Clayton Achen (01:39):

Yeah, fabulous. And before we met you, how long have we been together now? Six years or so?

Carol Sadler (01:44):

Seven. Seven. Going on eight actually.

Clayton Achen (01:46):

Yeah. Time flies. Time flies when you’re having fun. And before that, I think you’d been at Cross Border Tax for quite a few years, right?

Carol Sadler (01:54):

Quite a few years, yes, as I’d left the Cross-Border US group at Deloitte for my own firm, which was Cyber tax advisors, and that’s what I did there for many moons while kids grew up and went through university. We’ll leave it at that.

Clayton Achen (02:13):

Alright, sounds good. Needless to say, anything that crosses the border, including the intended target, I think of this underused housing tax or the stated intended target I should say. That’s definitely an area that is of interest to you, right? So, I thought maybe we’d just chat a second about, so what is this underused housing tax and why is LinkedIn and everywhere blowing up with it right now? Why does this matter so much? So just to start, it’s a tax on vacant or underused property that came into effect Jan 1, 2022. The funny part about that is we didn’t know about it on January 1st, 2022. Did we Carol?

Carol Sadler (02:56):

No, no. The actual legislation not passed until end of June and forms were only available, gosh, a couple months ago. I think even less than that.

Clayton Achen (03:09):

When are the first returns due on this one? So, if it starts on January 1st, 2022, what’s my obligation to file?

Carol Sadler (03:17):

Your obligation covers the calendar year, and you’ve got to file that form by April 30th.

Clayton Achen (03:22):

Right? So, it is now mid-February. This podcast probably won’t be published for another week. And so, you’ve got basically two months left to put everything together and get this filing in. And what happens if you don’t? What happens if you don’t file this, and you should have?

Carol Sadler (03:40):

The difficulty is there’s a penalty for failing to file the return on time. Individuals will face a penalty of at least $5,000. Corporations will face a penalty of $10,000 and that’s simply for not filing the form. And the tough part about it is a form is required in many cases. Even if you don’t owe the tax, they’re still reporting that must happen.

Clayton Achen (04:05):

Right? So, we’re going to get into that actually and get through, there’s sort of two steps. One, do you have to file the form, but then two, are you exempt from the tax? Even if you have to file the form, we’re going to go there, but maybe if you could just, let’s talk for a second about why is there an underused housing tax? Why is this happening in Canada right now?

Carol Sadler (04:26):

The theory is this is an effort to cool the hot real estate market in Canada. Affordability and housing have been an issue for the last while and the government has been thinking that that relates at least partly to foreign buyers buying and holding real estate for gains and therefore the underused part of the tax, there’s been purchases of housing that’s essentially being taken off the market because people are speculating.

Clayton Achen (05:03):

And so now we’ve got a situation where people need housing and there’s a shortage of housing because there’s housing sitting empty or underused on which investors are hoping to have a gain and, in many cases, they’re claiming their principal residence exemption on it. We saw the government go after that back in 2016 where we had to start reporting the dispositions of our principal residences even though they may not trigger tax, but that is reportable now starting in 2016. Now there’s an actual tax on property sitting empty. And so yeah, that’s super interesting. And so how is this tax, so again, we come back to, do I have to report the form? We’re going to get into that in a second. Do I have to file the return but then do I have to pay the tax? So, let’s assume that you do have to pay the tax. Let’s jump right there. How is this calculated?

Carol Sadler (05:53):

1% of the properties assessed value for property tax? So, I should step back and say step one is do you own that property on December 31st? If so, okay,

Clayton Achen (06:06):

Let’s drill into that for a second because relevant, what do you mean by own the property? What is the specific bright line? As I understand it, it has to do with title.

Carol Sadler (06:15):

Absolutely right. Are you on legal title?

Clayton Achen (06:18):

Right. Okay, so we’re on legal title.

Carol Sadler (06:20):

That’s break line test, right?

Clayton Achen (06:22):

And it doesn’t matter if it’s a corp. or if you’re a partner in a partnership or a trustee and a trust or an individual, it’s the owner on title that matters here, right?

Carol Sadler (06:33):

Correct. Absolutely correct.

