Homeowners encouraged to prepare for speculation and vacancy tax declarations

VICTORIA – People with residential properties in some areas with the highest demand in the province will soon receive their 2023 speculation and vacancy tax (SVT) declaration letter.
Homeowners in the Metro Vancouver Regional District, the Capital Regional District, Abbotsford, the District of Mission, Chilliwack, Kelowna, West Kelowna, Nanaimo and the District of Lantzville will receive their letters by the end of February and have until March 31, 2023, to file.
The tax was introduced in B.C. in 2018 to curb speculation that drives up prices and to encourage people to rent out their vacant homes.
Next year’s SVT communities will include residential property owners in North Cowichan, Lake Cowichan, Duncan, Ladysmith, Lions Bay and Squamish. People in those communities will receive their first letter in 2024 when they will need to declare for the first time. This will offer owners with vacant residential properties in the expansion areas time to change the use of their property to help ensure they are eligible for an exemption.
Exemption eligibility is based on how owners use their property during the year. For example, if a property owner uses their unit as a principal home, rents it out for more than six months of the year or meets other rental exemption criteria, they are exempt from paying the tax.