THE BC GOVERNMENT CONTINUES TO MEDDLE IN THE REAL ESTATE MARKET
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The proposed BC home flipping tax applies to income from the sale of a property, including presale contracts, in British Columbia if the property was owned for less than 730 days. The tax takes effect starting January 1, 2025, subject to approval by the legislature.
Property purchased before the tax’s effective date may be subject to the tax if sold on or after January 1, 2025 and owned for less than 730 days unless an exemption applies.
The BC home flipping tax is separate and distinct from the federal property flipping rules and is not harmonized or administered with the federal or B.C. income tax. It is intended to discourage short-term holding of property for profit as part of the Homes for People Plan
Who is subject to the tax?
If you sell your property on or after January 1, 2025, income earned from the sale of your property may be subject to the new tax if the property was purchased less than 730 days before the sale.
- Example: If you purchased a property on May 1, 2023 and sold the property on January 31, 2025, income you earn from the sale of the property would be taxable. If you decide not to sell the property until June 1, 2025, then income you earn from the sale would not be subject to the tax
Note: The seller of the property may be a B.C. resident or a resident anywhere else in the world.
ON THE HORIZON
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The Bank of Canada today held its target for the overnight rate at 5% for the fifth consecutive meeting.
With the Bank Rate at 5¼% and the deposit rate at 5%. The Bank is continuing its policy of quantitative tightening.
We’ve come a long way in our fight against high inflation. Monetary policy is working—inflation is coming down. But it’s too early to loosen the restrictive policy that has gotten us this far. Low, stable inflation is a cornerstone of shared prosperity, and we remain resolute in our commitment to restore price stability.
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QUESTION:
To plan for when I can’t make decisions on my own, do I need a power of attorney and a representation agreement?
I’d like to get help with both financial matters and health care decisions (including end of life decisions). It sounds like the only way to do this is to prepare an enduring power of attorney and an enhanced (section 9) representation agreement?
ANSWER: A power of attorney gives someone you trust the power to look after your financial and legal affairs. An enhanced representation agreement gives someone you trust the power to look after your health care and personal care. So, yes, these two documents do very different things. You’d need both to cover all of those types of decisions.
There are also standard representation agreements, which apply to financial and health decisions, but they are more limited in the types of decisions they cover. For example (on the financial side), they can’t empower a representative to buy or sell your home or take out a loan on your behalf. And (on the health side) they can’t empower a representative to make decisions about things like life-saving treatments or physical restraint.
If you’re in a crisis, standard representation agreements are designed to help right away, even if you’re already incapacitated in some way.
But if you’re planning for the future, a combination of a power of attorney and an enhanced representation agreement will provide you with certainty as to how financial and health affairs (both big and small) will be handled.
Courtesy: Peoples Law School
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