Ontario Refunds the Whole HST on a New Home Until March 31, 2027
The Ontario new home HST rebate is handing back the whole 13% HST on a new home bought from a builder up to $1,000,000, and it does not ask whether the buyer has owned before. It asks instead that the home be a primary place of residence, which is where a presale investor falls out. The relief is $130,000 at that price, and it turns on one date: the agreement of purchase and sale must be entered into on or after April 1, 2026 and on or before March 31, 2027. The window runs 365 days, and 149 are left.
Sign outside it, on the same $1,000,000 home, and a buyer who has owned before gets $24,000.
The CRA administers one half and Ontario pays the other
The first half is the Ontario enhanced new housing rebate, administered by the Canada Revenue Agency, which with the existing Ontario new housing rebate returns up to $80,000 of the 8% provincial part on a home valued up to $1,850,000. CRA GST/HST Notice 346 sets the clock: it is generally available on a purchase from a builder “where the agreement of purchase and sale was entered into on or after April 1, 2026, and on or before March 31, 2027.”
The second half is the Ontario New Home Affordability Payment, and the province pays this one. It provides up to $50,000, the equivalent of up to 100% of the 5% federal part, and only a buyer who qualifies for the enhanced rebate qualifies for it.
Set the caps against the tax: on a $1,000,000 home, 8% is $80,000, 5% is $50,000, and 13% is $130,000. Ontario’s own page says the two components “effectively relieve the full 13% HST on new or substantially renovated homes valued up to $1 million.”
The affordability payment is reduced by the federal part of any rebate the buyer is entitled to, and a first-time buyer must claim the federal rebate first. So the 5% comes back from Ottawa for a first-time buyer, under s.254(2.1), and from Ontario for a repeat buyer. The 8% half is Ontario’s either way. Same $130,000 at the closing table, two different cheques behind it.
For twelve months, Ontario refunds the whole HST on a new home. Total HST relieved on a new or substantially renovated Ontario home bought from a builder, by price, for a buyer who is not a first-time home buyer. Source: CRA GST/HST Notice 346 and Guide RC4028; ontario.ca for the affordability payment bands; Excise Tax Act s.254(2). Our arithmetic.
Inside the window, first-time buyer status is worth nothing
The affordability payment hands a repeat buyer the federal relief only a first-time buyer could previously get, on top of a provincial ceiling both now share.
| Buyer | Signed | Provincial | Federal | Total | HST left |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Repeat buyer | In window | $80,000 enhanced rebate | $50,000 affordability payment | $130,000 | $0 |
| First-time buyer | In window | $80,000 enhanced rebate | $50,000 federal rebate | $130,000 | $0 |
| First-time buyer | Outside window, after Mar 19, 2025 | $80,000 Ontario first-time rebate | $50,000 federal rebate | $130,000 | $0 |
| Repeat buyer | Outside window | $24,000 Ontario new housing rebate | None | $24,000 | $106,000 |
Our arithmetic at $1,000,000, under Notice 346, Guide RC4028, ontario.ca and section 254 of the Excise Tax Act.
Two different rebates, the same $130,000. HST relieved on a $1,000,000 new Ontario home, red for the 8% provincial part and grey for the 5% federal part. The outside-window first-time route needs an agreement of purchase and sale entered into after March 19, 2025. Source: CRA GST/HST Notice 346, Guide RC4028, ontario.ca, Excise Tax Act s.254(2.1). Our arithmetic.
At $400,000, $600,000, $800,000 and $1,000,000, in-window relief is 100% of the HST for both buyers. Past the cap the routes diverge, the totals do not: at $1,250,000 both reach $130,000, the repeat buyer through $80,000 plus $50,000 of affordability payment, the first-time buyer through $80,000 plus $25,000 of federal rebate tapered by $50,000 x ($1,500,000 – $1,250,000) / $500,000 and $25,000 of affordability payment.
Outside the window that status is worth a lot, provided the agreement was entered into after March 19, 2025: $24,850 at a $400,000 home, $54,000 at $600,000, $80,000 at $800,000 and $106,000 at $1,000,000.
Ontario land transfer tax falls due on the same closing and asks harder: its first-time refund maxes out at $4,000, with no tax payable on the first $368,000 of consideration, and per ontario.ca, “you cannot have owned a home or an interest in a home anywhere in the world, and your spouse cannot have owned a home or interest in a home, anywhere in the world while he or she was your spouse.” There is no re-qualifying there, where both HST rebates look only at the calendar year ownership transfers and the four before it. One closing, and the refund worth $4,000 cares whether this is a first home while the relief worth $130,000 does not, which is why the land transfer tax math runs separately.
