New Home GST/HST Rebate Calculator

What the New Home GST/HST Rebate Calculator does

New construction is taxed differently from a resale home — GST or HST applies to the purchase price, with a set of rebates that can claw a meaningful amount of that tax back depending on the price, your buyer status and how the home will be used. This calculator walks through that math step by step and shows the net tax payable at the end.

It also solves the confusion that trips up more new-build buyers than anything else: builders very commonly quote a price that is already tax-included and net of the rebate they expect to be assigned. This tool asks explicitly whether your quoted price includes tax, and backs out the true pre-tax price accordingly, rather than assuming.

• Pre-tax price, worked out correctly whether your quoted price includes tax or not
• Federal GST and, where applicable, the provincial HST component
• The federal new housing rebate, the first-time-buyer new-build rebate, and the provincial rebate
• Net GST/HST payable and total cost including tax
• A loud warning for rental purchases, where the tax cash-flow timing is completely different

The key variables that move the answer — and how the rules treat them

A handful of choices decide almost the entire outcome on a new-build purchase, and getting any one of them wrong changes the answer significantly.

• Whether the price includes tax — the single biggest source of confusion on a new-build deal. A tax-included price with the rebate already assigned is a very different number from the same figure quoted before tax.
• Price relative to the federal rebate thresholds — the standard federal new housing rebate phases out between $350,000 and $450,000 pre-tax and has not moved with the market for a long time, which is why many higher-priced new builds receive little or nothing from it.
• First-time buyer status — a newer, more generous rebate applies specifically to first-time buyers of new builds at higher price points than the standard federal rebate reaches. Confirm current eligibility and thresholds before counting on it.
• Intended use — an owner-occupier can typically have the rebate assigned directly to the builder, netted into the closing price. An investor generally cannot: the rebate for a rental property is a separate application filed after closing, which means paying the full tax up front.
• Assignment sales — a materially different and more complex tax question, since GST/HST generally applies to the assignment premium under rules that changed in 2022. This calculator flags it rather than guessing at a number.

How new-home GST/HST is calculated in Canada

Federal GST applies at 5% of the pre-tax price. In provinces with a provincial new-housing component — Ontario and the Atlantic HST provinces — an additional provincial rate applies on top, combining into a single HST rate at the point of sale.

The federal new housing rebate returns 36% of the GST paid, in full up to a lower price threshold and phased down to nil by an upper threshold. Where applicable, a provincial rebate returns a share of the provincial component, capped at a fixed dollar maximum. A newer first-time-buyer new-build rebate can return the GST in full for eligible first-time buyers up to a higher price threshold, phasing out toward an even higher one — this is the rebate most likely to have changed since you last read about it, so treat any specific number here as an estimate to verify, not a fact.

Net tax payable is total GST/HST minus every rebate you qualify for. When a builder assigns the rebate, the price you actually pay at closing already has this netted out; when it is not assigned — always the case for a rental purchase — you pay the full tax and apply separately afterward to recover what you are owed.

• Federal GST = pre-tax price × 5%
• Provincial component (where applicable) = pre-tax price × provincial rate
• Federal rebate = 36% of GST, phased out between the lower and upper price thresholds
• Net tax payable = total GST/HST − (federal rebate + first-time-buyer rebate, if applicable + provincial rebate)

What you get, and how these numbers actually apply to your purchase

Every figure here maps onto a line on the closing statement your lawyer will eventually walk you through — this puts the numbers in front of you earlier, so nothing at closing is a surprise.

• Pre-tax price — the true base the tax and every rebate are calculated against, correctly separated out from whatever headline number the builder is marketing.
• Net GST/HST payable — the number that ultimately affects your total cost and, if the rebate is not assigned, the cash you need to have available at closing.
• Cash needed at closing versus claimed back later — for a rental purchase specifically, this is the difference between a manageable closing and a genuine cash-flow shock if you have not planned for the full tax amount in advance.
• The assignment flag — rather than compute a number that could be materially wrong for a transaction type this specific and this recently changed, this page tells you directly to get a professional involved.

Using your results well

Confirm the tax-included toggle against your actual agreement of purchase and sale before trusting any number here — it is worth five minutes with your builder's sales representative or your lawyer to be certain. If you are buying to rent, plan your closing-day cash around the full tax amount, not the net figure, and treat the NRRPR refund as money that arrives later, not money you can count on at closing.

What this calculator deliberately does not do is give tax advice, and it should not be the last word on any number that affects your closing. Rebate rules, thresholds and the first-time-buyer new-build measure specifically have changed before and will change again — verify everything here against the CRA, your provincial ministry of finance, and a real estate lawyer or accountant before you rely on it.

• Double-check whether your quoted price is tax-included with your builder's sales representative, in writing
• If buying to rent, plan cash-on-hand for the full tax amount, not the net rebate figure
• Get an assignment sale reviewed by a lawyer and accountant — do not estimate it yourself
• Verify current rebate thresholds and the first-time-buyer new-build rebate status before making an offer
• This is a planning estimate — confirm the final number against your builder's actual HST statement

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