Canada, economy

CRA goes after Reno flips

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347 Comments

One way to make money without paying taxes is to live in a home you are renovating to sell so you can claim the principal residence tax exemption. Of course if you do this as a way to make money you are actually operating a business and you owe those taxes anyways, either as capital gains or income taxes.

The CRA is going after people using this loophole to illegally avoid paying taxes and are using third party data to find them. If you are thinking of Reno flips without considering the tax bill, this might not be your best money making strategy.

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Oracle

Is this legal?

People are renting basement suites in Surrey with discounts. Example: a suite maybe rented for $1800 with a $400 discount for the first year and $200 discount for the second year and discount expiring in year 3.

So rents is not going up but discounts being lessened.

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bullwhip29

and yet another “fiery” crash involving luxury vehicle and reckless driver. let me guess, another erratic, richmond-style no signal high speed formula one manoeuvre, lane change etc. love the subtle touch by the langley times to highlight this vehicle thereby allowing the reader to easily put two and two together without having to come out and say what everyone already knows but is too afraid to blurt out on their own. anyway, you basically cant go anywhere on any given day without this nonsense bringing traffic to a standstill for hours. these are precisely the kind of people that need to be taken off the road for good. for that matter, it is high time all these entitled little $hits strutting around without a care in the world thinking rules don’t apply to me to be rounded up and sent… Read more »

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Shut It Down Already (original)

“What everybody already knows” is that you’re a racist imbecile.

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Name

some people can’t even drive in a straight line…

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Screwed

http://business.financialpost.com/personal-finance/taxes/if-you-sell-real-estate-expect-the-taxman-to-take-a-close-look-in-continued-cra-crackdown
n a release last week, the Canada Revenue Agency provided an update on its ongoing project to address “non-compliance in real estate transactions.” The CRA said there continues to be “tax compliance risks in the real estate sector, particularly in the Vancouver and Toronto markets. In response to these risks, the CRA is continuing to take concrete action to crack down on those who fail to follow the law.”

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bullwhip29

i am still waiting for someone to explain how the 1000’s of professional offshore presale shadowflippers who deliberately used opaque co names or aliases to conceal ownership will be dealt with now that they concluded their business and moved their millions in cash elsewhere? my condolences to all the bagholders….

hello? space, SIDA (original and extra crispy), KTO, McFly, Bueller?…..

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bullwhip29

Vancouver Airbnb hosts caught using fake licences
https://thinkpol.ca/2018/05/25/vancouver-airbnb-hosts-caught-using-fake-licences/

>>> never saw this coming…lol

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Just me

“One local, James, who asked to not use his legal name for privacy reasons, believes hosts are abusing the bylaws because the process of applying for a business licence “appears to be solely based on honesty and trust.”

“I think perhaps the ease of filling in the form and clicking through the questions has given hosts a sense of entitlement,” James said. “The process does stress the requirements of the bylaws, but from what we’re seeing by the hosts listing them, they aren’t respecting it or perhaps not even reading it.”

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Just me

“One host was discovered to be a realtor from Sutton West Coast, a major real estate brokerage, who later took down one of two listings after being exposed on Twitter[3]. Another host was discovered to have five listings[4] which are all homes and advertised as “used only for Airbnb.” Other hosts appear to be listing homes that are not their principal residence. For example, one host said “I live close by and available 24/7,”[5] while another host said “only a phone call away but otherwise, I will be approximately 1-hour away.”

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Just me

“The CRA is also examining property flipping, which it goes out of its way to point out “is not illegal … Canadians have the right to purchase and sell property for a profit.” But the agency cautions that income resulting from these transactions is considered business income and must be reported as such to the CRA. Failure to do so can result in a reassessment of tax owing, with non-deductible arrears interest to boot. ”

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Just me

If you sell real estate, expect the taxman to take a close look in continued CRA crackdown
In three years, CRA auditors have reviewed more than 30,000 files and identified nearly $600 million in additional taxes, resulting in over $43 million in penalties

http://business.financialpost.com/personal-finance/taxes/if-you-sell-real-estate-expect-the-taxman-to-take-a-close-look-in-continued-cra-crackdown

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Just me

“During the past three years, CRA auditors have reviewed more than 30,000 files in Ontario and British Columbia and identified nearly $600 million in additional taxes related to the real estate sector, which resulted in over $43 million in penalties. In 2017-2018, the CRA assessed $103 million more in additional taxes than the prior year and penalties increased by $19 million.”

