The HST Rebate on a New Home in Ontario: Who Actually Gets the $130,000 and Who Doesn't

Ontario’s new-home HST relief can return up to $130,000 on a newly built home, $80,000 of the provincial 8% and $50,000 of the federal 5%. But $130,000 is a ceiling, not an entitlement. It needs a home priced at about $1 million or more, an agreement of purchase and sale signed inside a twelve-month window, and a home that will be the primary place of residence of you or a qualifying relation. Miss any of those and the number falls, or disappears.

If a builder has offered to credit this rebate to you at closing, the section that matters most is near the bottom of this article, not the top. A rebate credited to someone who turns out not to qualify has to go back to the CRA, and the buyer is squarely in scope for repaying it.

How much is the Ontario new-home HST rebate, really?

The two halves of the 13%

HST in Ontario is 13%, and it is two taxes wearing one name: a 5% federal part and an 8% provincial part. Every rebate here attacks one half or the other. Nothing attacks both at once, which is why several programme names exist for what buyers experience as a single discount.

• The 8% provincial part is handled by the Ontario New Housing Rebate and its temporary top-up, the Ontario Enhanced New Housing Rebate (ENHR), together worth up to $80,000.
• The 5% federal part is handled either by the first-time home buyers’ GST/HST rebate or, if you are not a first-time buyer, by the Ontario New Home Affordability Payment (ONHAP), either route worth up to $50,000.

$80,000 plus $50,000 is where the $130,000 headline comes from.

None of this applies to a resale home. If you are buying from a previous owner rather than a builder, HST works differently on a resale purchase and there is no rebate to claim.

What the numbers look like at GTA price points

The provincial rebate is capped at the lesser of $80,000 and the 8% provincial HST you actually paid. The federal side works the same way against the 5%. So below about $1 million the rebate is smaller than the headline, not because of a clawback, but because you didn’t pay that much tax in the first place.

Illustrative, based on the published rebate structure. Not sure which side of a threshold your purchase falls on? A real estate tax accountant in Toronto can run it against your actual agreement.

One number that catches people out: the form uses HST-included figures

The “$1 million / $1.5 million / $1.85 million” thresholds everyone quotes are pre-HST prices. The CRA’s own worksheet does not use those numbers. Guide RC4028 tests an HST-included amount and multiplies it by 7.08%, because 8% of a price is 7.08% of that same price with 13% HST added on top.

If you build your own home there is no purchase price to work from, so the owner-built form (GST191) uses fair market value, and the thresholds appear at $1,500,000 and $1,850,000 directly.

This is worth knowing before you conclude you are over a limit. A great deal of GTA pre-construction is quoted HST-inclusive, and reading an HST-inclusive price against a pre-HST threshold is the fastest way to talk yourself out of a rebate you qualify for.

Why the maximum sits on a plateau

The maximum provincial rebate, $80,000, is exactly 8% of $1,000,000. The maximum federal relief, $50,000, is exactly 5% of $1,000,000. The programme was built so that a $1 million new home carries no HST at all.

Above $1 million the rebate stops growing while your tax bill keeps growing, so you keep the full $130,000 all the way to $1.5 million, and the relief simply covers a smaller share of a larger tax. Between $1.5 million and $1.85 million the provincial maximum declines toward $24,000. At $1.85 million and above you are back to the ordinary Ontario New Housing Rebate of $24,000.

The programmes people keep confusing

Ontario New Housing Rebate, the one that always existed

A long-standing rebate of part of the 8% provincial HST on a new or substantially renovated home used as the primary place of residence of you or a relation. Maximum $24,000, available regardless of the home’s value. This did not go away; the new programme sits on top of it.

Ontario Enhanced New Housing Rebate (ENHR), the temporary top-up

The ENHR is a temporary top-up. Together with the rebate above it provides combined relief of up to 100% of the 8% provincial part, to a maximum of $80,000, on a new or substantially renovated home valued up to $1.85 million, used as the primary place of residence of the buyer or a relation. Full conditions are in GST/HST Notice 346.

The timing rules are stricter than the headline suggests, and they are set out in full below.

Ontario New Home Affordability Payment (ONHAP), the federal half, paid by Ontario

This is the one that confuses everyone, because the money relates to the federal 5% but it is paid by the Province of Ontario, under the Retail Sales Tax Act, not by the CRA.

