CostOntario's land transfer tax is a marginal-bracket tax on the purchase price, topping out at 2.5% on the portion above $2 million. On a $700,000 home outside Toronto it's roughly $8,475. First-time buyers can get up to $4,000 back through Ontario's rebate.
The Ontario brackets
Ontario calculates land transfer tax the same way income tax brackets work: you pay a low rate on the first slice of the purchase price, and progressively higher rates on each slice above it. As of September 2026, the provincial brackets are:
- 0.5% on the first $55,000
- 1.0% on the portion from $55,000 to $250,000
- 1.5% on the portion from $250,000 to $400,000
- 2.0% on the portion from $400,000 to $2,000,000
- 2.5% on the portion above $2,000,000
These brackets apply everywhere in Ontario. Toronto adds a second, separate tax on top — more on that below.
A worked example
$700,000 home, outside Toronto
| 0.5% on first $55,000 | $275 |
| 1.0% on next $195,000 (to $250,000) | $1,950 |
| 1.5% on next $150,000 (to $400,000) | $2,250 |
| 2.0% on remaining $300,000 | $6,000 |
| Total Ontario land transfer tax | $10,475 |
Most buyers never manually add up brackets like this — the closing cost calculator does it automatically for any price and applies the first-time buyer rebate if it applies to you.
Toronto's second tax
Toronto is the only city in Canada that charges its own municipal land transfer tax in addition to the provincial one, using brackets that mirror the provincial structure almost exactly. That means a Toronto buyer effectively pays the Ontario schedule twice — once to the province, once to the city. On the $700,000 example above, the municipal tax adds roughly another $10,475, nearly doubling the total to around $20,950. See our guide on why Toronto buyers pay land transfer tax twice for the full breakdown of how that second bracket set works.
The first-time buyer rebate
Ontario refunds up to $4,000 of provincial land transfer tax to eligible first-time buyers — enough to fully offset the tax on homes up to roughly $368,000, with a partial rebate above that. Toronto offers a separate municipal rebate of up to $4,475 on its own tax. To qualify for either, you (and your spouse, if you have one) generally can't have owned a home anywhere in the world before, and the property must become your principal residence within nine months of closing. Both rebates are usually applied directly by your lawyer at closing rather than something you claim afterward.
Curious what the rest of your closing costs look like alongside land transfer tax? Run your numbers through the closing cost calculator, or see your monthly payment first with the mortgage payment calculator.