Transfers of Ontario farmland from a family farm corporation to one or more family members are now exempt from the province’s land transfer tax.
Finance Minister Dwight Duncan announced the expanded exemption to the provincial land transfer tax (LTT) on Friday. “This
tax-relief measure will help families pass on the farming tradition to future
generations and build a more sustainable agriculture industry,” he said in a release.
The new exemption complements existing LTT exemptions, such as when farmland is transferred from a family member into a family farm corporation, or when farms change ownership between members of the same family, the province said.
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Under this new exemption, the province said, a family that transfers a $500,000 farm, for example, would save $5,975 in LTT. A transfer of a $1 million farm would save about $13,475 in LTT.
The new measure was first announced in this year’s provincial budget and, upon filing of the regulation, would take effect retroactively for eligible farm transfers that took place after March 25.
As with other current LTT exemptions on farmland, eligible family members include a spouse, child, mother, father, brother or sister and spouse/descendants, aunts and uncles and their descendants. Grandparents, certain of a spouse’s relatives and a transferor’s same-sex spouse are also eligible family members.
