Libfeld – Tax Court of Canada does not permit a new home purchaser to resile from the vendor’s certification that it was an exempt sale

Libfeld claimed the $24,000 Ontario new housing rebate on his purchase in 2018 of an unoccupied and sparsely-furnished home. He provided indirect evidence that the individual vendor was a builder of the home, including a Toronto Life promotional article (admitted to be hearsay) titled “House of the Week: $7 million for a newly built mini-mansion in Forest Hill” and explaining that the vendor had torn down a pre-existing house and built this one in its place.

In finding that Libfeld had not established that the vendor was a builder, as required by s. 254(2)(a), so that the rebate was unavailable, Smith J noted that “the Court does not have the benefit of any direct evidence from the Vendor or other independent witness as to the frequency of similar transactions, what her intention was when she acquired the Property or what her motive was for selling” and that, on the closing of the purchase, Libfeld had accepted the sworn declaration of the vendor that the sale was not a taxable supply. There also was not much evidence to establish, as required by ss. 254(2)(f) and (g), that the vendor had not, at some point, occupied the “new” home prior to its sale.

Neal Armstrong. Summary of Libfeld v. The Queen, 2022 TCC 91 under ETA s. 254(2)(a).