ONHAP provides up to $50,000, equivalent to up to 100% of the 5% federal part of the HST paid. To get it you must qualify for and receive the 8% Ontario ENHR or its rental equivalent, directly or through a builder credit. Two things about it are widely misreported:

1. It is reduced by any federal rebate you’re already entitled to. If the first-time home buyers’ rebate covers your 5%, ONHAP does not pay it twice. It fills the gap the federal rebates leave.
2. There is no separate provincial application. The rebate forms carry consent to share your contact, banking and rebate information with Ontario. The Ontario Budget backgrounder sets out the design.

First-time home buyers’ GST/HST rebate, federal, and separate

A federal rebate of up to $50,000, 100% of the GST, or the federal part of the HST, for eligible first-time buyers of a newly built or substantially renovated home. The CRA began accepting applications on March 17, 2026. It tops up the existing GST/HST new housing rebate and reaches back to agreements entered into on or after March 20, 2025, earlier than the Ontario programme. Detailed conditions are on the CRA’s who can apply page.

Ontario runs a provincial counterpart, the Ontario first-time home buyers’ rebate, worth up to $80,000 of the provincial part and following the same eligibility conditions as the federal rebate.

At a glance

If you’re a first-time buyer, pick the right Ontario rebate

Where you qualify for both the Ontario first-time home buyers’ rebate and the ENHR, you may claim either or both, but the total of all Ontario rebates for the 8% portion is capped at the lesser of $80,000 and the 8% provincial HST payable on the transaction. There is no stacking your way past $80,000.

Which one you lead with matters above $1 million, because they phase out differently. Reading the two worksheets in RC4028 side by side:

• The ENHR pays the full amount, to the $80,000 maximum, on an HST-included price up to $1,695,000, that is a $1.5 million home.
• The Ontario first-time home buyers’ rebate pays the full amount only up to $1,130,000 HST-included, a $1 million home, and then declines.

So a first-time buyer of a $1.3 million new build is better off on the ENHR. Being a first-time buyer does not automatically mean the first-time-buyer rebate is your best claim. If your purchase sits above $1 million, this is worth ten minutes with an accountant before the paperwork is signed.

Do you have to be a first-time buyer at all?

No. This is the most common misunderstanding, and it costs people money because they never apply.

The ENHR and ONHAP are not restricted to first-time buyers. The test is that the home is new or substantially renovated and will be the primary place of residence of you or a qualifying relation, within the value thresholds, with an agreement in the window. A family moving from a resale house in Scarborough into a new build in Whitby can qualify.

The result is closer than you’d think

Take two buyers of the same $1 million new home:

• The first-time buyer claims the federal first-time home buyers’ rebate for the 5%, and the Ontario rebates for the 8%.
• The repeat buyer gets nothing from the old federal new housing rebate, it disappears above a $450,000 fair market value, which is essentially every new home in the GTA, and instead receives the 5% through ONHAP, plus the Ontario rebates for the 8%.

Different doors. Broadly the same destination.

Which dates decide it

Most coverage of this rebate stops at the agreement window. There are four timing tests, not one, and a purchase can clear the first and fail a later one.

Buying from a builder

Both of these must hold:

• the agreement of purchase and sale is entered into on or after April 1, 2026 and on or before March 31, 2027; and
• construction or substantial renovation of the home begins on or before December 31, 2028 and is substantially completed on or before December 31, 2031.

The date that starts the clock is when the agreement was entered into, not the closing date, not occupancy, not registration. This is why a condo closing in 2029 can still qualify, and a condo closing next month might not.

The construction deadlines are the ones people miss. A pre-construction tower that signs buyers inside the window but does not break ground until 2029, or does not reach substantial completion until 2032, takes its purchasers outside the rebate. That is not something a buyer controls, and it is a fair question to put to a builder in writing before signing.

Building it yourself

Owner-built homes and substantial renovations run on a different and tighter clock. There is no agreement window at all; instead:

• construction or substantial renovation begins on or after April 1, 2026 and on or before March 31, 2027; and
• it is substantially completed on or before December 31, 2029.

