Manitoba land transfer tax Calculator

How much is land transfer tax in Manitoba?

Manitoba land transfer tax on a $400,000 home is $5,650. Because the top rate of 2% starts at only $200,000, most of the price of a typical Winnipeg house is taxed at that rate. Each extra $10,000 of price adds $200. The tax is rounded to the nearest dollar.

Worked example: a $425,000 Winnipeg house

For a $425,000 house, the brackets add up as shown below, $6,150 in total. The first $30,000 is tax-free for every buyer, which is worth little on a modern home price.

How and when Manitoba land transfer tax is paid

The buyer pays land transfer tax when the transfer of title is registered at a land titles office. It is based on fair market value on the date of registration, not on the date you signed the offer. The tax is paid together with the registration fee, and Manitoba Finance directs questions about it to Teranet Manitoba in Winnipeg.

In a normal purchase your lawyer prepares the transfer, swears the value, and pays the tax and fee from your closing funds. The tax is part of your closing costs, so put it aside alongside your down payment.

The affidavit of value: how Manitoba checks the price

Every transfer sent for registration in Manitoba must include an affidavit of value. This sworn statement gives the fair market value of the land as a whole, and the tax is worked out from it (s 115(1)). The buyer, the seller, either party’s lawyer, someone holding a power of attorney, or a written agent can swear it.

If the district registrar doubts the value, they can ask for an appraisal or other evidence (s 115(3)), and the minister can set the fair market value and the correct tax (s 117). If you dispute the tax, you must still pay it to register the transfer, then appeal to the Tax Appeals Commission (ss 116(1) and 118.1). In practice, a family sale at a token price is taxed on what the home is worth unless an exemption applies.

Manitoba land transfer tax exemptions and refunds

Manitoba has no first-time buyer refund, but The Tax Administration and Miscellaneous Taxes Act exempts several kinds of transfer. You claim the s 113 exemptions with an affidavit and the spousal exemption with a statutory declaration, both filed with the collector.

• Transfers of non-commercial property to a spouse, common-law partner or former spouse or partner, including by an executor or administrator of an estate (s 114(1)(e)).
• Farm land that will continue to be farmed, transferred to a farmer, a farmer’s spouse or common-law partner, a family farm corporation or a qualifying congregation (s 113(1)).
• Transfers to a registered charity, and some transfers by a charity to a non-profit corporation it controls (s 113(2)).
• Registrations that only change a name or the form of co-ownership, such as tenancy in common to joint tenancy, between the same people (s 114(1)(a)).
• Refunds: if a court rescinds the sale and orders the land transferred back, the tax is refunded and the transfer back is not taxed. If both parties declare in writing that the conditions of the deal cannot be met, the minister may refund the tax (s 112.1). Refunds are claimed by application to the minister (s 112.3). A partial refund is available where retail sales tax was also paid on a building on the land (s 112.2).

How Manitoba compares for first-time buyers

Without a first-time refund, a Manitoba buyer of a $400,000 first home pays $5,650. A first-time buyer in Ontario at the same price pays $475, and in B.C. pays $0. Manitoba also has no foreign-buyer transfer tax, but Winnipeg and other census metropolitan areas and agglomerations, such as Brandon, fall under the federal purchase ban. Rural land outside those areas is not covered by the ban.