Clayton Achen (06:35):

Okay. And so, the value is 1% of the assessed value or I think the most recent sale price, which would dictate sort of fair value, or you can get an appraisal of fair value. And so, I think that there’s going to be some specific, or there are some specific rules about how appraisers are to determine fair value in line with this legislation as well. And we’re not going to talk about that here. So effectively, let’s just call it 1% of the fair value of the house, whether that’s assessed value, most recent sale price or an appraised value through a professional appraiser. I guess is this the same if I live in Vancouver and there’s a vacancy tax. Is that the same thing or is this a substitute for that?

Carol Sadler (07:20):

It’s an addition too. So, you’re right, Vancouver has a vacancy tax. I believe Toronto has introduced one recently. I think there’s a tax that applies to all of BC and this or a good part.

(07:34):

And this is now an additional tax, a federal tax.

Clayton Achen (07:42):

Okay. So, I was actually, I’m really surprised, and I think the LinkedIn and professional communities are freaking out right now over this for good reason. The government had originally said that this was going to target. So, for example, somebody from a different country coming in, buying a property, sitting on it vacant, hoping that it’ll make a gain as our properties in Canada have often done for the last as long as I can remember. And that was the stated target of this, but that isn’t really the case, is it?

Carol Sadler (08:16):

That’s the difficulty, Clayton, for sure. And you’re totally right. That was the theory is that this would be a tax aimed at non-residents and it certainly is applicable to individuals who are not Canadian citizens or permanent residents. However, certain corporations, many corporations, many trusts and many partnerships will have to file the return whether they owe tax or not. So, the filing scope is huge.

Clayton Achen (08:49):

And the return, I think, I don’t want to say it’s simple because there’s always nuances, but if we look at, so there’s this idea of excluded owner. So, who are you if you’re an excluded owner? And so, you can be an individual who’s a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident. Great. So, if I Clayton owns individually, now let’s not talk about joint ownership with my spouse because that’s a whole other issue. But if I own a second property and I’m renting it or whatever because I’m a Canadian citizen and a permanent resident and I own it directly, I should be fine in not having to file this check with your tax advisor. Or you can see the article on our website of course for more details. But let’s say for example, that I own my share in the property or the property in whole as a partner of a partnership, which by the way, when it comes to for-profit ventures, I am in a partnership with my wife whether or not we have a partnership agreement that is a partnership if there’s a profit motivation there and we’re in business to do something that is a partnership or through a trustee and a trust.

(09:58):

So maybe mom left us the vacation property up in Red Deer and threw it into a trust so that it could be free from probate as part of her estate planning way back in the day. And it’s sitting in a trust and I’m a trustee of that trust. Now we’re caught under these rules. Or how about if I have a Canadian controlled private corporation as most business owners do, or any other kind of Canadian private company and that owns my rental property or my Airbnb, now we’re caught as well. Those are all really surprising scenarios that I found as we started to go through these rules of folks or owners that need to file this return. So, you can’t just go, listen, I’m a resident of Canada and I’m good. Well, you start to go, well wait a minute, I’m in a partnership with my wife, we have an Airbnb and clearly, it’s a for-profit venture. That’s why we’re in the Airbnb game. And so now that’s owned through a partnership and therefore we have to file this thing. I’m not just simply exempt because we’re Canadian citizens or residents. Right? Am I right on that?

Carol Sadler (11:02):

Correct. You got it. And I like the approach that you’ve taken. That’s the way I like to think about it. There are excluded owners who are not required to file the return, but what I find is other than Canadian citizens, Canadian citizen individuals, the excluded owner list is really quite esoteric and quite specific. So, I really like what you’ve done to turn around and say these other entities must file the UHT returns except the private corporations. Foreign corporations, you’ve gone through them. Trustees of trust, partners of partnerships, even if you’re an individual, some people,

Clayton Achen (11:45):

Let’s wrap on that. Trustees of a trust thing for a second. Let’s park it there. Everybody goes. Okay, the Achen Family Trust, right? I’m a trustee of that and that’s a pretty easy one to catch. Mom left me the vacation property for me and my siblings to enjoy up in Red Deer and it’s in the Aiken Family Trust. Well, that one’s easy. How about where trusts are unintentionally created or maybe intentionally created, but you’re not thinking of it as an InVivo family trust. There’s a lot of other scenarios. For example, I’m not sure if you’ve recently co-signed it because I know you have a pile of kids. Carol’s got nine or 10 kids, I think, is it? Well four. Okay. So, I’m not sure if any of them have asked you to co-sign on their mortgages yet, but would that make you, I mean that would put you directly on title.

