Nova Scotia deed transfer tax.

The rate depends on your municipality, not your province

Every other province sets one transfer tax rate for the whole territory (British Columbia and Ontario add a municipal layer in one city each). Nova Scotia does the opposite: the Municipal Government Act lets each municipality levy a deed transfer tax and set the rate, capped at 1.5% of the value of the property transferred. The revenue stays with the municipality.

In practice the rates cluster at three levels. Most of the province, including Halifax Regional Municipality and Cape Breton Regional Municipality, charges the full 1.5%. Three municipalities charge 1.25%: the Municipality of the District of Lunenburg, the Municipality of the District of St. Mary’s, and the Town of Berwick. The rest — most of Pictou County, most of Yarmouth and Digby counties, the Municipality of the County of Antigonish, the Town of Stewiacke and the Town of Clark’s Harbour — charge 1.0%.

The provincial list carries a warning worth repeating: rates are updated only when a municipality tells Service Nova Scotia about a change, so the published list can lag a council decision. Confirm with the municipality before closing.

The non-resident tax doubled in April 2025

Nova Scotia introduced a Provincial Deed Transfer Tax on non-resident buyers of residential property on 1 April 2022, at 5%. It has since been changed twice, and the current rate is 10%.

• Agreements signed 1 April 2022 to 30 June 2023: 5%, and only where more than 50% of the ownership interest went to non-residents.
• Agreements signed 1 July 2023 to 31 March 2025: 5%, on any non-resident ownership interest, pro-rated to that interest.
• Agreements signed on or after 1 April 2025: 10%, on any non-resident ownership interest, pro-rated.

The formula the province publishes is: tax rate × non-resident ownership interest × the greater of sale price and assessed value. So a non-resident buying a $600,000 property outright pays $60,000 of provincial tax on top of the municipal tax. A non-resident taking a 25% interest pays 10% of a quarter of the value.

It applies only to residential property with three or fewer dwelling units, including vacant land that is residential, and to commercial or resource property that is intended for residential use. A four-plex or larger is outside it entirely.

The exemptions, and the one most buyers can use

The provincial tax does not apply where:

• the agreement of purchase and sale was entered into before 1 April 2022;
• the property has more than three dwelling units;
• the non-resident buyer becomes a resident of Nova Scotia between the end of the previous taxation year and the transfer date, or within six months of the transfer;
• the transfer is between spouses or common-law partners, or between former partners dividing marital assets;
• the transfer is from an individual to a joint spousal trust;
• the transfer is from an executor to an eligible beneficiary under a will — a spouse, child, grandchild, parent or sibling of the testator, or a child or grandchild of the testator’s spouse;
• the transfer is from an executor to a spousal trust, or from an estate administrator to a person entitled under intestacy.

The six-month residency exemption is the one that matters for most people buying a home to move into. It is not automatic: you have to demonstrate Nova Scotia residency to the Department of Finance and Treasury Board, and if you cannot, the tax becomes payable with interest.

What it is charged on

The municipal deed transfer tax is charged on the sale price — the amount being paid for the property as defined in the Municipal Government Act. The provincial non-resident tax is charged on the greater of the sale price and the assessed value on the Property Valuation Services Corporation roll, which is why a nominal-price transfer to a non-resident does not escape it.

There is no first-time home buyer rebate against deed transfer tax in Nova Scotia. The province does run a separate rebate on the provincial portion of HST for a newly built home, but that is a different programme and does not reduce this tax.

What the other provinces charge

Transfer tax is the closing cost that varies most across Canada — from nothing at all in three provinces to five figures on a mid-priced house in Toronto. Each of these has its own calculator:

• Ontario Land Transfer Tax — Marginal brackets to 2.5%, doubled inside Toronto, with a first-time buyer rebate.
• BC Property Transfer Tax — Brackets to 3%, an extra 2% above $3 million, and a 20% additional tax on foreign buyers.
• Quebec Transfer Duties — The taxe de bienvenue, billed by the municipality weeks after you close.
• Alberta Land Transfer Fee — No land transfer tax at all: $50 plus $5 per $5,000 on the transfer and again on the mortgage.
• Manitoba Land Transfer Tax — Marginal brackets topping out at 2% above $200,000, with no first-time buyer relief.
• Saskatchewan Land Transfer Fee — No transfer tax: an ISC registration fee of 0.4% of title value, plus a flat mortgage fee.
• NB Real Property Transfer Tax — A flat 1% charged on the greater of the consideration and the assessed value.
• PEI Property Transfer Tax — A flat 1% with a low-value exemption and a genuine first-time buyer exemption.
• Newfoundland Registration Fee — No transfer tax: a Registry of Deeds fee built from a base amount plus a rate per $100.

Sources, and when they were last checked

Every rate, threshold and rebate above was read off the official page listed here on 2 September 2026. Rates change with provincial budgets; if you are reading this long after that date, open the source and check the number before you rely on it.

• Municipal Deed Transfer Tax Rates — Service Nova Scotia — the full municipal rate table, July 2026
• Non-resident Provincial Deed Transfer Tax — Government of Nova Scotia
• Non-Resident Provincial Deed Transfer Tax Guidelines — NS Finance and Treasury Board — released August 2025; the 10% rate, the formula and the exemptions
• Deed Transfer & Property Tax — Access Nova Scotia

Last verified 2 September 2026