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I sold my cottage in 2020. It was for personal use not a rental. How do I work out the capital gains on this property?

 
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I sold my cottage in 2020. It was for personal use not a rental. How do I work out the capital gains on this property?

Thank you for choosing TurboTax,

 

Tax consequences of selling your house will change according to if it is your principal house or not. 

 

If your home was not your principal residence for every year that you owned it,  as per CRA, you have to report the part of the capital gain on the property that relates to the years for which you did not designate the property as your principal residence. To do this, complete T2091IND Designation of a Property as a Principal Residence by an Individual (Other Than a Personal ... 

 

You can calculate Capital gain as Proceeds from disposition- Adjusted cost base (ACB- usually the cost of a property plus any expenses to acquire it, such as commissions and legal fees)-Outlays and Expenses (Amounts that you incurred to sell a capital property).  50% of the value of any capital gain is taxable. 

 

When you sell your home, and if the property was solely your principal residence for every year you owned it, as per CRA,  you do not have to pay tax on any gain from the sale because of the principal residence exemption. However, details of the sale must be reported to CRA.

 

If you choose to designate this property as your Principal Residence, the principal residence exemption rules would apply. Therefore, you have to report the sale and designate the property on Schedule 3, Capital Gains (or Losses). In addition, you also have to complete T2091IND Designation of a Property as a Principal Residence by an Individual (Other Than a Personal ... 

 

Although you can designate it as a Principal Residence and take the exemption, a lot of people do not choose this option as they want to keep that option open when they do sell their home. 

 

You can get more information from the website of Reporting the Sale of Your Principal Residence