Acts and Regulations

R-2.1 - Real Property Transfer Tax Act

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Current to 1 January 2024
CHAPTER R-2.1
Real Property Transfer Tax Act
Assented to June 30, 1983
Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick, enacts as follows:
Definitions
1In this Act
“assessed value” means the value of real property at the time of registering a deed respecting that real property as taken or extrapolated from the current real property assessment list by the Executive Director of Assessment under the Assessment Act;(valeur d’évaluation)
“collector” means a registrar of deeds, deputy registrar of deeds or any person authorized to perform the duties of registrar of deeds under the Registry Act or registrar of land titles;(percepteur)
“deed” means any instrument whereby real property is conveyed, transferred, assigned to or vested in any person;(acte de transfert)
“grantee” means the person to whom real property is transferred by deed for value or otherwise;(cessionnaire)
“Minister” means the member of Executive Council to whom the administration of this Act is assigned by the Lieutenant-Governor in Council;(Ministre)
“real property” (bien réel)
(a) means land, messuages, tenements, of every nature and description, and every estate or interest therein whether such estate or interest is legal or equitable, together with paths, passages, ways, watercourses, liberties, privileges or easements appertaining thereto and trees and timber thereon, but does not include mines or minerals, and
(b) includes a mobile home which is assessed as real property under the Assessment Act;
“registered charity” means a registered charity under the Income Tax Act, chapter 148 of the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1952;(organisme de charité enregistré)
“tax” means the tax imposed by this Act.(taxe)
1986, c.8, s.111; 1989, c.55, s.46; 1989, c.N-5.01, s.37; 2019, c.11, s.5
Tax payable on registration of deed
2(1)Every person who before June 1, 2012, tenders for registration in the Province a deed shall, before the deed is registered, pay a tax computed at the rate of 0.25% of the greater of
(a) the consideration for the transfer; or
(b) the assessed value of the real property.
2(1.01)For the period commencing on June 1, 2012, and ending on March 31, 2016, every person who tenders a deed for registration in the Province shall pay, before the deed is registered, a tax computed at the rate of 0.5% of the greater of
(a) the consideration for the transfer; or
(b) the assessed value of the real property.
2(1.02)Despite subsection (1.01), in respect of an agreement for sale or purchase executed before March 28, 2012, the percentage referred to in subsection (1.01) shall be read as 0.25%, regardless of the date on which the deed is tendered for registration.
2(1.03)On or after April 1, 2016, every person who tenders a deed for registration in the Province shall pay, before the deed is registered, a tax computed at the rate of 1% of the greater of
(a) the consideration for the transfer, or
(b) the assessed value of the real property.
2(1.04)Despite subsection (1.03), in respect of an agreement for sale or purchase executed before February 3, 2016, the percentage referred to in subsection (1.03) shall be read as 0.5%, regardless of the date on which the deed is tendered for registration.
2(1.1)In the case of a registration of a deed that is in an electronic format, the tax required to be paid under this section shall be paid by electronic means at the time and in the manner approved by the Minister.
2(2)For the purposes of this section, where only a part of an interest or estate in real property is being transferred, the assessed value shall be calculated by determining the percentage that the interest or estate being transferred is of the whole interest or estate of the real property, and then determining the amount which is equal to the product of that percentage and the assessed value of the real property.
2(3)The tax shall be computed to the nearest dollar; fifty cents shall be considered to be one dollar.
2006, c.11, s.16; 2012, c.26, s.1; 2016, c.12, s.3
Payment where deed registrable in more than one locality
3(1)Where a deed may be registered in more than one registry office, in more than one land titles office or in both, the tax is payable only once in respect of the first of such transfers tendered for registration.
3(2)Where a collector has collected payment of a tax imposed under section 2 in respect of the registration of a deed, he may issue a receipt showing that at the date of the receipt the tax respecting the registration of the deed has been paid.
Assessment or reassessment by Minister
4(1)Where
(a) the Minister determines that a person has made a false statement about the consideration for the transfer or assessed value of real property at the time of registering a deed respecting the real property, or
(b) there is no assessed value of real property determined at the time of the registering of a deed respecting the real property,
the Minister may, within one year of the registration of the deed, assess or reassess the tax payable under this Act and thereupon the said amount shall become due and payable.
4(2)The Minister shall send a notice of any such assessment by registered mail to the grantee at his last known address.
Refund of overpayment
5(1)The Minister may refund any overpayment made on account of a tax if application therefor is made by the person who made the overpayment within one year from the day on which the overpayment was made.
5(2)The application for a refund under subsection (1) shall
(a) be made in writing,
(b) set forth such information as the Minister considers necessary, and
(c) be accompanied by documentary evidence of the overpayment.
