Joel DyckReal Broker SK Ltd.
Saskatoon · From the topic map

Do I pay capital gains tax on an inherited home?

Sometimes, but not the way most people expect. The Canada Revenue Agency deems the deceased to have sold the home at fair market value at death, so tax on gains up to that date belongs to the estate, and you as heir generally owe capital gains tax only on appreciation from the date of death to your sale.

An executor cannot sell or transfer the home until the Court of King's Bench for Saskatchewan grants Letters Probate and title is transmitted to the executor at Information Services Corporation, and that timing, weeks to months, is exactly the window in which your own gain or loss gets measured.

If the home was the deceased's principal residence, the estate's portion of the gain is usually sheltered by the principal residence exemption, the single biggest reason most inherited Saskatoon homes generate little or no tax at death, though probate fees, charged per $1,000 of estate value, still apply.

The number that actually matters for your own future tax bill is the home's value on the date you inherited it, not the price the deceased originally paid. Get your hand-reviewed valuation from Joel Dyck.

Get your hand-reviewed valuation from Joel Dyck.

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