Sale of a Condo Listed on Airbnb is Subject to GST/HST

1351231 Ontario Inc. v. Canada, 2025 FCA 53

In 2008, the taxpayer purchased a condo unit in Ottawa which it leased to persons under a long-term lease until February 2017. After February 2017, the taxpayer listed the condo unit on the Airbnb platform and rented out the property under short-term leases. In December 2017, the taxpayer sold the condo unit and did not charge GST/HST on the basis that the condo unit was a residential complex and exempt from GST/HST. The FCA upheld the TCC decision that the sale was not exempt because the property was similar premises to a hotel, a motel, an inn, a boarding house, or a lodging house, and all of substantially all of the leases under which the property was supplied for periods of continuous possession or use or less than 60 days such that it did not qualify as a “residential complex”.

Source: Video Tax News Monthly News Letter