Carol Sadler (12:35):

It would. Now you’re right personally and thank goodness I haven’t had to do that. But we have clients who are in that situation where mom and dad have been required not only to co-sign the mortgage, but to be on title, to be on title.

Clayton Achen (12:52):

Now you’re a trustee, right? Because that’s the kid’s property. You legally hold the title, but the beneficial owner is the kid, therefore a trust is created whether or not you thought of that.

Carol Sadler (13:03):

Correct? Correct. It’s important I think to think here, as you’ve been saying, can expand on this more as opposed to say a corporation where one thinks of having the legal documents to create this corporation. Partnerships and trust are created essentially by operation of law. They exist, whether you wrote a formal document or didn’t write a formal document, the question is what is that relationship? And I think it’s wise to err on because of the penalties being so huge, it’s wise to err on the side of this might be a trust relationship, we better file.

Clayton Achen (13:40):

Right? And so, if we extend that out, another one that we commonly see, particularly with yours and mine’s involvement with STEP and the Society of Trust estate practitioners, we commonly see other family members being added to title with or without a right of survivorship in order to avoid probate or avoid estate issues and to basically have a direct transfer of real property upon death of mom or dad or whoever. And so, we’ve got all these people who are on title, who that’s inadvertently created a trust and very likely a reporting requirement under the underused housing tax. Am I right on that as well?

Carol Sadler (14:22):

Correct. That’s a concern for sure.

Clayton Achen (14:29):

This is really wide sweeping. I mean, I’m going, Erica and I have a vacation property, which I hope one day is coming up. Now we need to really look at the substance of that vacation property. Is it an Airbnb that I’m in the business with my spouse to earn a profit from? And we’re both on title because remember it comes down to who’s on title. And if we are both on title and there is a profit intention, very likely we have to fill this form. So, I guess the same would follow if we just had a rental property, for example, and we’d been putting it on our personal tax returns. I mean clearly, you’ve got the rental property to earn income from, otherwise why would you invest your capital that way? So, I guess there are scenarios where you are in a co-ownership position, which would be sort of not a partnership where you don’t have a profit intention and you’re just on as co-owners. And perhaps that would be the vacation property that I don’t intend to rent out or if I do intend to rent out, maybe it’s just to cover some costs and not to actually earn a profit. So, there’s a shade of gray in there that you need to analyze on a case-by-case basis. But basically, any property that isn’t the one that you’re living in, you got to have a real hard look at whether or not you need to be filing this return.

Carol Sadler (15:47):

Agreed.

Clayton Achen (15:49):

Okay. So, I’m the resident Canadian guy and I’ve talked about resident Canadian issues. Let’s talk about this from a non-resident standpoint. So, I’m going to shut up now because you’re way better at this stuff than I am. So, who has to file and what’s the scenario that they have to file the underused housing tax form?

Carol Sadler (16:06):

The first group that comes to mind are non-Canadian citizens, non-permanent residents. And I can think of a couple different groups of folks who fall into those categories. One that I think was perhaps not intended, but still caught. And we have clients and customers in this area are people who are in Canada on work visas because they’re not Canadian citizens or permanent residence. I bet in a lot of cases they’re hoping so they

Clayton Achen (16:38):

Bought a house, but they’re not an excluded owner. And there may be some outs from the tax that we can talk about later on, but you still have to file, but they’re probably going to have to file. So, people here on work visas definitely the non-residents, non-citizens.

Carol Sadler (17:00):

So, someone from Arizona decides they don’t like the heat in the summer, and they buy a place up in Edmonton or Calgary or Ferney or wherever to use as a vacation place. I think there’s a lot of that happening on there. A lot more worry on the east coast where there are a lot of folks who have vacation properties in Quebec and Ontario.

Clayton Achen (17:26):

I was just in Revelstoke skiing with my family for the long weekend, and I bet you that a pile of those mansions on the side of the hill are owned by non-residents. And so, they would be caught.

Carol Sadler (17:38):

They would be caught. They’ve got a file.

Clayton Achen (17:40):

Yeah. Interesting.

Carol Sadler (17:42):

Yeah, that’s interesting because I don’t know that a lot of those folks would have a lot of connection to the Canadian tax system otherwise, unless they’re renting perhaps. But simply as on the requirement to file, you’re an individual who’s not a Canadian citizen, you’ve got to file, and then should they hold it through a corporation trust or partnership? We’ve talked about those options as well.

