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12.06 New Housing Refund If Property Does Not Contain Residential Improvement On Registration Date

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12.06 (1) A transferee to whom is transferred, under an eligible transaction, a qualifying property that does not, on the registration date, contain a residential improvement may apply to the administrator for a refund of the tax paid on the registration of the transaction by the transferee if

  • (a) the transferee is a qualifying individual on the registration date or becomes a qualifying individual on or before the first anniversary of the registration date,
  • (b) before the first anniversary of the registration date, the transferee establishes a residential improvement on the property
    • (i) that the transferee inhabits, as the transferee’s principal residence,
      • (A) beginning at the time the residential improvement is completed, and
      • (B) subject to subsection (2) of this section, continuing to a date that is not earlier than the first anniversary of the registration date, and
    • (ii) in respect of which the total costs incurred to establish the residential improvement, when added to the fair market value of the property at the registration date, do not exceed the sum of the qualifying value of the property and $50 000, and
  • (c) the application for the refund is made on a date that is
    • (i) after the first anniversary of the registration date, and
    • (ii) on or before the date that is 18 months after the registration date.
  • (2) The requirement set out in subsection (1)(b)(i)(B) is deemed to have been met in respect of a property if the transferee fails to meet that requirement only because, before the first anniversary of the registration date,
  • (a) the transferee dies, or
  • (b) the property is transferred by the transferee pursuant to a written separation agreement or a court order under the Family Law Act.
  • (3) On receiving an application under subsection (1), the administrator,
  • (a) if satisfied that
    • (i) the property was, on the registration date, a qualifying property that did not contain a residential improvement, and
    • (ii) the requirements for the refund set out in subsection (1)(a), (b) and (c) have been met,
  • must pay out of the consolidated revenue fund a refund of the portion of the amount of tax paid by the transferee that is equivalent to the amount of the exemption to which the transferee would have been entitled under section 12.02 or 12.03, as applicable, if there were no requirement in section 12.02(1) that the property contain a residential improvement described in section 12.02(1)(b)(i) or (ii), or
  • (b) if not satisfied that the requirements for the refund set out in paragraph (a)(i) and (ii) have been met, must refuse the application and provide the transferee with written notice under subsection (4) of the refusal.
  • (4) If an application for a refund under subsection (1) is refused, the administrator must send a letter to the applicant stating the reason for the refusal, and the letter is deemed to be a notice of assessment for the purposes of allowing the applicant to file a notice of objection under section 19.

2016-3-54, effective February 17, 2016.