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Just me

Fed’s Powell Says Central Bankers Are Facing a ‘Challenging Moment

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-25/fed-s-powell-says-central-bankers-facing-a-challenging-moment

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Just me

“Declaring “there can be no macroeconomic stability without financial stability,” Powell spent much of his speech discussing regulatory and supervisory policies without commenting on the Fed’s monetary stance or his economic outlook.”

Polos, are you listening? Preserving macroeconomic performance at the risk of introducing more financial risk and systemic instability (debt) is not the way to go.

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Oracle

Admin: can you tell the nutcases that the new poster is not me. Thx.

It’s pathetic. Anyone with a similar viewpoint is attacked. Glad I don’t take their advice.

And MVCA, go to reddit. Good civilized discussion there. and they won’t call you oracle.

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Just me

Seven Charts That Show Why Australia’s Housing Boom Is Ending

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-24/easy-money-curbs-bring-australia-s-long-housing-boom-to-an-end

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Just me

But….

“At the ultra-top end of the market, it’s business as usual. Last weekend, an eight-bedroom waterfront mansion in Sydney, complete with a private jetty and butler’s pantry, reportedly sold for about A$20 million ($15 million). That still compares well with Shanghai or Hong Kong, where an equivalent sum would buy a luxury three-bedroom apartment.”

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paulb

New
231
Price Change
93
Sold
128
TI:11676

http://www.clivestevepaul.com

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Screwed

Make inventory 12,000 again

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Dave

Sales aren’t picking up into a spring market. But inventory isn’t moving up quickly enough to crash prices.

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backwardsevolution

Dave – give it time.

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Dave

I think we trickle down as rates trickle up. I think the real crash will take an economic downturn.

Every single cycle of monetary inflation results in some type of financial crisis. Maybe this time, it’s real estate in bubble cities outside the US.

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Best place on meth

Between oracle and his sock puppets, and space them out’s sociopathic lunacy, this place is a fucking cesspool.

And I’ve been to china, so I know cesspools.

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All in

You are right. There are some posters here who are talking to themselves.

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Spec

There is clearly an effort by some to drown out some perspectives…. along with those with a handful of other side agendas. Oracle somehow feels compelled to give each of the voices in his head a separate handle. At least he’s showing us his “sources”.

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Shut It Down Already (original)

The guy who took a dump on the kitchen floor is now bitching about the flies?

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Oracle

Make Vancouver Great again:

Glad to see critical thinking skills here. Here is my advice:

Try to move away from currently relatively poor areas such as Whaley, Guildford. Etc. Also try to move away from predominantly rental areas as these people will have less and less disposable income as time goes by. Result will be crime, and everything that comes with it.

I blame the people (especially renters) for not understanding what was going on. They reap what they sow.

They don’t get that it’s the record immigration numbers that are at the core of the housing issue.

Why must we grow by 50-75,000 people a year?

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KickThemOut

I don’t know…why do you people insist on having like dozens children? Do you not realize the amount of environmental damage and stress you are placing on Mother Earth that is a hair away from collapse?

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realist

“Why must we grow by 50-75,000 people a year?”
Elementary, my dear Oracle – because the Elites, that is, the 0.1 percenters, wish it to be so, in order that they can: 1. drive down wages, & 2. drive up demand for everything else they own and sell, such as rents and land prices. No surprise there – but what is surprising is how successfully the Elite has packaged their self interest such that the “Left” happily and apparently guilelessly act as their shill – no party is a greater advocate of immigration and immigrants than the Democrats/NDP/Labour.

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Oracle

And do you see the attacks I put up after voicing these concerns? And when a new person says something similar, they get attacked by saying there can only be one person that thinks like that. Immigration and the resulting population concentration in the cities can’t possibly be the cause of the housing crisis.

That’s why I have no faith that a remedy will be found as the people who need it most confused to the point of aggression.

Thx for your post amongst the chaos.

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stagnate

indeed even the homeless are going to have conflicts between those that get the free modular apartments and those that don’t; basically the government should worry about rental housing for normal people that work. where is Jesse? I also remember him from ten years ago, basically was a bear poodle/stooge with limited intelligence

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KickThemOut

You do drugs or have mental illness, you get free modular housing. If you are a hard working person who fell on hard times and want to get back on your feet then you aren’t welcome. The former would depend on NDP for their entire life and is a continuing cash cow for poverty industry. The latter not so much. Why do you think NDP policy is structure to help the former but ignores and purposely put up obstacles for the latter?

