LF tax expert for Buying/Selling property
 

Hi! A few werid questions here. Basically I have my own property and my bf will get his. We are going to keep the title in our own names for taxes purposes. Now what happens when we get married and buy a house together?
-Will the house become our primary property and when we sell our own places.. we have to pay tax on any profits?
-Weird Q: is there a better time in the year to get married (tax purposes)
-Any books to recommand to read on tax savings/techniques?

When u get married and reside in one place, that becomes ur principle residence, the one u keep as a rental, or whatever has a change in use, any capital gain is based on the appreciation from the value on that day

Ur basing ur wedding based on tax consequences? Wtf, and no, no advantage

Books? No, go see a professional, tax is such a vast and complex subject matter, if ur asking questions like those above, u likely wont 'get' it and will do more harm than good

Basic answers:

A) The best way to go about it is stay in your "old house" , sell it , move to new house. This way your "old house" will be considered your principal residence and you will not have to pay cap gains taxes on it. If you move into the new house and a year later you sell the old house you will have to pay cap gains tax on the old house proportionate to the years you were not living there. hope that makes sense.

B) Nope. Everyday is good as another as far as I know.

C) There is no such thing as tax savings. Canadian tax system is designed so everyone gets dinged fairly. However there is such thing as "tax planning" for that talk to an accountant or you can read the Income Tax Act and try to understand everything and figure out ways :)

That is the worst advise ever, you're saying to sell a house for tax reasons only?!?!? You should never do anything for just tax reasons.

If u move, u will still get the principle residence exemption for all the time owned and lived in, after that date gains will be taxable

Now, having said all that, real estate in van is going nowhere but down, so sell, but for investment reasons, not for tax reasons

OP was clearly concerned about tax and nothing but tax. I mean, they want to get married on a certain date for tax advantages lol!

So, I based my reply on paying the lowest possible cap gains.

While not tax related, winter/rainy season is the best time to get married if you are looking at the cheapest time of the year. Most wedding related places/people are going to be busy during late spring/summer/early fall for everyone's weddings. Some places are booked up years in advanced on weekends.

We lucked out and had a warm and sunny April wedding. We took our wedding photo's in late November and got a really good deal from a wedding photographer. Her rates were less than half of what she normally would have charged during the summer.

why not buy the third house together under a holding company that you and your future husband own?