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One way to
qualify for an HST rebate is to have a substantially renovated home, whether it's a detached or semi-detached house, townhouse or condo or bed and breakfast (as long as more than 50 per cent of the space is used as the owner's home.)
But one common question we always get is: How do you know when your residence is "substantially renovated"?
The simple answer is as long as 90 per cent of the inside of your residence has been renovated to some extent. For example, whether you gut your entire house and start construction from the ground up could qualify you for an HST rebate, while adding a sunroom to the front of your home wouldn't.
There are some easy ways to measure this progress:
- Compare the amount of square footage space that was renovated to the entire space of the residence.
- Compare the number of room renovations to the total number of rooms in the residence.
- Compare the square footage of the wall and floor space you've renovated compared to the entire space.
One thing to keep in mind is that while
adding an addition to your home is considered a renovation, under the terms of the CRA's substantial renovation you may not qualify for an HST rebate since eligible renovations need to be done to the already existing structure. For example, if you have added a 300 square foot addition to your property, it won't be included within the calculations of square footage space.
But, the addition might help you qualify for the HST housing rebate since it also applies to newly built residence. To receive an HST rebate from the CRA, the new addition needs to meet these criteria: doubling the size of the residence space, as well as physical and functional changes to the property's previous structure that shows the addition is integrated into the residence and makes it into a newly constructed residence.
Understanding the criteria for the HST housing rebate is important to determining whether you qualify, but also by ensuring that the
CRA doesn't claim back its money later on. There are many
misconceptions about the HST housing rebate and Rebate4U's priority is to provide our clients with the most professional and quality service in obtaining rebates for their new and renovated homes. We are proud to offer our clients the most personal and attentive service, and we make sure that all of our clients are 100% satisfied.