CRA confirms that it is the bare trustee rather than the beneficial owner who has any UHT filing obligations

Regarding the situation where a Canadian corporation held title to a residential property as bare trustee for an individual, CRA indicated that such corporation was the “owner” of the property for UHTA purposes, whereas the individual was not, i.e., the individual was not a person that “could reasonably be considered to be an owner in respect of the residential property based on [the land registry] system” under the definition of owner. Accordingly, the individual had no UHT filing obligations, whereas the corporation did (assuming that it was not an “excluded owner”).

Neal Armstrong. Summary of 4 June 2024 Underused Housing Tax (HST) Ruling 246073 under UHTA, s. 2 – owner.