Clayton Achen (18:10):

Okay, so you have to file, you’ve determined that you have to file. We’ve got an online checklist, but you got to be careful with these online checklists. I mean, they don’t catch every scenario or maybe they do catch every scenario, but a specific circumstance which you are a party to, doesn’t click to you in your brain. For example, I’m married to my business partner, we have an Airbnb, therefore we hold our interest through a partnership. That’s not something you would think of when you’re filling out, do I need to file this thing? Well, yes you do, but you might not think of that, right. And so, you have to file Now who has to pay? So, it’s basically, as I understand it, the way that the legislation is worded is basically everybody has to pay except for if you fall under an exemption. So, the way the act reads is you must pay tax unless you’re exempt.

Carol Sadler (18:59):

So, it starts off with everybody pays tax unless you can find an exemption. So now you start going through the exemptions. There are three different types of exemptions. The first is the type of owner, the second is the availability of the property, and the third is the occupancy of the property. Let’s talk about the type of owner. So, if you are a specified Canadian corporation, you don’t have to file, okay? And so, this is a type of owner number one. So, this would be if I had a Canadian company, Canadian controlled private company just like most of our entrepreneur clients. But it could be more than that. By the way, anything we’re talking here is just examples. My Canadian controlled private company owns an Airbnb or a rental company, and I’m a Canadian resident. And so foreign owners don’t own 10% of more of the corporation, therefore you’re exempt from the tax.

Clayton Achen (19:51):

So, you’re good. You still have to file the form though, right? Remember that all these examples, you still have to file the form, you’re just not paying the tax. That’s the first one. The second one is basically the same thing, but in a specified Canadian partnership. So, let’s say Achen Henderson LLP, which is owned by three Canadian controlled private corporation PCs, owns a vacation property that we send our team to vacation in. Wouldn’t that be nice or, and then in the spare time, we rent it out as an Airbnb, whatever. That would also be exempt from paying the tax a specified Canadian trust as well, where each beneficiary is either an excluded owner or a specified Canadian corporation. So, where beneficiaries of the trusts are Canadian corporations, this one’s gets a bit tricky. Talk to your tax advisor. Let’s say you bought the property during the year, and you didn’t own it in any of the prior nine years.

(20:42):

You don’t have to file it. So that’s one where if you are just your rental property this year or your Airbnb this year, you don’t have to worry about filing the tax for this year provided you didn’t own that same property in any of the last nine years. How about when the owner died? So, if the owner died in this year or in the prior year, you don’t have to file it. And then a personal representative of that person also, they would go on title. Presumably when the person dies, the executor picks up title to everything until they can distribute it. That person is also exempt from having to pay, remember, still have to file, don’t have to pay. And then a co-owner where the property was held with another co-owner who died and they owned at least 25% of the property in the year of death or in the subsequent year, you’re exempt in that scenario. So, there are some type of owner exemptions that you get out of. Why don’t you talk about the availability of the property exemptions, Carol? And try and keep it in a simple language for us. Lay folk over here,

Carol Sadler (21:45):

Okay, that’s actually a tall order with those availability of property rules. Honestly though, these rules apply to property under development, things being, things being constructed, I would say. And as you mentioned before, you only have to meet any one of those exemptions. Sure,

Clayton Achen (22:11):

Thank you for pointing that out.

Carol Sadler (22:13):

If you’ve got, because a lot of us were worried about the effects on builders in Canada, but I think if you’ve got specified Canadian corporation owners probably exempt or more exempt. Your exempt doesn’t have to go onto availability of the property. But

Clayton Achen (22:30):

Let’s park it there for a second. So, I think what you’re saying is if you’re a builder who holds residential real estate as inventory and turns out residential houses, you’ve potentially got to file one of these returns for every one of those pieces of inventory that you have, although you may not have to pay the tax.

Carol Sadler (22:53):

True. Very well. That’s a really good point. You won’t have to pay the tax because the corporation meets the exemption. But you’re right, you still have to file to report those, that property or property. So, you’re right, this is where the availability rules will come in if the properties under construction and not substantially completed before April of the year. So, in this case for 2022, the property wasn’t substantially completed before April of which means by the end of March of 2022. Don’t have to report that property.

Clayton Achen (23:29):

I think it’s by April 30th.

