Commencing in 2016, any taxpayer will have to report basic information relating to the disposition of a principal residence to qualify for this exemption.
Basic information includes the address, date of acquisition and the proceeds of disposition of the property. This information must be entered in the new “Principal residence” section of Schedule 3. Since more than one disposition could give entitlement to the partial exemption relating to a principal residence, the basic information can be entered for more than one residence.
In the “Principal residence” section of Schedule 3, individuals must also indicate if they designate the property/properties which were disposed of as having been their principal residence(s) for all of the years during which they owned such property or for certain years only.
A question has been added to the “Mailing address” section of the Identification form, so that you can indicate whether the taxpayer disposed of a property during the year, for which he or she is claiming the total or partial principal residence deduction. In rolled forward files where Personal Taxprep detects that there has been a change of address, a diagnostic prompts you to verify if there has been disposition of such property. The display of this diagnostic can be cancelled if you answer “No” to this question, or if you enter data in the “Principal residence” section of Schedule 3.
Commencing in 2016, a copy of Form T2091 will be created in Personal Taxprep for each disposition of a property whose basic information has been entered in the “Principal residence” section of Schedule 3. The basic information will be updated to the copy of Form T2091 created for this disposition. You will have to add further information on the copy of Form T2091 only when the property has not been designated as a principal residence in all of the years during which the taxpayer owned the property. Only the copies in which the additional information will have been entered will be applicable for printing purposes.
As in past years, Form T2091 Designation of a Property as a Principal Residence by an Individual (Other than a Personal Trust), only has to be enclosed with the return (or mailed to the CRA when the return was EFILED) when a capital gain results from the disposition of the property designated as the principal residence. Therefore, when the taxpayer designates a property as the principal residence for certain years (but not all of the years) during which he or she owned it, Form T2091 must be submitted.
Note that the reporting of a principal residence disposition applies to both the deemed dispositions and actual dispositions. Penalties are applicable in cases where the disposition of a principal residence was not reported. The CRA will accept late designations and dispositions reporting, but they could be subject to penalties.
For information about designating a principal residence and what qualifies as a principal residence, go to https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/individuals/topics/about-your-tax-return/tax-return/completing-a-tax-return/personal-income/line-127-capital-gains.html and select "Principal residence and other real estate", or see Chapter 6 of Guide T4037, Capital Gains, or Income Tax Folio S1-F3-C2, Principal Residence.
For information on how to report the gain or loss on a part of your principal residence you used to produce income, see the section "Real estate, depreciable property and other properties" in Chapter 2 of Guide T4037, Capital Gains, Capital Gains, and Income Tax Folio S1-F3-C2, Principal Residence.