Above $1 million the relief stops growing, and at $1,850,000 it stops
The enhanced rebate pays the lesser of $80,000 and the provincial part paid at any price up to $1,500,000, with no taper. The Ontario first-time home buyers’ rebate, sitting directly above it on Form RC7190-ON, does taper across that band, down to a floor of $24,000, and is unavailable once the price reaches $1,500,000.
That is an easy line to read onto the wrong rebate, and in that band the mistake costs money: Notice 346 lets a buyer eligible for both “choose to claim either or both”, and at $1,250,000 Section 1.3 pays the full $80,000 while the tapered Section 1.2 pays less. A first-time buyer who fills in the wrong one is out of pocket for nothing. Either or both does not mean both added together: all rebates of the 8% provincial part, the $24,000 Ontario new housing rebate included, are capped at “the lesser of $80,000 and the provincial part of the HST payable”.
| New home price | Enhanced rebate, 8% part | Affordability payment, 5% part |
|---|---|---|
| $1,000,000 or less | Full relief, up to $80,000 | Full relief, up to $50,000 |
| Above $1,000,000 and up to $1,500,000 | Flat $80,000 | Flat $50,000 |
| Above $1,500,000 and below $1,850,000 | Partial relief | Partial relief |
| $1,850,000 or more | None, only the $24,000 Ontario new housing rebate | None |
The dollars stop while the price does not, so $130,000 covers 80.00% of the $162,500 of HST on a $1,250,000 home and 68.97% on a $1,450,000 one.
A contract signed before April 2026 cannot be moved into the window
Three rules in Notice 346 stop an older agreement being refreshed into it, and a 2024 or 2025 presale contract runs into all three.
The first covers amendments. Vary, alter or assign a pre-April-2026 agreement and it may otherwise count as new, but “for purposes of the Ontario ENHR, the agreement is deemed to have been entered into before April 1, 2026”, leaving only “the Ontario new housing rebate or the Ontario first-time home buyers’ rebate”.
The second covers assignments, and it cuts both ways. The enhanced rebate survives one only where the original agreement and the assignment agreement are both entered into inside the window, which also means an in-window contract assigned inside the window keeps it. An assignee of a 2025 contract gets nothing here, and the assignment carries its own tax, because GST on a presale condo assignment is charged on the assignment price itself.
The third closes the workaround: terminate and re-sign, with the purchaser or the builder the same or not at arm’s length, and the new agreement can be deemed back into 2026 too, where it “may not reasonably be considered to have been entered into primarily for bona fide purposes other than to obtain the Ontario ENHR.”
All three turn on when an agreement was entered into, which is the day both sides agreed. On the equivalent federal boundary, Memorandum 19-3-10 is explicit: “It is the date that both parties agree to the purchase and sale, and not a later date when conditions may be waived that is relevant in determining whether the agreement was entered into after March 19, 2025, and before 2031.” On that reading a conditional agreement signed in late March 2026 and waived in April is a March agreement.
That older contract is not holding a first-time rebate in reserve. The federal one requires an agreement “entered into after March 19, 2025 and before 2031” (s.254(2.1)(b), and paragraph 33 of the memorandum), and the Ontario first-time rebate follows the same eligibility conditions. Example 4 is that buyer exactly: signed in 2023, ownership transferred in November 2025, and “The individual is not eligible for the FTHB GST/HST rebate since the agreement of purchase and sale was not entered into after March 19, 2025.” Nor can it be refreshed, because s.263.4(3) of the Excise Tax Act deems a pre-March-20-2025 agreement later varied, altered or assigned to have been entered into before March 20, 2025. Ottawa built that anti-refresh rule a year before Ontario did, and a 2024 contract is behind both doors.
The rebate dies if the builder does not finish by December 31, 2031
Signing inside the window is necessary, not sufficient. On a builder purchase, Notice 346 also requires construction to begin by December 31, 2028 and be substantially complete by December 31, 2031, the HST payable by December 31, 2032, and the home to be the buyer’s or a relation’s primary place of residence. An owner-built home runs on a different trigger, construction beginning inside the same window rather than an agreement date, and needs substantial completion before 2030.
That completion date is where the money sits. The federal first-time rebate under s.254(2.1) needs substantial completion only before 2036 and ownership transferred before 2036, from an agreement after March 19, 2025 and before 2031, and the Ontario first-time rebate follows the same conditions. On substantial completion, the test a late tower fails, both run four years longer than the enhanced rebate.