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Best place on meth

What would you suggest we do with people who are mentally ill, harvest their organs?

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Spec

KTO is the superhero our world needs – Utilitarian Man. He’s acting out of pure moral righteousness. https://www.smbc-comics.com/comic/the-greatest-possible-superhero

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Oracle

First Just Me and now KMO. Just post a link to the story FFS.

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Name

I think someone is trying to make a point …

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Oracle

Really??

Thanks. I woulda never got that.

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Spec

KMO? As in Kick Me Out? You’ve already been kicked out once. So has Space. Doesn’t seem to stick for some reason. You guys clearly can’t take a hint…

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KickThemOut

BJ cancels Japanese-Taiwan’s Schindler’s List type show about WW2 – just how heartless and insecure do you have to be to force cancellation of a Japanese equivalent of Schindler’s List?
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/05/23/613589734/in-taiwan-debate-over-history-and-censorship-as-wwii-tv-drama-is-canceled

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KickThemOut

“The show was inspired by the story of Lin Chih-hui, now 91, who defied her parents at age 17 to join the Japanese Imperial Army in Hong Kong. It portrays Lin with “Florence Nightingale-like selfless dedication,” the Post writes.”

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KickThemOut

“China’s Taiwan Affairs Office reportedly “sent officials to the foundation’s office in Taiwan to investigate the show soon after the pilot aired,” the Taipei Times reports.”

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KickThemOut

“There was no way to produce Schindler’s List without depicting Nazis, or make an American Civil War drama without mentioning slavery,” said Wang, a member of Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). “A nation cannot escape history, no matter how strong it is.”

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KickThemOut

Suck it Oracle – Road pricing could cost families up to $8 per day – still way too low
http://www.news1130.com/2018/05/24/report-finds-road-pricing-models-cost-families-8-per-day/

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KickThemOut

“The Mobility Pricing Independent Commission has outlined costs for two different models.

It suggests “regional congestion point” charges would cost the average paying household $5 to $8 per day and reduce congestion by up to 25% and raise about $1.5 million per year.

Using the $8 figure, calculating with five days per week and 48 working weeks per year, it works out to an annual cost of $1,920.

Another model, which charges based on distance, would cost $3 to $5 per day and have the similar effects on congestion and revenue.”

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Name

Road pricing could cost families up to $8 per day

http://www.news1130.com/2018/05/24/report-finds-road-pricing-models-cost-families-8-per-day/

It suggests “regional congestion point” charges would cost the average paying household $5 to $8 per day and reduce congestion by up to 25% and raise about $1.5 million per year.
Using the $8 figure, calculating with five days per week and 48 working weeks per year, it works out to an annual cost of $1,920.

this would really hammer down real estate prices in the suburbs…

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KickThemOut

Calling Oracle & his cousins!?

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Dave

This is a great way to start a tax revolt. This whole mobility pricing idea is going to go down in flames. No chance with all the gasoline and carbon taxes that the public will accept it. I’ll say it again, but welcome to the BIG SQUEEZE. Governments will be looking for new sources of revenue to replace gains from the real estate bubble. What these dummies need to realize are that you shouldn’t punish workers and businesses. We need to keep the economy strong. What you need to do is take back money from the real estate bubble and in particular, foreign money that has disrupted our whole economy. We need to tax rich retirees who can afford to pay for their health care. That said, if we fill all those empty condos, the City will be jammed with… Read more »

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KickThemOut

You mean building bike lanes and making everyone bike in the rain, and stop all fossil fuel usage, teach every kid about 167+ genders & such isn’t going to usher in a green revolution and economic miracle? Who would have thought?! Not NDP/Green apparently.

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Oracle

Another thing I was right about.

They are going to price 25% of people out of their cars. Only HAM gets to drive.

http://www.news1130.com/2018/05/24/report-finds-road-pricing-models-cost-families-8-per-day/

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YVR

LOL tolls as high as $8 each way. Tolling goes from 2 bridges to like 15. The final nail in the NDP coffin!

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Name

more likely it’s the final nail in the real estate coffin.

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Oracle

Why would the NDP release this months before a referendum? They could have did it afterwards. Joy Mcphail (NDP) is one of the chairs.

Because they want it to fail. And now it will. Note they haven’t even brought in ridesharing yet?? Years after election.

