Every residential property owner in Toronto has to file a Vacant Home Tax declaration once a year — including the overwhelming majority of owners who live in their own homes and owe nothing. The tax is 3% of your property’s assessed value. Miss the deadline and the City deems your home vacant whether it was or not.

That last sentence is the whole reason this page exists. The tax itself is narrow. The declaration is not.

What the tax actually is

Toronto’s Vacant Home Tax applies to residential properties that sat empty for six months or more during the calendar year. Since the 2024 taxation year the rate has been 3% of the property’s Current Value Assessment.

If your home was your principal residence, or a tenant lived in it, or a permitted occupant used it as their home, it is not vacant and you owe nothing. You still have to say so.

The trap: silence counts as vacant

This is where people get hurt. The City’s rule is that a property is deemed vacant if the owner fails to declare by the deadline. Not “flagged for review.” Deemed vacant, and billed accordingly.

The declaration is not a form for people with empty houses. It is a form for everyone, and the penalty for ignoring it lands on people who did nothing wrong.

We see it most often with owners who are travelling, owners who have just bought and aren’t yet on the City’s mailing list, estates being administered by family, and older homeowners who never opened the notice. Every one of those is an avoidable bill.

What it costs — and the detail almost everyone gets wrong

The 3% is charged against your Current Value Assessment, not your market value. Those are very different numbers in Toronto right now.

Ontario has not run a province-wide reassessment in years. Assessments for the 2026 tax year are still based on fully phased-in January 1, 2016 values. On the Bathurst corridor, where prices have moved substantially since 2016, a home worth well over two million dollars today can carry a CVA far below that.

So the arithmetic works off your assessment notice, not off what your neighbour’s house sold for. A property with a CVA of $1,000,000 deemed vacant for the year is looking at roughly $30,000. Your actual number is 3% of the figure on your MPAC notice.

Two smaller charges sit alongside it: a late charge for missing the declaration deadline, and a fine of up to $10,000 for a false declaration or for refusing to provide information when the City asks. The fine is separate from the tax, not instead of it.

The timeline

The declaration always runs in arrears — you are reporting on the year that just ended.

  • Now (late summer): the portal is closed. Nothing to file. This is the right time to get your MPAC notice and your occupancy records where you can find them.
  • November 1: the declaration window has opened on this date in recent cycles, covering the occupancy year just finishing.
  • April 30: the deadline. Roughly six months of runway, which is exactly why so many people let it slide.

Our advice is unglamorous: file in November. The portal is quiet, the information is fresh, and you stop carrying it around.

The exemptions

A property can be vacant and still owe nothing, if it fits one of the City’s exemptions. There are nine, covering:

  • Death of the registered owner
  • The owner being in hospital, long-term care, or a supportive care facility
  • Repairs or renovations that genuinely prevent occupancy
  • Transfer of legal ownership during the year
  • Occupancy required for full-time employment
  • A court order prohibiting occupancy
  • Vacant new inventory held by a builder
  • Use as a secondary residence for medical reasons
  • Other qualifying ownership transfers

Two things to know about exemptions. First, you claim them through the declaration — an exemption is not a reason to skip filing, it is something you file. Second, the renovation exemption is the one most often challenged, because the City wants to see that permits and work were real and that occupancy was actually impossible.

What this means when you’re selling or buying

This is the part the accounting firms and the City’s own page don’t cover, and it’s the part that costs people money on closing day.

If you’re selling, the declaration obligation for the occupancy year follows the property. A sale mid-year is one of the listed exemption circumstances, but that only helps if it is actually declared. We ask about Vacant Home Tax status at the listing appointment now, in the same breath as survey and status certificate, because an unresolved VHT charge attaches to the tax roll and turns into a closing problem rather than a tax problem.

If you’re buying, ask your lawyer to confirm the seller’s declaration is filed and that no VHT has been levied. An outstanding balance on the roll is the buyer’s headache after closing unless it has been dealt with properly in the adjustments.

If you own a vacant property deliberately — an inherited home you haven’t decided about, a house you’re holding while you plan a build — the tax is a real annual carrying cost and it should be in your maths. Three percent of assessment, every year, is often more than the appreciation people assume they’re waiting for.

If your home was wrongly deemed vacant

It is fixable. The City has a complaint process, and a genuine occupancy history — utility bills, insurance, a driver’s licence, a lease — usually resolves it. But the burden is on you, it takes time, and the tax is payable while you sort it out. Filing on time costs you ten minutes and avoids all of it.

Common questions

How much is the Toronto Vacant Home Tax?
3% of the property’s Current Value Assessment, for properties vacant six months or more in the year.

Do I have to declare if I live in my own home?
Yes. Every residential property owner declares annually, occupied or not. Multi-residential, commercial, and industrial properties, vacant land, parking spaces, and lockers are outside the program.

What happens if I forget?
The property is deemed vacant and taxed at 3% of assessment, plus a late charge. You can complain and have it reversed, but you have to do the work.

How do I avoid the tax?
Legitimately: live in it, rent it, let a permitted occupant live in it, or qualify for one of the nine exemptions — and declare. There is no strategy here beyond filing accurately and on time.

Can I declare online?
Yes, through the City’s portal when the window is open, and you’ll need your assessment roll number and customer number from your tax bill.

The short version

Put a reminder in your phone for November 1. Find your tax bill. File the declaration the week it opens. For almost everyone reading this, that is the entire obligation, and it turns a potential five-figure bill into a non-event.

If you’re weighing what to do with a property that’s sitting empty — sell it, rent it, rebuild on it — that’s a conversation worth having before the carrying costs make the decision for you. Get in touch and we’ll walk through the numbers on your specific address.

This is general information for Toronto homeowners, not tax or legal advice. Confirm current rates, dates, and exemption criteria with the City of Toronto, and speak to your accountant or lawyer about your own situation.