Land transfer tax

Buying in Toronto means paying land transfer tax twice: once to the Province of Ontario, and once to the City of Toronto. Both are calculated the same way — as a marginal percentage of the purchase price, like income tax brackets, not a single flat rate applied to the whole price.

How the brackets work

Both the Ontario and Toronto schedules use the same bracket boundaries up to $2,000,000 — the marginal rate steps up from 0.5% on the first $55,000, to 1.0%, 1.5%, and 2.0% as the value of consideration rises. Above $2,000,000, the two schedules diverge: Ontario applies a flat 2.5% marginal rate to everything past $2M, while Toronto layers in additional graduated tiers for high-value residential properties (currently reaching 8.60% on the portion above $20M, following a City Council amendment that took effect April 1, 2026). Because both taxes apply, a typical Toronto purchase owes roughly double the tax a comparable purchase elsewhere in Ontario would. The exact bracket tables the calculator uses are listed in the registry table above, under “Land transfer tax.”

First-time buyer rebates

Both levels of government offer a rebate for qualifying first-time buyers, applied against their own tax only. Ontario refunds up to $4,000 of provincial land transfer tax; Toronto rebates up to $4,475 of municipal land transfer tax. Together, on a purchase price around $400,000, the two rebates can zero out land transfer tax almost entirely for an eligible first-time buyer. Eligibility is strict on both programs: the purchaser must be at least 18, must never have owned a home (or an interest in one) anywhere in the world, and — if they have a spouse — the spouse must meet the same condition, or neither purchaser can claim the rebate. Each program also requires the buyer to move into the home as their principal residence within nine months of closing, and to apply within 18 months of registration.