Before you start
- Social Insurance Number
- T4 slips from employers
- Records of foreign income and foreign property
- A determination of the date you became a tax resident
Step-by-step
- 1
Establish the date you became a tax resident
Canadian tax residency turns on residential ties — a home, a spouse, dependants, then secondary ties such as bank accounts and a driving licence — rather than on a day count. Your first return covers only the part of the year after that date.
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File one return by 30 April, covering both governments
BC tax is calculated on the federal return and collected by the CRA. Certified software is free for most situations and free volunteer clinics exist for modest incomes, which many newcomers qualify for in their first year. File even for a short part-year, because the assessed return is what triggers the GST/HST credit, the Canada Child Benefit and the BC climate action tax credit — and it is what Fair PharmaCare uses to set your drug deductible.
OnlineWho: YouBy 30 April - 3
Learn which things carry PST and which do not
British Columbia did not harmonise. GST is 5% and applies broadly; PST is 7% and applies to a narrower and different list, with its own exemptions — most food is exempt from both, restaurant meals carry GST but generally not PST, and some services carry one and not the other. Anyone arriving from Ontario, where a single 13% HST applies to almost everything, will misprice the first month's shopping in both directions.
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If you own residential property here, file the speculation and vacancy tax declaration every year
The City of Surrey is on the province's list of taxable areas for the Speculation and Vacancy Tax. Every owner of residential property in a taxable area must complete an annual declaration, whether or not the property is occupied, and not declaring is what gets you assessed rather than exempted. The province mails out the declaration each year; treat it as an unmissable annual chore.
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Before buying, check the federal prohibition first and the taxes second
The Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Act bars foreign commercial enterprises and people who are not citizens or permanent residents from buying residential property in a census metropolitan area — all of Surrey — until 1 January 2027, with a fine of up to $10,000 and a possible court-ordered sale. If you clear the prohibition, then price the property transfer tax: 1% of the first $200,000, 2% to $2 million, 3% above that, plus a further 2% over $3 million, and an additional 20% for foreign buyers in the Metro Vancouver Regional District.
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Report foreign property above the threshold on form T1135
Residents holding specified foreign property costing more than CAD 100,000 in total must file this each year. Penalties for non-filing are severe and applied per year, and a property you still own abroad is the usual trigger.
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Register for CRA My Account once you have filed
This is where tax slips, benefit payments and refunds live. Registration requires information from a filed return, so most newcomers complete it after the first filing rather than before.
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Documents you’ll need
- Social Insurance Number
- T4 and other information slips
- Records of foreign income, accounts and property
- Speculation and vacancy tax declaration letter, if you own
- Property assessment notice and property tax bill, if you own
- Receipts for medical expenses, childcare and tuition
Things most newcomers don’t know
The speculation tax catches people who are simply away, not just speculators.
The mechanism is a compulsory annual declaration by every residential owner in a taxable area, and Surrey is on the list. Someone posted abroad for a year, renovating slowly, or holding a parent's house after a bereavement is squarely inside the scheme's reach — and because the declaration is the mechanism, failing to file is what triggers an assessment, not the emptiness itself. Diarise it the day you complete on a purchase.
Source: BC Ministry of Finance — speculation and vacancy tax, taxable areas
The 20% foreign-buyer tax gets all the attention and the outright federal ban is what actually stops the sale.
People plan around the additional property transfer tax as a cost. Until 1 January 2027 it is not merely expensive for most non-Canadians to buy here — it is prohibited, across every census metropolitan area, with a fine and a possible forced sale. There are exceptions, including for some work-permit holders, but they are narrow and specific. Check the prohibition before you check the tax rate; the order matters.
Source: CMHC — Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Act
PST and GST are not one tax, and the difference is not a rounding error.
Ontario's 13% HST is a single tax applied to almost everything, so people arriving from there mentally add 13% to any price. In BC the 5% GST and the 7% PST apply to overlapping but different things — restaurant meals, children's clothing, used vehicles and many services all sit differently — and 'twelve per cent' is a simplification that is wrong in both directions depending on what you are buying. Read the receipt for the first month.
Source: BC Ministry of Finance — PST
File a part-year return even if you earned almost nothing.
The assessed return is what starts the benefit machinery — the GST/HST credit, the Canada Child Benefit, the BC climate action tax credit — and it is what Fair PharmaCare uses to calculate your prescription deductible. Newcomers who arrive in October reasonably conclude there is no point filing for three months of income, and then pay full price for drugs for a year. The return is the trigger, not the income.
Source: CRA — Newcomers to Canada
Common mistakes to avoid
- Missing the annual speculation and vacancy tax declaration and being assessed as though the home were empty.
- Budgeting the 20% foreign-buyer tax without checking whether the federal prohibition bars the purchase entirely.
- Adding 13% to every price out of Ontario habit — BC's two taxes apply to different things.
- Skipping the first part-year return and forfeiting the benefits and the PharmaCare deductible calculation it drives.
- Assuming a 183-day rule determines when you became a tax resident.
- Missing form T1135 on foreign property costing more than CAD 100,000.
- Reading a Vancouver-specific tax, like that city's own empty homes tax, as though it applied in Surrey. It does not.
Some of this may be out of date. Spotted something inaccurate? Help us keep it right for the next newcomer.
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Sources
- CRA — Newcomers to Canada — official, Verified August 2026
- BC Ministry of Finance — personal income tax rates — official, Verified August 2026
- BC Ministry of Finance — provincial sales tax (PST) — official, Verified August 2026
- BC Ministry of Finance — speculation and vacancy tax: taxable areas — official, Verified August 2026 — the City of Surrey is listed
- BC Ministry of Finance — property transfer tax — official, Verified August 2026
- BC Ministry of Finance — additional property transfer tax (foreign buyers) — official, Verified August 2026 — 20% in the Metro Vancouver Regional District
- CMHC — Prohibition on the Purchase of Residential Property by Non-Canadians Act — official, Verified August 2026 — extended to 1 January 2027
Last verified August 2026. Government processes change — always confirm critical details against the official source before acting.