Carol Sadler (23:33):

Yeah, let’s check that. April 30th is a filing deadline. I thought the under construction was, it was not substantially completed before April. I’m not sure in

Clayton Achen (23:44):

The date. Oh, before first. Okay. All right.

Carol Sadler (23:47):

I may be being cautious there, Clayton. But that was in the back of my mind because another rule says that if the construction was substantially completed between January 1st and March 31st, which is where I’m going with pre-April, I see. And the property is essentially put for sale to the public and was never occupied by anyone during the year. So, we have the under construction to and not completed by March 31st, April 1st.

(24:18):

Second scenario, I have, my corporation has property. I completed the condos or the standalone houses by March 31st, and they’re now offered to the public, but they’ve not been sold. They’ve never, and they’ve never been occupied by an individual. So, I’m not one of the builders who moves into their show. Also, again, exempt. There’s another exemption for property. It’s not suitable to be lived in year-round or seasonally inaccessible. So, I’m thinking perhaps of the unheated cottage on an island in the Muskoka, which is what I’d love. But

Clayton Achen (25:00):

On the same list as that’s a that great example actually, my friend actually had us out to the Muskoka a couple summers ago, and they have one of these deals where it’s 12 volts, you got four by four in its 12 volts to run off the battery. And for the lights, there’s an outhouse out back. I mean, they’re not getting here for half the year at least. So, this would be one of those ones that it’s not accessible all year.

Carol Sadler (25:26):

And then there’s also a couple other exceptions for properties or uninhabitable due to a disaster or some sort of hazardous condition. So, tornado comes through and takes off your roof and it takes a while to build it again. Some other natural disaster happens, or only once every 10 years, the property is uninhabitable for at least 120 days in the year due to ongoing major renovations. So, I think I was sharing with you, I just rented our house. So, let’s say this was a rent instead of my own house. It was a rental I had, and we tore out the kitchen and the bathrooms all together and I was uninhabitable for at least 120 days. So, my builder’s taken more than three or four months to get things together. I’ve got one exemption.

Clayton Achen (26:16):

And you can only do that every 10 years, right?

Carol Sadler (26:18):

Every 10 years. So rent was only every 10 years.

Clayton Achen (26:20):

So, there’s a few scenarios under the availability. Now the occupancy. So, if the occupancy is the primary residence of the individual or spouse, common law partner or child attending a designated learning institution, you’re good. You’re out. And so that means if one of your really close family members really close is living in there, you’re good. Note that they use the word primary and that’s not the same as principal. We talked about the principal residence exemption. This isn’t the same thing at all. They use the GST rules to actually determine if a residence is a primary place of residence for the underused housing tax. That’s really interesting to note because you can be away, you can physically be away. Physical occupancy isn’t necessarily required. And so to determine a primary residence. So that’s important to keep in mind. And on that vein, if the property is continuously occupied for at least one month and 180 days in total, and there’s a list of individuals, it’s basically family members, really close family members.

(27:30):

And again, it doesn’t require physical occupancy, it just means that it couldn’t be available to anybody else, and that was their house. If they were off on vacation, that would still count in the days. And then the last, of course, the last exception is a vacation property that the owner or their spouse uses for 28 days in the year. So again, my vacation property that I rent out for, and I would like to make money off of my Airbnb perhaps I’m a non-resident of Canada, and so I have to file the form. But if I’ve got my vacation property in Revelstoke and I’m there at least 28 days a year, does that mean I’m good as a non-resident and paying the tax, I don’t have to pay the tax. Carol,

Carol Sadler (28:15):

I think just a month is not going to cut it because that may be not enough to make it to a primary place of residence. And the continuously occupying the property test is for at least a month for a total of least 180 days in the year. So that to me would be a concern that someone’s using their property three or four months a year and they’re not there at least a month at a time, and they’re not there for at least 180 days in the year. I’d say they don’t get that.

Clayton Achen (28:53):

Exemption. Interesting, interesting. So, another scenario here is that if you are renting and you’re doing it to an unrelated third party, so as in not a family member under a written agreement, you’re good. So, this is even if you’re a non-resident, right? So, you don’t qualify under the citizen or permanent residence exemption. You’re not in a Canadian corp. or maybe you are in a Canadian corp., sorry, or a foreign corp. rather, but you can get out if you’re actually renting the property. So, this is not from filing, this is from paying the tax, is that right?

