Key takeaways
- →Ontario, BC, Manitoba, and Quebec all charge a tiered land transfer tax that increases in stages as the purchase price rises — none of them is a flat percentage of the full price.
- →Toronto is the only city in Canada that layers a second, municipal land transfer tax on top of the provincial one — and City Council passed new graduated rates for high-value homes effective April 1, 2026.
- →Alberta and Saskatchewan charge no land transfer tax at all — instead, both charge a title registration fee based on the property's value, which is structurally different and typically far smaller.
- →Some figures below — Quebec's municipal surtax variations and the Atlantic provinces' current rates specifically — could not be confirmed against a primary source directly and are flagged rather than guessed.
“What's the land transfer tax?” only has a single-number answer in provinces that don't charge one at all. Everywhere else, it's a tiered calculation, and in Toronto specifically, it's two tiered calculations stacked on top of each other. Getting this estimate wrong is one of the more expensive mistakes in a closing cost conversation, because the number itself is often the largest single line item on the page.
Here's every province's structure, worked through where a verifiable current source was available — and flagged plainly where it wasn't, rather than filled in with an estimate.
01 · How is Ontario's land transfer tax actually calculated?
Per Ontario's Ministry of Finance, the provincial land transfer tax on residential property is tiered:
| Portion of purchase price | Rate |
|---|---|
| Up to and including $55,000 | 0.5% |
| $55,000.01 to $250,000 | 1.0% |
| $250,000.01 to $400,000 | 1.5% |
| $400,000.01 to $2,000,000 | 2.0% |
| Over $2,000,000 | 2.5% |
First-time homebuyers can claim a refund of up to $4,000 against the provincial tax, per Ontario's land transfer tax refund program — effectively eliminating the provincial tax on the first roughly $368,000 of a qualifying purchase.
02 · Why does Toronto charge land transfer tax twice?
Toronto is the only municipality in Canada that layers its own Municipal Land Transfer Tax (MLTT) on top of the provincial one — a buyer in Toronto pays both in full, not one or the other. Per the City of Toronto's own rates page, City Council passed new graduated MLTT rates for high-value residential properties on December 17, 2025, effective April 1, 2026, replacing the previous flat 2% rate above $400,000:
| Portion of purchase price | Rate |
|---|---|
| Up to $55,000 | 0.5% |
| $55,000.01 to $250,000 | 1.0% |
| $250,000.01 to $400,000 | 1.5% |
| $400,000.01 to $2,000,000 | 2.0% |
| $2,000,000.01 to $3,000,000 | 2.5% |
| $3,000,000.01 to $4,000,000 | 4.40% |
| $4,000,000.01 to $5,000,000 | 5.45% |
| $5,000,000.01 to $10,000,000 | 6.50% |
| $10,000,000.01 to $20,000,000 | 7.55% |
| Over $20,000,000 | 8.60% |
Below $2 million, Toronto's MLTT tiers mirror Ontario's provincial tiers exactly — a buyer effectively doubles the provincial calculation up to that point. Above $2 million, the new graduated brackets pull ahead of the old flat 2% rate meaningfully, which is a real shift for luxury-segment files closing on or after April 1, 2026.
The largest closing cost line, calculated right
Get land transfer tax calculated correctly, province by province.
Treadstone's fulfillment associates build the full, province-specific land transfer tax figure into every closing cost estimate — including Toronto's municipal tax where it applies.
03 · How does BC's property transfer tax work?
Per the Government of British Columbia's Property Transfer Tax page, BC's tax is also tiered:
| Portion of fair market value | Rate |
|---|---|
| Up to and including $200,000 | 1% |
| $200,000.01 to $2,000,000 | 2% |
| Over $2,000,000 | 3% |
| Residential portion over $3,000,000 | Additional 2% on top of the above |
BC also publishes a first-time home buyers' exemption: a full exemption on the first $500,000 of the price for properties valued at $835,000 or less, phasing out for properties valued between $835,000 and $860,000.
04 · What are Manitoba's land transfer tax rates?
Per Manitoba Finance, the tax is tiered with a tax-free first bracket:
| Portion of purchase price | Rate |
|---|---|
| Up to $30,000 | 0% |
| $30,000.01 to $90,000 | 0.5% |
| $90,000.01 to $150,000 | 1.0% |
| $150,000.01 to $200,000 | 1.5% |
| Over $200,000 | 2.0% |
A separate flat $70 registration fee applies to all transactions on top of the calculated tax.
05 · Why do Alberta and Saskatchewan charge no land transfer tax?
Alberta and Saskatchewan are the only two provinces with no land transfer tax of any kind. Both charge a title registration fee instead, calculated from the property's value rather than as a percentage-style tax — a structurally different, and typically far smaller, cost.
- →Alberta: Land Titles registration fees apply separately to the title and to the mortgage, each calculated on a base-plus-increment formula tied to value rather than a percentage rate.
- →Saskatchewan: a title transfer registration fee scaled to the property's value, again structured as a registration charge rather than a transfer tax.
This is a genuine, structural difference worth flagging to any client moving from Ontario or BC — not a smaller version of the same tax, but a different kind of charge entirely, which is part of why these two provinces show up so consistently in national closing-cost comparisons as the least expensive on this specific line item.
06 · How does Quebec's “welcome tax” work?
Quebec's droit de mutation — universally known as the “welcome tax” — is set at a provincial base rate, with individual municipalities permitted to layer their own surtax on top above a threshold. The provincial base has historically followed three broad tiers, roughly 0.5% on the lowest portion, 1.0% on a middle portion, and 1.5% above that, with the exact dollar thresholds indexed and adjusted periodically.
Montreal is a partial exception with its own additional brackets that can run meaningfully higher than the rest of the province on higher-value properties. Because Quebec's exact current thresholds and Montreal's specific surtax brackets could not be confirmed here against a primary government or municipal source directly, treat the shape of the calculation as reliable and confirm the exact current dollar thresholds with the notary handling the file before quoting a client a figure.
07 · What about Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Newfoundland and Labrador, and PEI?
All four Atlantic provinces impose some form of property transfer or deed tax, but the specific current rates — and, in Nova Scotia's case, a structure that can vary by municipality rather than being set provincially — could not be independently confirmed against a primary source for this article. Rather than publish a number pulled from a secondary source, that figure is deliberately left out here: confirm current Atlantic Canada transfer tax rates directly with the applicable provincial or municipal source before quoting a client.
Frequently asked questions
This article is general information to help you scale — not a substitute for tailored advice on your specific business, licensing, or compliance obligations. All figures are illustrative examples for planning purposes; actual costs vary by province, market, and brokerage.