2 General Tax Imposed

• 2 (1) Subject to subsection (2), on application for registration of a taxable transaction at a land title office, the transferee must

• (a) pay tax to the government in accordance with section 3 or 38, and
• (b) file a return, in the prescribed manner, whether or not the taxable transaction is exempt under this Act.

• (1.1) In the case of an application for registration submitted under Part 10.1 of the Land Title Act,

• (a) tax required to be paid under subsection (1)(a) must be paid by electronic means at the time and in the manner established by the administrator, and
• (b) the return required to be filed under subsection (1)(b) must be an electronic return that is filed by electronic means in the manner established by the administrator.

• (1.2) A person required to file a return under subsection (1)(b) must

• (a) include in the return the information required by the administrator, and
• (b) file with the return any other information or records required by the administrator.

• (2) If the Crown or a municipality registers a taxable transaction at the land title office on behalf of a transferee, the transferee must pay tax in accordance with section 2.02 and section 3 or 38 at the prescribed time and to the person designated in the regulations as the collector of the tax for the purposes of this subsection.
• (3) The Lieutenant Governor in Council may prescribe that a transaction that consists of a purported transfer, by a prescribed method of a prescribed interest in land, is taxable under this Act, whether or not that interest is registrable under the Land Title Act.
• (4) A regulation under subsection (3) may prescribe

• (a) when the liability for the tax arises and when the tax is payable, and
• (b) the method by which
  • (i) returns must be filed, and
  • (ii) the tax may be remitted and collected.

• (5) A transferee who, although entitled to apply, does not apply to register a taxable transaction at a land title office, must, within a prescribed period, file a return under this section and pay tax under this section and section 2.02 to the person designated in the regulations as the collector of the tax for the purposes of this subsection.
• (6) If a transferee is not entitled to register a taxable transaction only because of an agreement between the transferor and transferee that the transaction is not to be registered, the transferee is, for purposes of subsection (5) and section 14(3) and (4), entitled to register the transaction.
• (7) Tax is not payable under subsection (5) if no period to file the return and pay the tax has been prescribed.
• (8) A registrar may, without a hearing, refuse to accept an application for registration of a taxable transaction if the registrar has reasonable grounds to believe that

• (a) the tax under subsection (1) or section 2.02(3) has not been paid or the return required by subsection (1) of this section is incomplete or has not been filed, and
• (b) in the case of an application for registration referred to in subsection (1.1), any of the requirements of that subsection has not been fulfilled.

1987-15-2; 1987-64-2 (c), effective November 1, 1987; 1987-64-2(a), (b), (d), effective December 12, 1987 (day after First Reading of 1987-64); 2003-96-45, effective December 12, 2003 (B.C. Reg. 471/2003); 2004-12-32; 2007-14-215, effective December 1, 2007 (B.C. Reg. 354/2007); 2016-27-2, effective August 2, 2016; 2024-13-170.