For owner-built, March 31, 2027 is a shovels-in-the-ground deadline rather than a signing deadline, and the completion deadline is two years earlier than for a builder purchase.

Buying a share in a co-op

A co-op share follows the builder-purchase pattern: the agreement for the share is entered into inside the April 2026 – March 2027 window, with the same December 31, 2028 construction-start and December 31, 2031 substantial-completion deadlines.

The long-stop that applies to everyone

For both the ENHR and its rental equivalent, the tax has to become payable no later than December 31, 2032. On a new home bought from a builder, HST generally becomes payable on closing, so in practice this is a backstop for very long-dated pre-construction.

If you signed before April 2026

You are outside the ENHR window, and it is a hard line. First-time buyers should still check the federal rebate separately, it reaches back to March 20, 2025, so a 2025 agreement can produce up to $50,000 federally even though it misses Ontario’s window.

The GTA situations where this gets complicated

Assignment sales: two dates, not one

Assignments are ordinary in Toronto pre-construction, and the rule here is stricter than most people assume. An ENHR is available on an assignment only if both the original agreement of purchase and sale and the assignment agreement were entered into on or after April 1, 2026 and on or before March 31, 2027, and all other eligibility criteria are met.

Taking an assignment in 2026 does not reset the clock. If the original builder contract was signed in 2022, the home is outside the enhanced rebate no matter when you assign it.

Re-signing an old agreement does not work

If your instinct on reading the date window was to ask whether an existing pre-construction agreement could be amended or re-papered to land inside it, that instinct has been anticipated.

Where an agreement entered into before April 1, 2026 is later varied, altered or assigned, the agreement is deemed to have been entered into before April 1, 2026 for ENHR purposes, so the individual is not entitled to the ENHR. Terminating an old agreement and signing a fresh one after April 1, 2026 for the same or another complex can be caught the same way. In both cases the Ontario New Housing Rebate or the Ontario first-time home buyers’ rebate may still be available.

Do not restructure an agreement on the assumption that it will qualify.

Buying to rent it out

If the home will be a rental rather than a residence, you are in a different programme. The Enhanced New Residential Rental Property Rebate provides equivalent 8% relief for eligible new rental units, the CRA’s new residential rental property rebate page sets out the base rules.

The rebate you cannot claim is the one for a primary place of residence, because it isn’t one. This end-user-versus-investor distinction is where most rebate problems begin. If the property is going to be a rental, the rebate you claim is a different one, and it sits inside a wider set of decisions we cover for real estate investors, alongside whether to hold it personally or through a personal real estate corporation. If you are letting the unit and registering for HST, the ongoing HST filing obligations are a separate matter again.

Buying with a parent, or as a non-resident

Adding a parent to title to satisfy a lender changes who occupies the home as a primary place of residence and who is entitled to what, and note that only one individual can claim the rebate even where several people own the house. Buying while non-resident raises further questions; we cover those in our guide for non-residents owning rental property in Canada. Neither situation is answered by the general rule.

How the rebate actually reaches you

The builder credits it at closing

The most common path. Form GST190 has been updated so builders can pay or credit the ENHR to eligible buyers, and the builder reports it on their GST/HST return. You see a lower number on your statement of adjustments and no cheque ever arrives, which is the point. ONHAP is not on the builder’s GST/HST return, because Ontario pays it separately; where you assign the ONHAP to the builder, the Province repays the builder directly.

You claim it yourself

Where the builder does not credit it, individuals claim using Form GST190 together with Form RC7190-ON, GST190 Ontario Rebate Schedule. Owner-built homes use Form GST191.

The filing delay nobody mentions

As at 8 September 2026, the CRA’s GST190 page states that claims including the Ontario ENHR can only be filed by mail, and that the CRA will begin processing them, with online filing becoming available, in fall 2026. If you filed early and heard nothing, that is why. Check the current status on the CRA form page before assuming something has gone wrong.

If the rebate was credited and you didn’t qualify

This is the part to read twice, particularly if a builder is crediting the rebate on your statement of adjustments.

Two duties sit side by side. You are responsible for making sure you are eligible. And a builder who pays or credits the rebate has to ensure you are entitled to it before doing so.