Election unfortunately coming within 6 months.

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Dave

You have to wonder. If the NDP wanted PR to fail, they should put mobility pricing onto the ballot.

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Name

This is a Metro Vancouver proposed initiative, it’s not from the provincial NDP.

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Dave

The municipal elections also have nothing to do with Provincial business, but the question is coming at that time anyways. If they wanted to sink PR, they could add a question to solicit public input on mobility pricing. Obviously that would cause people to vote no on both questions.

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Best place on meth

You cannot put two completely unrelated topics on the same referendum.

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Dave

Why not? PR is unrelated to municipal elections. Add another ballot.

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Oracle

Same people behind scenes of NDP LIBS. Don’t fool yourselves people.

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KickThemOut

Canada’s biggest banks shrug off mortgage concerns with profit beats
https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/rbc-posts-11-percent-rise-101903901.html

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KickThemOut

“Royal Bank of Canada (Toronto:RY.TO – News) and Toronto-Dominion Bank (Toronto:TD.TO – News), Canada’s two biggest lenders, reported second-quarter earnings that exceeded market expectations on Thursday, shrugging off concerns over slowing mortgage growth.”

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KickThemOut

“Canadian authorities have introduced policies, including taxes on foreign buyers, intended to cool rampant housing markets in Toronto and Vancouver and bring about a “soft landing,” where prices stabilize gradually.

Canada’s banking regulator introduced new regulations in January, requiring borrowers taking out uninsured mortgages to be stress-tested to determine their ability to make repayments at a rate 200 basis points above their contracted mortgage.”

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KickThemOut

“TD’s Chief Financial Officer Riaz Ahmed said the bank had seen some reductions in mortgage applications in the second quarter, reflecting the slower overall market, but he remained comfortable with its previous expectation of mid-single-digit growth for the year.

“I think we’re happy with how this ‘soft landing’ appears to be emerging at the minute. Sales activity is down and prices are down. The market cooling seems to be working and we’ll hope that it continues to play out that way,” he said.”

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KickThemOut

“RBC’s Canadian head Neil McLaughlin said his bank was also continuing to target mid-single digit mortgage growth this year. He said the bank had seen a slight improvement in new mortgage sales so far this year but expected that trend to slow down in the second half.”

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KickThemOut

“Canadian banks have also benefited from improved margins as the central bank has raised its key interest rate three times since July 2017.”

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KickThemOut

“RBC, Canada’s biggest lender by market value, said net income increased by 9 percent compared with the previous year to C$3.1 billion ($2.4 billion), including 7 percent growth at its Canadian retail business, due to improved sales and margins.

Earnings per share rose to C$2.10, compared with the average analyst forecast of C$2.05, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S data.”

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KickThemOut

“TD said earnings per share, excluding one-off items,totaled C$1.62 in the quarter to March 31, compared with C$1.34 a year ago and ahead of the average analyst forecast of C$1.50.”

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KickThemOut

“Smaller rival CIBC said on Wednesday it expected new mortgage sales to drop by 50 percent in the second half.”

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Just me

Unsurprising.

Profit Margins at financial institutions go up when eates grow.

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Bag it and tag it

Banks will be switching their focus from making their profits from new mortgages to mortgage renewals…with the new rules along with dropping prices, home owners will be forced to renew with their current lender and they will be bent over a barrel…

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Name

The bank’s business loans are up too which covers some of the lost mortgage business.

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KickThemOut

Canada blocks Chinese takeover of Aecon on national security grounds
https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/canada-blocks-chinese-takeover-aecon-015628316.html

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KickThemOut

“The Canadian government has now ordered CCCC International Holding Ltd not to implement the proposed investment to protect national security, Canadian Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains said in a statement on Wednesday.

“Our government is open to international investment that creates jobs and increases prosperity, but not at the expense of national security,” Bains said.”

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KickThemOut

“Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said earlier his government would closely monitor security issues when it decided whether to allow the deal, examining the implications for intellectual property protections.”

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KickThemOut

“China’s foreign ministry said it hoped Canada could “abandon its prejudices” and provide a level playing field for Chinese enterprises in response to a question about the Aecon deal.

“In principle, China always opposes the politicization of this kind of trade and investment activity and we oppose the mistaken method of carrying out political interference on the basis of so-called national security reasons,” ministry spokesman Lu Kang said on Thursday.”

