You can pay less in annual property taxes on your primary residence thanks to the home owner grant. You may qualify for the additional grant of $275 on top of the normal grant of $570 if you are a senior who is 65 years of age or older, your property is assessed at $1,975,000 or less, and you meet certain criteria. The overall grant amount in the Capital Regional District, Metro Vancouver Regional District, and Fraser Valley are $845 for seniors 65 years of age or older. The overall grant amount for seniors 65 years of age or above in all other regions of the province is $1,045. Homes assessed at more than $1,975,000 may get a partial grant. Before applying for the home owner grant to assist in paying for services like road upkeep and police protection, you must pay at least $100 in property taxes.
What Is the Eligibility to Apply for the Grant?
To be eligible for the grant you have to be:
- the residence’s legal owner
- being a citizen or long-term occupant of Canada
- reside in BC.
- Use the house as your primary residence.
- age 65 or older as of the current year
- Your property’s assessed or partitioned value cannot be greater than the award threshold.
Submit your documents online
If you are purchasing or selling property, make sure you adhere to any additional restrictions. To receive the greater grant amount for that dwelling, the homeowner who satisfies these requirements must submit the application.
You are only allowed to have one primary residence for the purposes of claiming the home owner grant. You cannot specify which of your properties is your principal residence if you own more than one. Your primary abode is typically where you call home. It is the place where you stay and carry out daily activities like receiving mail and paying bills. It is also typically the address used in your government records for things like your income tax, health insurance, driver’s license, and vehicle registration.
Your primary dwelling must be taxed as an improvement in order for you to be eligible for the home owner grant.
When you make a home owner grant application, you must be living in your primary dwelling. To be eligible to apply for the grant, you must still meet the following criteria, though:
- Employed outside of the province
- are absent due to a medical emergency, a trip, an educational commitment, or home renovations
- shifted into a care centre for the elderly
- Your primary residence was damaged, so you moved out
Check more information about Canadian Seniors Homeowner Grants
How Much Grant Money Is Provided?
The grant threshold is the highest assessed or divided property value at which homeowners are qualified to receive the home owner grant. The $1,975,000 grant threshold applies. Depending on whether your property has an assessed or partitioned value of $1,975,000 or less, you might be eligible to receive the full additional grant amount. If you satisfy all requirements but your property’s assessed or partitioned value is higher than $1,975,000, you can be eligible for a smaller grant. For every $1,000 of assessed value beyond $1,975,000, the award is decreased by $5. This indicates that properties with assessments up to $2,089,000 ($2,129,000 in a northern and rural area) are eligible for a portion of an additional award.
You may be eligible for a low-income grant supplement for seniors if your home has an assessed value of more than $1,975,000 and your adjusted net income is $32,000 or less.
The low-income grant supplement and the house owner grant must be applied for individually. You are not qualified for a home owner grant if the assessed value of your property exceeds $2,089,000 ($2,129,000 in a northern and rural location). Even if you are not receiving the home owner grant, you may still be eligible for a low-income grant supplement. You can apply for the supplement on its own.
Division of Value
You might be able to apply for the homeowner grant by dividing the value of your property if:
Due to the high assessed value of your property, you were previously unable to claim a grant or were only eligible for a reduced grant. Additionally, your property includes both your primary dwelling and at least one other residence.
Using the Home Owner Grant Partitioning application, you can request that your property’s assessed value be divided. The assessed value of a property is divided by the number of homes on the property to determine its partitioned value. Each residence must have a kitchen, a bedroom, a bathroom, and a living area in order to qualify. As distinct residences, laneway homes and multifamily buildings like duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes are acceptable.
Purchasing or Selling a Home
The amount you can claim for the homeowner grant depends on a number of different circumstances, including whether you are purchasing or selling a property. If you satisfy the following criteria and bought your house during the current tax year, you can be qualified for the home owner grant:
- The previous owner failed to submit a grant claim
- This year, you didn’t get a grant for a new house.
- When you apply for the award, you must be residing on the property.
When to Apply?
Anytime during the tax year, you can submit an application for your home owner grant. If you submit an application before receiving your tax notice in the mail, it won’t be processed until that happens. Using your application confirmation number, you can check the status of your application online.
If you don’t submit your grant application by the deadline for filing your taxes, late payment penalties may be applied to your property taxes. If you submit your application after the deadline, the award will be treated as a late contribution toward your property taxes. However, you still have until December 31 of the current tax year to submit an application for the homeowner award. Even if your property taxes are unpaid, you are still eligible to apply.
How to Apply?
To be eligible for the homeowner award, you must apply every year. A property may only submit one grant claim each year. Learn when and how to submit an application for the home owner grant.
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