Toronto's vacant home tax: who has to declare, and when

Every Toronto homeowner must declare their home occupied each year by April 30. Miss it and the City deems the home vacant and bills 3% of its assessed value.

Toronto charges a tax on homes that sit empty, and most of the people who get billed for it were not leaving a home empty. They missed a form.

Every owner of a residential property in the city has to tell the City each year whether the property was occupied. A property with no declaration on file by April 30 is treated as vacant, and the bill that follows is 3 per cent of the property's assessed value.

What is the vacant home tax?

It is a City of Toronto tax of 3 per cent of a property's current value assessment, charged on residential property that was vacant for six months or more during the taxation year. The rate has been 3 per cent since the 2024 taxation year, and the City allocates the revenue to affordable housing initiatives.

A property counts as vacant if it was unoccupied for six months or more in the year being declared. It is also deemed vacant, automatically, if the owner does not declare by the deadline.

Who has to make a declaration?

Every residential property owner in Toronto, every year, even if you live in the home yourself and even if the property qualifies for an exemption. Most owners never pay the tax. They still have to file.

A few points catch people out:

• Each property needs its own declaration. Own three, file three.
• Condominium units are declared by the unit owner.
• A newly built home has to be declared once it appears on MPAC's annual assessment roll.
• You do not have to declare vacant land with no structure on it, a parking space, a locker, or a property assessed fully as multi-residential, commercial or industrial.

Being away does not make a home vacant. As long as the property remains your principal residence, the City treats snowbirds, owners working outside the city or country, and owners away receiving outpatient care as occupied. To claim the property as your principal residence you have to live there for at least six months of the taxation year. If somebody else lives there, a tenant needs a written agreement of at least 30 days running to at least six months in the year, and family or friends have to be using the home as their own principal residence for at least six months.

What happens if you miss the April 30 deadline?

The City assumes the property was vacant and issues a Notice of Assessment, which is the tax bill. That is the most expensive thing about this tax for an ordinary owner, and it is entirely avoidable.

If you are billed and the home was occupied or exempt, you dispute it with a Notice of Complaint. The deadline to dispute a 2025 bill is December 31, 2026, and the deadlines for the 2022, 2023 and 2024 tax years have passed. If the complaint is refused you can appeal within 90 days to the City's Appellate Authority, its Deputy Treasurer. The hearing is in writing with nobody appearing in person, it is scheduled within 90 days of the request, a decision letter follows within 30 days, and that decision is final.

How much is it on a normal Toronto home?

Three per cent of the current value assessment, which is not the same number as what the home would sell for. Assessments for the 2026 property tax year are still based on fully phased in January 1, 2016 values, because the province has postponed the province wide reassessment (MPAC). The figure that matters is the assessed value printed on your property tax bill, not a recent sale price on your street.

On a property assessed at $1,000,000 the tax is $30,000 for the year. On one assessed at $700,000 it is $21,000.

The 2025 tax is payable in three equal instalments, due September 15, October 15 and November 16, 2026. Overdue amounts carry interest of 1.25 per cent on the first day of default and on the first day of every month after that, and anything still unpaid is added to the property tax roll and collected the same way property taxes are.

Which empty homes are exempt?

A vacant property still has to be declared, but it is exempt from the tax if it fits one of the City's listed cases. Supporting documents are required for every one of them.

• Death of a registered owner, claimable for up to three consecutive taxation years.
• The principal resident is in hospital or in a long term or supportive care facility for at least six months of the year, claimable for up to two consecutive years.
• Major repairs or renovations, where occupation is prevented for at least six months, all necessary permits have been issued, and the City considers the work to be actively under way.
• Transfer of legal ownership, where a 100 per cent transfer of the property closed during the year being declared. Name changes, and adding or removing a second owner, do not count.
• The owner or their spouse needs the unit because they work full time in Toronto for at least six months of the year and their principal residence is outside the Greater Toronto Area.
• A court order prohibits occupancy for at least six months of the year.
• Vacant new inventory held by the developer of a newly built unit that has never been lived in and was actively offered to the public for sale, for up to two consecutive years.
• A secondary residence needed for medical reasons, where the principal residence is outside the Greater Toronto Area.

What does the tax mean when you buy or sell?

The tax attaches to the property rather than the person, and it forms a lien on the property. If a seller never declared, the property is deemed vacant and the purchaser is held responsible for paying it. Power of sale is no exception, because those purchases are made as is.

Two situations, and they split on timing. If the property sold during the year being declared, either side can file the declaration, and the sale itself qualifies for the transfer of legal ownership exemption. If the property sold after the year being declared, only the seller can file, because only the seller knows how the home was used in the prior year.

The practical version, on both sides of a deal: ask for a copy of the filed declaration before closing and keep it with the closing documents. It costs nothing, and it is far cheaper than arguing about a lien afterwards. Our note on Toronto's two land transfer taxes covers the other closing cost that catches buyers out, and the cash to close calculator puts the whole set of them in one place.

What are the penalties for getting the declaration wrong?

A false declaration of occupancy status, or a failure to give the City information when it asks for it, can bring a fine of up to $10,000 on top of the tax itself. The City audits declarations, and if your property is selected you have 60 days from the date of its letter to produce documents. Records and documents about occupancy, or about any exemption claimed, have to be kept for at least three years.

What to do about it

Treat April 30 as a fixed annual date, the way you treat a tax filing. Declare even when you live in the home, and even when an exemption plainly applies, because the exemption does not file itself. Keep the confirmation. And if you are buying, ask for the seller's.