(Selling a primary
residence is subject to capital gains taxes, too, but the first $ 500,000 in profit for a married couple is exempt from taxes; it's $ 250,000 for a single person.)
That's because any land or property that is not considered your primary
residence is subject to capital gains tax in Canada (and it doesn't matter where you decide to purchase / build your next vacation property).
Not exact matches
If you
're unable
to designate your home as your principal
residence for all the years you owned it, a portion of any
gain on sale may
be subject to tax as a
capital gain.
So rental properties, cottages, vacation properties, etc. may
be subject to capital gains tax if they don't qualify or you don't elect
to treat them as your principal
residence — even if they
're in another country.
Real estate
is subject to capital gains tax unless you claim a principal
residence exemption (PRE) on a qualifying home.
Most
tax experts believe that ordinary dividends and income, interest income, short and long term
capital gains, rents, royalties, taxable annuity income, sales of primary
residences above the $ 250,000 / $ 500,000 exclusion,
gains from sales on second homes and passive income will all
be counted and
subjected to the 3.8 % surtax.
For
capital gains tax (CGT) purposes houses
are just like any other asset with one important exemption — that the
gain on disposal of a person's principal private
residence is not
subject to CGT.