Quebec real estate glossary · French to English
Taxe de bienvenue = Transfer duties (nicknamed the welcome tax). The legal English term is transfer duties. The nickname you will hear is welcome tax. Both mean the same bill from your municipality.
En bref, en français : En anglais, la taxe de bienvenue se dit transfer duties dans la loi, et welcome tax dans la langue courante. Le nom légal français est d'ailleurs « droits sur les mutations immobilières ».
"Taxe de bienvenue" is a nickname, in French as much as in English. The law that creates it is the Act respecting duties on transfers of immovables (RLRQ c. D-15.1), and the term used throughout that English text is transfer duties.
In everyday English in Quebec, people say welcome tax. Your notary will more likely write "transfer duties" on your closing statement. Your municipality will mail you a bill that may use either.
Why the nickname confuses newcomers
"Welcome tax" sounds like a fee for arriving somewhere. It is not. It is a duty payable on the transfer of an immovable, whether you moved across the country or across the street, and it is charged by the municipality where the property sits.
What you actually pay
The amount is set by brackets, and municipalities can add their own bracket above $500,000. That is why the same purchase price produces a very different bill in Montreal, Laval and Brossard. Our calculator covers 50 Quebec municipalities with their 2026 brackets.
Say it in a sentence
The word on its own is rarely the problem. These are the sentences you will actually hear, and what they become in English.
| Vous entendrez | In English |
|---|---|
| La taxe de bienvenue est arrivée trois mois après l'achat. | The welcome tax bill came three months after closing. |
| Les droits de mutation sont calculés par tranches. | Transfer duties are calculated in brackets. |
| Ma ville a sa propre tranche au-dessus de 500 000 $. | My city sets its own bracket above $500,000. |
The mistake we see most often
The expensive mistake is budgeting for it at closing. Municipal and school taxes are adjusted by the notary on the day of the sale, so buyers assume the welcome tax works the same way. It does not. The bill arrives weeks or months later, from the municipality, in your name, and buyers who spent their cushion on the move are the ones who feel it.
Where this fits in a Quebec transaction
Buying or selling in Quebec means signing documents that exist in both languages, written under civil law rather than common law. A word-for-word translation is sometimes right and sometimes actively misleading. The full list is in our Quebec real estate glossary, French to English.
Related terms
- our welcome tax calculator, 50 municipalities
- the refund for first-time buyers
- the refund, in English
- the rate in your city
Questions we get asked
What is the taxe de bienvenue called in English?
Legally, transfer duties, from the Act respecting duties on transfers of immovables. Informally, the welcome tax. Both refer to the same municipal bill.
Is the welcome tax the same everywhere in Quebec?
No. Provincial brackets apply everywhere, but a municipality may set its own rate above $500,000 by by-law, so the bill differs from one city to the next.
When do I pay it?
After the sale closes, your municipality sends the bill. It is not paid at the notary along with the purchase price.
Published by the Loaa & Manseur team, number one team at RE/MAX Platine in 2024 and 2025. We work in French and in English. Tell us about your project.