5(3)Where real property in respect of which a deed has been registered was damaged or destroyed so that the assessed value of the real property, at the time of the registration of the deed, is affected, then the person tendering the registration of the deed may make application in writing for a refund by the Minister of a portion of the taxes paid and the Minister may adjust the amount of the tax payable and may make refunds in accordance with the regulations based on the assessed value which the Executive Director of Assessment under the Assessment Act determines to be the assessed value of the real property at the time of registration of the deed.
1989, c.N-5.01, s.37
Exemptions
6No tax is payable on the registration of the following:
(a) an agreement for sale or purchase;
(b) a lease for a term of less than twenty-five years;
(c) a deed of confirmation, rectification or modification;
(d) a deed by which a person transfers real property to himself for the purpose of consolidation;
(e) easements, licences, rights, liberties or privileges;
(f) a will;
(g) a deed by which real property is transferred
(i) from an executor or administrator to beneficiaries under a will, or
(ii) from an administrator to heirs under intestacy;
(h) a deed by which joint tenants become tenants in common or tenants in common become joint tenants;
(i) a deed by which a mortgagee transfers real property to himself as grantee in the exercise of a power of sale;
(j) a deed by which real property is transferred to a registered charity;
(k) a deed by which real property is transferred to the Crown, a Crown agency or a Crown corporation;
(l) a receiving order or an assignment which is made pursuant to the Bankruptcy Act, chapter B-3 of the Revised Statutes of Canada, 1970, and registered in a registry office in accordance with section 52 of that Act;
(m) a deed by which real property is transferred for the purpose only of securing a debt or loan, or by which a creditor transfers real property for the purpose only of reconveying real property that he had been holding as security for a debt or loan;
(n) any other class of instruments which is exempted from the tax by regulation.
Interest
7Where there is due and unpaid any amount of taxes, interest as prescribed by regulation is to be added beginning on the day the deed was registered.
Unpaid taxes
8(1)Where the Minister determines that taxes which have been imposed under section 2, or assessed or reassessed under section 4, remain unpaid, he may issue a certificate stating that the taxes remain unpaid and register the certificate with the registrar of deeds in the county in which the real property lies but no certificate may be registered except within one year of the day of the registration of the deed respecting the real property in respect of which taxes remain unpaid.
8(2)Where a certificate has been registered in accordance with subsection (1), the taxes referred to in the certificate and any interest added thereto constitute a lien on the real property in respect of which such taxes remain unpaid and such lien has priority over every claim, lien, privilege or encumbrance of any person notwithstanding subsection 72(2) of the Workers’ Compensation Act, and subject only to taxes levied under the Gasoline and Motive Fuel Tax Act, Pari-Mutuel Tax Act, Real Property Tax Act and Tobacco Tax Act.
8(3)Any mortgagee, judgment creditor or other person having any claim, lien, privilege or encumbrance upon or against any real property to which is attached a lien under subsection (2)
(a) may pay the amount of such lien;
(b) may add such amount to his mortgage, judgment or other security; and
(c) has the same rights and remedies for such amount as are contained in his security.
8(4)Where the Minister is satisfied that a tax which was not paid at the time of the registration of a deed has been subsequently paid, he, or a person designated by him, may issue certificates and discharge any liabilities under this Act and execute or receive all other documents, affidavits, declarations and affirmations for the purposes of or incidental to the administration of this Act.
1985, c.4, s.57; 1988, c.A-2.1, s.18; 1997, c.H-1.01, s.54; 2012, c.36, s.8
Regulations
9The Lieutenant-Governor in Council may make regulations
(a) providing for the collection of tax, the appointment of persons other than collectors to collect the tax and establishing procedures for the collection of the tax and the payment to the Consolidated Fund;
(b) prescribing a rate of interest to be added to unpaid taxes;
(c) respecting refunds by the Minister of any overpayment in accordance with subsections 5(1) and (2);
(d) respecting the procedure for paying refunds referred to in subsection 5(3);
(e) respecting forms to be used for the purposes of this Act;
(f) exempting from the tax any class of instruments.
REGISTRY ACT
Consequential amendment to Registry Act
10(1)Subsection 19(6) of the Registry Act, chapter R-6 of the Revised Statutes, 1973, is amended by striking out the words “and the location and description of the real property” where they appear therein and substituting therefor the words “, the location and description of real property and such other information prescribed by regulation”.
10(2)Section 71 of the said Act is amended by adding immediately after paragraph (b) thereof the following paragraphs:
(b.1) respecting information which shall be included in an affidavit of transfer referred to in subsection 19(6);
(b.2) providing for the method of calculating and ascertaining the true and actual consideration referred to in subsection 19(6);
Commencement
11This Act shall be deemed to have come into force on June 1, 1983.
N.B. This Act is consolidated to October 1, 2020.