The two also differ on who the home is for. The enhanced rebate covers “the individual’s or their relation’s primary place of residence”; the federal first-time rebate requires the claimant to be acquiring it “for use as their primary place of residence” and to be its first occupant, under s.254(2.1)(e) and paragraph 32. So a parent buying inside the window for an adult child gets the full 13% and has no first-time fallback if the tower misses December 31, 2031.
| Price | Buyer | Completed on time | Late | Lost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $800,000 | Repeat buyer | $104,000 | $24,000 | $80,000 |
| $800,000 | First-time buyer | $104,000 | $104,000 | $0 |
| $1,000,000 | Repeat buyer | $130,000 | $24,000 | $106,000 |
| $1,000,000 | First-time buyer | $130,000 | $130,000 | $0 |
A presale signed in the 149 days left, on a tower completing in 2032, carries that risk on the whole $130,000 unless the buyer is also a first-time buyer, which is tested when ownership transfers rather than when the agreement is signed.
The forms, the consent box, and who repays the CRA
A builder purchase goes on Form GST190 with Form RC7190-ON, per Guide RC4028, and an owner-built home has its own pair, Form GST191 with Form RC7191-ON. Whether the builder handles it is a contract term, not a given. Notice 346 says the builder may pay or credit both the enhanced rebate and the affordability payment at closing, in which case the price is simply lower. Where it does not, RC4028 is blunt, “you have to file your rebate claim directly with the CRA”, with up to two years from the date ownership was transferred.
The affordability payment needs no separate application, only a box: the buyer completes the “ONHAP – Claimant’s consent to share information” section so the CRA can pass contact, banking and rebate information to the province, which issues the payment.
The risk stays with the buyer. CRA’s position is that if a buyer is not eligible “and the builder paid or credited the rebate to you, you are liable to repay this amount to the CRA.” Where the builder knew or ought to have known the purchaser was not entitled, Notice 346 makes builder and purchaser jointly and severally liable for repaying it.
What to check before March 31, 2027
Two checks decide whether this is worth $130,000 or $24,000. Find the date the agreement of purchase and sale was entered into, because no amendment, assignment or re-signing moves it. Then set the builder’s contractual completion date against December 31, 2031, and get the credit at closing written into the agreement rather than assumed, because a rebate claimed afterwards means funding the full 13% at closing and waiting for it back.
That waiting is a savings problem, and for the buyer whose first home this is, the FHSA is the account built for it, with its own first-time test to clear before the money goes in.
Figures as at November 2, 2026, Ontario at 13% HST throughout. This is general information, not tax advice for a specific transaction.
Disclaimer: The content on bestcanadianstocks.ca is for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Always consult a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions. The Ontario enhanced new housing rebate, its April 1, 2026 to March 31, 2027 agreement window, its construction and completion deadlines, the $1,850,000 ceiling, the $80,000 combined cap on the 8% provincial part, and the assignment, change-in-agreement and new-agreement restrictions are from CRA GST/HST Notice 346, Ontario Enhanced New Housing Rebate, August 2026. The Ontario new home affordability payment, its bands and its reduction by federal rebates are from CRA Notice 346 and from ontario.ca, The Ontario New Home Affordability Payment, Ministry of Finance, updated September 17, 2026. The Ontario new housing rebate at 75% of the provincial part to a maximum of $24,000, the Ontario first-time home buyers’ rebate and its taper, and the Form RC7190-ON Sections 1.1 to 1.3 line instructions and filing deadline are from CRA Guide RC4028, GST/HST New Housing Rebate. The federal GST/HST new housing rebate and the first-time home buyers’ GST/HST rebate, their caps, tapers and outer dates, and the anti-refresh rule, are from the Excise Tax Act s.254(2), s.254(2.1) and s.263.4(3) on Justice Laws. The first-time home buyer definition, the time at which it is tested, and Examples 4 and 5 are from CRA GST/HST Memorandum 19-3-10. The Ontario land transfer tax first-time refund of $4,000, the first $368,000 of consideration and its ownership test are from ontario.ca, Land Transfer Tax Refunds for First-Time Homebuyers. The buyer’s liability to repay a rebate credited in error is from CRA’s Ontario enhanced new housing rebate page. HST is 13% in Ontario throughout, a 5% federal part and an 8% provincial part per CRA Notice 323. All relief totals, shares of HST and the window clock are our own arithmetic, from the same engine that generates both charts.