Carol Sadler (29:25):

That’s correct. Filing obligation. But one of the exemptions from paying the tax is you’ve got an unrelated person occupying the property for at least a month. So, month to month or longer type term leases for at least 180 days in the year, half the year. As I said, for example, we’ve got someone from the US owns a condo up here in Canada, rents at arm’s length. It’s their rental property. They’re exempt from the tax because they’ve got.

Clayton Achen (30:02):

This. So, what if it’s to a family member?

Carol Sadler (30:04):

Now there is the difficulty. You also need a written agreement. However, the family member has to pay a rent what’s called a fair rent.

Clayton Achen (30:16):

So, the family member needs to pay what is fair rent to a family member. I mean, I think 10 bucks a month is fair to my mummy. I love my mummy. So right. 10 bucks a month, does that fly?

Carol Sadler (30:28):

No, it doesn’t. And surprisingly, a market value type rent, hey, the property next door has been renting 4,000 bucks a month. May not cut it either because the law requires a fair rent to be at least 5% of the value of the property. So, if you’ve got a fair value

Clayton Achen (30:48):

Of the 5% of the value of a property, so what do you think half a million dollars gets you in Red Deer?

Carol Sadler (30:55):

It would probably get you a decent little condo or probably a nice decent little house. And do you think?

Clayton Achen (31:01):

You’d be able to rent that for $2,100 a month on the open market? Probably not. Probably

Carol Sadler (31:07):

Not. No, exactly. Probably not. Yeah. And you need probably something for five, for 5% of a $500,000 rent. Yeah, you’re right. 20, 2100 bucks a month depends on what you’re going to need. Absolutely. Good math. And

Clayton Achen (31:22):

So let me get this straight. So fair rent to the government is me renting my house to my brother or mummy for more I have rented for, according to the calculation, it’s not actually fair, it’s just defined as fair. It’s a defined term that says you have to rent it for probably more than you could go and rent it to somebody you didn’t know. And if you didn’t, then you’re not exempt, and you have to pay this 1% underused housing tax. Is that right?

Carol Sadler (31:50):

That’s a reading Clayton. And surprisingly, there’s not been a lot of commentary from the tax authorities on that.

Clayton Achen (31:59):

Interesting, interesting. So watch your related party rental agreements, folks. You could end up in a world of hurt if you don’t qualify under one of the exemptions. One of the other exemptions, remember we’re probably talking about a foreign individual who owns a rental property, renting it to a kid who’s attending university, for example. I mean, this is where we could get into trouble if it’s not happening at what the government says is fair value, which is not actually fair rent. If we were to go out and fetch rent in the market. It’s a calculated number, it’s just a clever word that they’re using fair rent and it’s a defined term. You might be caught into this. Right.

Carol Sadler (32:35):

Agreed. That’s a concern we’ve gotten. We’ve been seeing.

Clayton Achen (32:40):

Okay. Well, I think that’s pretty much it. I think we’ve gone through, we’ve got a bunch of, first of all, I guess we should say that there’s going to be a blog linked into the show notes here where you can go and read about everything we’ve just talked about. I’ve also included some surprising scenarios on who might have to file a U H T return that we weren’t expecting when this was first announced. And remember, if you don’t file this, you do so at your own peril, it’s $5,000 penalty for an individual 10,000 if it’s in a Canadian controlled corporation or another kind of corporation, $10,000 penalty for corps. And so we would be happy to go through and chat with you about whether or not you need to file A U H T return. We’ve got a checklist on where you can go through and fill out the checklist and see if you have to, and then a bunch of references available in our blog. I don’t think that we’re able to file these things on behalf of people yet through our rep ID at, are we, Carol?

Carol Sadler (33:41):

Not that I’m aware of, no. And there are still some questions as to whether those returns can be e-filed at all or whether that’s they can now be mailed in. So definitely can print off a paper return and mail it in my understanding is e-file was going to be available, but no news yet. That’s a stay tuned question.

Clayton Achen (34:06):

Fabulous. Well, thank you so much, Carol. I appreciate you making the time. Scary stuff, scary stuff, and very wide ranging. So if anybody would like to chat with Carol or me about whether or not you need to complete an underused housing tax return, please feel free to reach out via our website@aikenhenderson.ca. Thank you so much, Carol, for joining me today.

Carol Sadler (34:29):

You’re welcome.

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