With a new year comes a host of new financial rules for benefits in British Columbia.
Here’s what you need to know about BC’s renter’s tax credit, home flipping tax and more changes that came into effect on New Year’s Day.
Home flipping tax
If you’ve owned a property for fewer than 730 days (two years) and are selling or disposing of it, you might have to pay a tax worth 20 per cent of the net taxable income you receive from the sale.
This applies to a seller of a BC residential property whether they are a BC resident or a resident of any other jurisdiction around the world.
Eligible properties include those with a housing unit on them, those zoned for residential use and the right to acquire the aforementioned property types.
This does not apply to a deemed disposition (change of ownership due to death), a mortgage, charge or lien, a lease, a gift or “any other transaction or event resulting in a change in legal title but not a change in beneficial ownership.”
The provincial government says this measure is “intended to discourage short-term holding of property for profit.”
Properties in First Nations communities or reserves are exempt from this tax. Also exempt are registered charities, the government and its agents, other government and public bodies, corporations owned by municipalities, regional district or Indigenous nations, some housing corporations and more.
Renter’s tax credit
In 2025, the thresholds to qualify for the BC renter’s tax credit have been adjusted.
Residents with an annual adjusted income of $63,000 can get up to $400 a year off their taxes through a new renter’s tax credit. The previous threshold was $60,000.
Those with adjusted incomes higher than $63,000 will receive a partial tax credit until they reach an income of $83,000, when it is reduced to zero.
To qualify for the tax credit, a resident must be 19 years old or older, occupy an eligible rental unit in BC like a single-family home, apartment, condo, townhouse, basement suite, detached suite, carriage house and certain types of housing co-ops or life leases for at least six full months.
Multiple tenants who rent the same unit can claim the tax credit as long as they are not married or in a common-law relationship with the other tenants. Employees of foreign governments are not eligible, neither are people who die before the end of a calendar year.
Homes that qualify for the new homeowner’s grant do not qualify for the renter’s credit.
Homeowner grant
For 2025, the residential property value threshold to qualify for the homeowner grant has been increased by $25,000 to $2.175 million. The province’s website says that this change will make it so that 92 per cent of residential properties will qualify for the grant.
Owners of residential properties worth $2.175 million or less can get a grant of $570 towards their property taxes if they live in the Capital Regional District, the Metro Vancouver Regional District or the Fraser Valley Regional District and $770 in the rest of the province.
Properties worth more than $2.175 million are still eligible for the grant, but the amount is reduced by $5 for each $1,000 of assessed value beyond the threshold.
Seniors, veterans and people with disabilities can apply for supplemental grants in addition to the basic grant.
Applicants can be made at any time during the tax year, but the province recommends that property owners submit them after they receive their property tax notice and before their taxes are due. Some retroactive applications can be made.
Only one owner of a given property can apply for the credit.
Though property owners pay taxes to their municipality, applications must be made through the provincial government.
Property tax deferment
The rules haven’t changed, but people aged 55 or older, those with disabilities, those who have lost a spouse and parents can apply to defer their current year’s property taxes.
This is considered a loan and those taking advantage of the program must pay a non compounding interest rate of 4.95 per cent for the regular program and 6.95 per cent for the program for parents.
There’s also a $60 administrative fee to first apply for the deferment and a $10 renewal each year that you continue to defer your taxes.
Those deferring their property taxes must repay the loan when they sell the property, add another person to the title of a property other than a spouse, removing a registered owner from a property’s title except in the case of a death, refinancing a property or subdividing your property.
Deferment applications can be made between May 1 and Dec. 31 each year.