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KickThemOut

“Ottawa’s move comes as Canada is in exploratory trade talks with China as the country seeks to diversify its export markets.

Chinese interests in overseas assets has worried governments elsewhere such as in Denmark, whose officials have expressed concern over Greenland courting Chinese firms, including CCCC, to expand three airports.”

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KickThemOut

“U.S. President Donald Trump has also blocked microchip maker Broadcom’s (AVGO.O) $117 billion bid to buy Qualcomm (QCOM.O) on national security grounds, ending what would have been the technology industry’s biggest deal ever amid concerns that it would give China the upper hand in mobile communications.”

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KickThemOut

““The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), which scrutinizes foreign purchases of U.S. assets to protect national security interests, has also been tightening scrutiny of Chinese companies’ acquisitions of American firms.”

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KickThemOut

“Earlier this month, Chinese conglomerate HNA Group dropped its bid for most of SkyBridge Capital.”

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KickThemOut

“In January, Ant Financial’s plan to acquire U.S. money transfer company MoneyGram International collapsed after CFIUS rejected it over national security concerns.”

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Just me

“In recent years, the boom in Vancouver’s properties has attracted the global rich,” the post on Westbank’s China site goes on to say. “It took only two years for Vancouver’s housing prices to double.”

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bullwhip29

“Vancouver’s becoming a safety deposit box for the global rich!” – developer seeking billions in tax dollars for affordable housing pitches city’s “hot real estate” to buyers in China
https://thinkpol.ca/2018/05/24/vancouvers-becoming-safety-deposit-box-global-rich-developer-seeking-billions-tax-dollars-affordable-housing-pitches-citys-hot-real-es/

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Just me

“Vancouverites continued to react with anger and disbelief to the news that Ian Gillespie, who has been dubbed the “architect of the housing crisis”, is seeking taxpayer money to build affordable housing. “Westbank is a major contributor to housing affordability issue,” housing advocate Raza Mirza with Housing Action for Local Taxpayers (HALT) said. “They have perpetrated the crisis by selling new supply, which would have gone to locals, to non-residents in sale galas outside of Canada.” “Now they are trying to profit further off the affordability crisis, they are contributing to,” Mirza added. “This is another situation which shows Ottawa’s lack of basic understanding in dealing with issue British Columbian, especially taxpaying residents of Lower Mainland, are facing.” On social media, some accused Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of trying to payback a “Liberal bagman,” and vowed to vote against the… Read more »

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kabloona

Here’s the important part, though…..

“I wouldn’t call it a proposal because it’s not fully formed yet,” (Adam) Vaughan said. “It’s not entirely clear to the government what they’re trying to achieve.”

Vaughan said it’s essentially saying “give us control of all your funding and trust us to deliver 50,000 units,” while a unit funded program would be giving funding on a unit-by-unit basis.

“We have affordable housing crisis right across the country from Halifax to Montreal to Calgary,” Vaughan said. “And to suggest that we’re going to spend the entire budget in two cities, well, it’s not going to happen.”

😉

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Oracle

10 year yields already down 5% from peak. Mortgage rates probably hit a peak and may trend lower if bond yields continue to go down.

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Name

LOL you are a comedian now?

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Oracle

Hopefully Elon musk can get this off the ground

Hopelessly impossible trying to educate the naive here.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-05-23/musk-filed-for-pravda-business-months-before-scorning-the-media

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Shut It Down Already (original)

You’ll still reject anything you disagree with, so what difference will it make?

Wow. Just wow!

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Bag it and tag it

You’re joking right? You’re the biggest purveyor of fake information on this site…you and YVR…and you’re promoting something that will help crack down on fake news? That’s rich

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bullwhip29

A former candidate for the federal Liberal party who has worked for several short-term rental companies wants to become Vancouver’s next mayor
https://www.thestar.com/vancouver/2018/05/23/short-term-rental-proponent-plans-to-run-for-mayor-as-vision-vancouver-candidate.html

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Just me

Interesting. I wonder what’s his position on regulating short rental internet companies and on the deleterious effects that Airbnb and peers have on the availability of long-term rentals for the local population.

If Vision is so screwed up to choose this guy, they deserve to disappear forever.

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Oracle

Duh!

He’s gonna get kickbacks via cash or foreign bank accounts.

Are Canadians really that naive?

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Laibach

A bozo is apparently after the “15 minutes of fame”. Definitely not material, but you never know with Vancouver.

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