Do I file T2062 or does the buyer of my Canadian property?
The application is the seller's. You are the non-resident disposing of taxable Canadian property, so the clearance certificate is sought in respect of your disposition and the information in it is yours. The purchaser's role is different, and it is not passive. Until the certificate issues, the purchaser holds back a share of the price and is personally liable if it is released early. So the buyer has a direct interest in your application being made and answered, which is why their lawyer will keep asking about it. One party files. Both are exposed to the delay.
I sold shares in a private Canadian company, not real estate, same form?
The regime is about taxable Canadian property, and that is wider than land. Private company shares can fall within it, as can certain other interests, so a share sale by a non-resident can require the same clearance process as the sale of a condominium. What differs is the evidence. A property sale rests on the purchase and sale agreement and on the cost base of the land; a share sale rests on what the company owns and on how the shares were acquired and paid for. Establish which category the property falls into before assuming either answer.
Does my lawyer handle the clearance certificate as part of the closing?
Conveyancing lawyers administer the holdback. They do not usually prepare the tax application, and the two jobs run on different clocks. The lawyer's instructions will typically be to retain the required share of the price until a certificate is produced, and to keep retaining it until then, because releasing it early is a personal exposure for the purchaser. The application itself needs the cost history of the property, the terms of the disposition and the seller's residence position. Agree in writing who is doing which part before closing, rather than in the week after it.
What if the purchaser has already released the full sale price to me?
That is the purchaser's problem first, and it will quickly become a conversation you are part of. The holdback exists because the purchaser is personally liable for the amount that should have been retained, so a buyer who released everything has taken on an exposure they can be pursued for. Sellers in this position are often asked to return funds or to give undertakings. The way out for both sides is the same: get the application in, establish what the tax on the disposition actually is, and settle the shortfall against an answer rather than an argument.
I am a non-resident selling a home I once lived in, does that change who files?
It does not change the filing obligation, which follows your residence status at the time of the disposition and the nature of the property, not your history with it. What your earlier occupation can change is the amount of tax on the gain, and that is a question of computation rather than of who applies. Bring the dates: when the property was acquired, when it was occupied, when you ceased to be resident in Canada, and how it was used after that. Those dates do most of the work in the calculation, and they belong in the application rather than in a later explanation.
Do both owners have to apply if we own the property jointly?
Each non-resident owner has their own disposition of their own interest, so the position is established owner by owner. A jointly held property sold by two non-residents means two applications, and the split follows the beneficial ownership rather than the names on the cheque. Where one owner is resident in Canada and the other is not, only the non-resident's interest goes through the clearance process, but the purchaser's holdback is then calculated on that interest and the lawyer needs the split in writing. Settle who owned what, and in what proportions, before the application is drafted.
What does "received a distribution from a foreign trust" mean on my return?
It is asking whether the trust conferred anything on you during the year — cash, property, or the use of trust property, including rent-free occupation of a house and, in some circumstances, a loan. Answering yes brings an information return, and where the distribution includes income accumulated in earlier years the tax computation can carry an interest charge for the delay. Trust accounts showing the composition of the distribution are what keep that computation from defaulting against you. See Form 3520.
What happens when a non-resident sells Canadian property?
The buyer or their solicitor is obliged to withhold on the purchase price unless you obtain a clearance certificate, so the practical work happens before closing rather than after. The certificate application reports the disposition and the gain and fixes the amount the authority requires to be held. Apply late and the withholding is computed on the gross price, tying up cash until a return recovers it. See the section 116 clearance certificate.