If the rebate turns out not to have been available, it has to go back to the CRA, and you are in scope for repaying it, a builder credit is not a guarantee that the claim was good. Where the builder knew or ought to have known that you were not entitled, or credited more than your entitlement, the CRA’s guidance is that the builder and the purchaser are jointly and severally liable to repay the amount. Jointly and severally means the CRA can pursue either party for the whole amount; it does not mean the exposure is automatically split, and it does not mean a buyer can assume the builder will carry it. Which way a particular case falls depends on the facts and on what the builder knew.

The practical point is unchanged: do not treat a builder credit as confirmation that you qualified.

The fact patterns that cause this are predictable, and none of them looks like tax planning at the time:

• You bought intending to live there, then leased it out on closing instead.
• You bought as an investment but signed the certification for a primary place of residence.
• You took over an assignment without checking the original agreement date.
• Your agreement was amended and you assumed the amendment carried the rebate with it.
• You and a co-owner on title have different occupancy positions and only one of you qualifies.

If you think a claim has already gone wrong, that is a different and more urgent conversation, our note on what to do when a new housing rebate claim is challenged covers that ground.

One last boundary: none of this is your municipal property tax bill, which is calculated separately and has nothing to do with HST.

Frequently asked questions

How much HST rebate will I get on a new home in Ontario? 

Up to $130,000, $80,000 of the provincial 8% and $50,000 of the federal 5%. The maximum is reached at about a $1 million home and holds to $1.5 million, then declines to $24,000 by $1.85 million. Below $1 million you get the full percentages of a smaller tax bill. See the price table above.

Does the agreement date or the closing date decide eligibility? 

The agreement date. For a purchase from a builder the agreement of purchase and sale must be entered into between April 1, 2026 and March 31, 2027. Closing, occupancy and registration dates do not start the clock, which is why a 2029 closing can qualify and a closing next month might not.

What deadlines apply after I sign the agreement? 

Two more. Construction or substantial renovation must begin on or before December 31, 2028 and be substantially completed on or before December 31, 2031. Owner-built homes run on a tighter clock: construction must begin inside the April 2026 – March 2027 window and be substantially completed by December 31, 2029. For everyone, the tax must become payable no later than December 31, 2032.

Is the rebate worked out on the pre-HST price or the HST-included price? 

The CRA’s worksheet for a builder purchase tests an HST-included amount, so the familiar $1 million, $1.5 million and $1.85 million thresholds appear on the form as $1,130,000, $1,695,000 and $2,090,500. Owner-built claims use fair market value, where the thresholds appear directly.

What happens if a builder credits the rebate and the CRA later says I wasn’t eligible? 

The amount has to go back to the CRA and you are in scope for repaying it. A builder that credits the rebate also has a duty to check your entitlement first, and where the builder knew or ought to have known you weren’t entitled, or credited too much, the builder and purchaser are jointly and severally liable. Do not treat a builder credit as proof that the claim was good.

Can I claim this on a property I’m renting out? 

Not the primary-residence rebate. Eligible new rental units fall under the Enhanced New Residential Rental Property Rebate instead. Claiming the residence rebate on a rental is the most common way buyers end up repaying the CRA.

I’m buying an assignment - does the rebate come with it? 

Not automatically. Both the original agreement with the builder and the assignment agreement must have been entered into between April 1, 2026 and March 31, 2027. Check the original agreement date before you rely on any rebate.

Where to get this checked

Most owner-occupied purchases are straightforward. If you are buying a new home to live in, your agreement is inside the window, and your builder is crediting the rebate at closing, you probably do not need an accountant for this, you need to keep your paperwork.

It is worth having reviewed when:

• you are taking over or selling an assignment;
• you are buying to rent it out, or your plans changed after you signed;
• your agreement was amended, or signed close to either end of the window;
• your build has a long construction timeline that could run past the 2028 or 2031 deadlines;
• your purchase is above $1 million and you are a first-time buyer choosing between two rebates;
• there are co-owners with different occupancy positions, or a parent on title;
• you are a non-resident, or the property has mixed use; or
• a builder has already credited you a rebate and you are not certain you qualified.

That last one is the one people leave too late. The time to establish that a credit was properly claimed is before closing, not when the CRA writes to you about it.

Read more about how we work with buyers, owners and investors as a real estate tax accountant in Toronto.