Ontario’s new harmonized sales tax (HST) will take effect on July 1, 2010. Currently, Ontarians pay 8% provincial sales tax (PST) and 5% goods and services tax (GST). On July 1, 2010, these two taxes will be combined to an all-inclusive 13% HST.

How will this affect Kanata’s homeowners and first time home buyers?

Kanata re-sale homes

While GST is not usually applicable on the purchase price of a re-sale home, HST will now be charged on legal fees for all real estate transactions.

New Kanata homes

HST will now be applicable on new home constructions, however, new home buyers will get a 75% rebate on the provincial portion of the HST paid on the first $400,000 of their new home.

Kanata Condominiums

HST will be applicable on maintenance and repair items, some utilities, as well as management fees for the condominium corporation.

Other costs

Maintenance and repair costs that used to be subject only to GST will now be subject to HST. Also, HST will now be applicable on any hydro, gas and phone charges that were previously subject to GST.

Good?

The government appears to be aware of the additional costs to homeowners and, in anticipation of the arrival of the HST, tax rebates and incentives are coming to light such as the new home construction rebate. Also, businesses are now able to claim input tax credits on the HST that they charge, similar to the GST tax credits that they are currently able to claim. Hopefully, this will result in more benefits back to the consumer from the various businesses involved.

Bottom Line

There are still a lot of questions about how the HST will affect the purchase or sale of a home in Ontario. If you are considering either buying or selling, why not eliminate the questions altogether and finalize your transaction before July 1st?

Contact Ray Otten and the Renaud Otten Team at (613) 288-0090 for all your real estate needs, or visit our Kanata real estate website.

Our Kanata real estate team, the Renaud Otten team, helped to raise over 2000 lbs of food for the Kanata Food Cupboard last week in our “Fill our Moving Truck” campaign! As you can imagine, this will positively affect many families in our area over the upcoming fall and holiday season. Great job, Kanata!

To borrow our moving truck for free (subject to an incremental insurance charge), visit our Kanata real estate website.

This week is Kanata’s Small Business Week. The Kanata Chamber of Commerce is sponsoring a number of events in Kanata for small business owners:

- Wednesday, October 21, 2009 – “Doing Business with Government” at the Holiday Inn Select Hotel & Suites

- Friday, Cctober 23, 2009 – Free Breakfast Seminar at the Brookstreet Hotel

For more information about these and other sponsored events this week, visit the Kanata Chamber of Commerce website.

For all of your real estate needs in Kanata, visit our Kanata real estate website.

Are you missing the hot days of summer? Or wondering if they actually arrived this year? Here are our hottest Kanata properties for sale:

52 Rosenfeld Crescent, Kanata
46 Belleview Drive, Kanata

To view either of these properties or to arrange a personal viewing, visit our Kanata real estate website.

Enjoy the fabulous fall colors!