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B.C. Speculation and Vacancy Tax: Rates, Exemptions and How to Declare

Updated

B.C.’s speculation and vacancy tax (SVT) is a provincial tax, separate from city vacancy taxes and from the federal Underused Housing Tax. In short: B.C.'s speculation and vacancy tax is an annual provincial tax on residential property in designated taxable areas, based on how each owner used the property during the calendar year, the owner's residency and where the owner earns and reports income: each owner on title declares every year by March 31, and an owner with no exemption pays tax on their share of the assessed value, at a higher rate for foreign owners and untaxed worldwide earners (a group that includes satellite families) than for other Canadian citizens and permanent residents.

This page sets out the rates, who must declare, the exemptions and the credits, from the Province of British Columbia’s SVT pages. It is part of the real estate tax hub; for city taxes, see vacant home taxes in Canada and Toronto’s Vacant Home Tax.

Tax rates

For the 2026 tax year the rate is 3% of assessed value for foreign owners and untaxed worldwide earners, and 1% for Canadian citizens and permanent residents who are not untaxed worldwide earners. The rate depends on the owner’s category, not on how long the property sat empty. The province’s published rates by tax year:

Tax yearForeign owners and untaxed worldwide earnersCanadian citizens and permanent residents who are not untaxed worldwide earners
20180.5% (all owners)0.5% (all owners)
2019 to 20252%0.5%
20263%1%
20274%1%

Each year’s rate applies to how the property was used during that calendar year, so a declaration filed early in one year uses the previous year’s rate. Source: Tax rates for the speculation and vacancy tax.

Example

A hypothetical property assessed at $1,000,000, with no exemption, for the 2026 tax year:

OwnerRateTax before any credit
Foreign owner, sole owner3%$30,000
Foreign owner with a 50% share3% of half the value$15,000
Canadian citizen, not an untaxed worldwide earner, sole owner1%$10,000

The tax is the assessed value times the rate, on each owner’s share. A B.C. resident in the last row could have it reduced by the resident credit described below.

Who must declare, and when

  • Only property classed as residential and located in a designated taxable area is covered.
  • Islands reachable only by air or water, other than Vancouver Island, are not part of the taxable areas.
  • Reserve lands, treaty lands and lands of self-governing Indigenous Nations are not part of the taxable areas.
  • The Predator Ridge resort in the City of Vernon is not part of the taxable areas.
  • Each owner on title makes a separate declaration every year by March 31, even when the other owner is a spouse or relative.
  • An owner who doesn't declare pays the tax at the maximum rate.
  • The tax is based on who owns the property on December 31 of the year.

Declaration letters arrive mid-January to mid-February, and you declare how you used the property in the previous calendar year. The list of taxable areas names specific municipalities in the Metro Vancouver and Capital regional districts (plus UBC lands and the University Endowment Lands), not the whole of either district, and named municipalities elsewhere, including Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Courtenay, Kamloops, Kelowna, Nanaimo, Penticton, Squamish, Vernon and West Kelowna; the province also has a location map for checking a specific property.

Which rate applies to you

  • With more than one owner, each owner owes tax only on their ownership share.
  • A corporation, trustee or business partner pays the highest rate that would apply to any of its corporate interest holders, beneficial owners or partners.
  • A foreign owner is anyone who is not a Canadian citizen or permanent resident.
  • An untaxed worldwide earner is someone whose income not reported on a Canadian tax return is greater than the income they reported, with spouses' incomes combined; the term covers what are often called satellite families.

Exemptions

Most exemptions depend on who lives in the property and for how long:

  • The principal residence exemption is for an owner who is a Canadian citizen or permanent resident, a B.C. resident for income tax purposes and not an untaxed worldwide earner, and only for the home they lived in longest during the year.
  • A property is exempt if tenants live in it for at least six months of the year, in tenancies of at least one month each; renting one residence on the property exempts the whole property.
  • An arm's length tenant needs a written tenancy agreement under the Residential Tenancy Act and must make the residence their home.
  • A family member or other non-arm's length tenant needs no written agreement or rent when the owners are Canadian citizens or permanent residents who are not untaxed worldwide earners; for a foreign owner or untaxed worldwide earner, such a tenant counts only if they are a citizen or permanent resident, a B.C. resident and not an untaxed worldwide earner, with B.C. income of at least three times the property's annual fair market rent.
  • When an owner dies, all owners at the time of death are exempt for the year of death and the following calendar year.
  • Other exemptions cover, among others, a home where a person with a disability lives, an owner in residential care or away for medical treatment, separation or divorce, a home made uninhabitable by a disaster or hazard beyond the owner's control, the year a property is bought or inherited, a strata hotel, a licensed daycare, and a property reachable only by water.
  • The exemption for a strata bylaw or covenant that bars renting applied only for the 2018 to 2021 tax years and is no longer available.

Some properties are excluded from the tax altogether, including a property with an assessed value of $150,000 or less and a non-stratified building divided into four or more rental apartments. Some owners, such as registered charities, housing co-ops and municipalities, are always exempt and don’t declare. The full list, with examples, is on the province’s exemptions for individuals page.

Tax credits

An owner with no exemption may get a non-refundable credit: B.C. residents who are citizens, permanent residents or confirmed provincial nominees and not untaxed worldwide earners get up to $4,000 applied automatically, and other owners can apply for a credit based on the B.C. income they reported. The resident credit was up to $2,000 for the 2018 to 2025 tax years and is up to $4,000 from 2026. Both credits are non-refundable and can’t be applied to another year’s tax. See SVT tax credits.

Paying, audits and appeals

Tax for a year is due on the first business day in July of the following year, and a 10% penalty plus interest applies to any balance after that. Interest on an overdue balance is 3% a year above the provincial government banker’s prime rate, compounded monthly. After an owner declares, a Notice of Assessment is mailed only if they owe tax (paying the tax), and an assessment has to be paid even while it is under appeal (assessments and appeals).

Declarations can be audited, and the province asks owners to keep supporting documents for six years after declaring (SVT audits).

If the property is in the City of Vancouver

It is separate from B.C.'s speculation and vacancy tax: an owner in Vancouver declares for each tax separately and may owe both. The two taxes have different exemptions and deadlines; the City’s tax is covered in vacant home taxes in Canada.

Sources

The figures and rules on this page come from these sources, last checked against them on October 1, 2026. How we check facts.