First-time buyer · Revenu Québec · Verified September 21, 2026
Many buyers wait for a form from their city. There is none: the city bills, Revenu Québec refunds.
The welcome tax is not refunded at city hall: the refund is a refundable tax credit from Revenu Québec, the home ownership access credit, worth up to $5,875 to a first-time buyer. There are two ways to apply. The fast route is the advance payment: applications open in October 2026 in My Account for individuals or by form, must be filed no later than December 1, 2026, are paid by direct deposit, and are only available if the estimated credit exceeds $1,000 and the tax base does not exceed $1 million. The normal route is the 2026 income tax return, filed in spring 2027. Either way, you pay the city's bill first, then keep three documents: the deed of sale published at the land registry, the transfer duty account and the proof of payment.
The confusion comes from the name. The "welcome tax" is collected by the municipality under its legal name, the transfer duty (droit de mutation immobilière). The refund has nothing municipal about it: it is a Quebec government tax measure, announced in the information bulletin of April 17, 2026 and confirmed by Revenu Québec on April 21, 2026, under the name refundable tax credit for home ownership access (crédit d'impôt remboursable pour accès à la propriété). It applies from the 2026 taxation year, to any eligible home acquired after December 31, 2025.
The practical consequence: do not write to your city asking for a refund. It has no program to offer and you will lose weeks. The city sends the bill and cashes it. The refund application goes to Revenu Québec, and only there. When you search Revenu Québec's site, search for "accès à la propriété", not "welcome tax".
The amount and the conditions are covered in our page on the welcome tax refund. This page deals with one thing: how to apply, when, and with what.
| Advance payment | Income tax return | |
|---|---|---|
| When | From October 2026, according to Revenu Québec | Spring 2027, with the 2026 income tax return |
| Where | In My Account for individuals, or by form | In the return, following the instructions Revenu Québec will publish |
| Deadline | No later than December 1, 2026 for a 2026 purchase | The usual filing deadline, April 30, 2027 |
| Specific conditions | Resident of Quebec when applying; transfer duty paid; tax base of $1 million or less; estimated credit above $1,000; consent to direct deposit | The general conditions of the credit, with no $1,000 threshold |
| Payment | Direct deposit, mandatory | Like your tax refund |
| Who it is for | Anyone who wants the money before filing a return | Everyone else, and those who missed December 1 |
Missing December 1 does not cost you the refund: it costs you the advance payment. The credit can still be claimed in the income tax return. The precise terms of the advance application, documents included, are announced for October 2026; we will update this page the day Revenu Québec publishes them. The countdown to the deadline is explained in the December 1 deadline.
One case deserves a warning: if you buy late in 2026 and the city's bill only arrives in 2027, you cannot file an advance application before December 1, 2026, because you have not paid. You are left with the tax return. Since the payment condition and the acquisition year cross in that case, confirm the treatment with Revenu Québec before filing.
Revenu Québec will publish the exact list of documents with the October terms. The conditions already known say what you will have to demonstrate, and therefore what to gather today:
If you do not yet have access to My Account for individuals, open it now: registration goes through the government's authentication service and takes more than an evening when you start in November.
The credit equals 100% of the first $5,000 of transfer duty paid, plus 25% of the next $3,500, for a maximum of $5,875. It is reduced by 2.35% of the portion of the tax base above $750,000, and reaches zero at $1 million. The tax base is, as a rule, the market value of the property at acquisition: the city takes the highest of the price paid, the consideration stated in the deed and the assessed value multiplied by its comparative factor.
First by the amount of tax paid, for a tax base under $750,000:
| Welcome tax paid | Example | Refund | Left to pay |
|---|---|---|---|
| $2,185.50 | $250,000 condo | $2,185.50 | $0 |
| $4,170.50 | $404,000 condo | $4,170.50 | $0 |
| $5,610.50 | $500,000 house | $5,152.62 | $457.88 |
| $7,410.50 | $560,000 house in a 3% city | $5,602.62 | $1,807.88 |
| $10,110.50 | $650,000 house in a 3% city | $5,875 | $4,235.50 |
| $8,610.50 | $700,000 house, provincial grid | $5,875 | $2,735.50 |
Then by price, in a city that follows the provincial grid (1.5% above $500,000) and in a city that applies the maximum 3% rate above $500,000, such as Montreal, Brossard or Laval. 2026 thresholds: 0.5% up to $62,900, 1% up to $315,000, 1.5% up to $500,000.
| Price (tax base) | Tax, provincial grid | Refund | Tax, 3% city | Refund |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $350,000 | $3,360.50 | $3,360.50 | $3,360.50 | $3,360.50 |
| $450,000 | $4,860.50 | $4,860.50 | $4,860.50 | $4,860.50 |
| $500,000 | $5,610.50 | $5,152.62 | $5,610.50 | $5,152.62 |
| $600,000 | $7,110.50 | $5,527.62 | $8,610.50 | $5,875 |
| $700,000 | $8,610.50 | $5,875 | $11,610.50 | $5,875 |
| $750,000 | $9,360.50 | $5,875 | $13,110.50 | $5,875 |
| $803,000 | $10,155.50 | $4,629.50 | $14,700.50 | $4,629.50 |
| $900,000 | $11,610.50 | $2,350 | $17,610.50 | $2,350 |
| $1,000,000 | $13,110.50 | $0 | $20,610.50 | $0 |
Reading it: under $500,000, the tax is refunded almost in full. Between $500,000 and $750,000, you reach the $5,875 maximum in 3% cities and come close elsewhere. Above $750,000, every $10,000 of price removes $235 from the credit, down to zero at $1 million. The net amount for your city, at your price, comes out of our welcome tax calculator.
The cap is per home, not per person. Revenu Québec puts it this way: if more than one individual is entitled to the credit for the same home, the total each of them obtains cannot exceed what a single one would have received. Two eligible spouses therefore do not collect $5,875 twice; they share one credit, and it is simpler for one of them to apply.
Two rules can exclude an entire couple. If your spouse owned, during the reference period, a dwelling you lived in together, you are not a first-time buyer under this measure, even if you were never on a title. And the transfer duty must have been paid by you or your spouse: a parent paying the bill in your place muddies the file. Other family situations, a transfer between parent and child, a separation, an estate, fall under separate exemption rules.
Three things, before the October opening. Open or check your access to My Account for individuals and register direct deposit there. Put the published deed, the city's bill and the proof of payment in one folder. And estimate your credit: if it exceeds $1,000 and your tax base is under $1 million, write December 1 in your calendar. If you have not bought yet, this refund is planned from the promise to purchase, alongside the rest of the first-time buyer toolkit: the FHSA, the HBP and the $1,400 home buyers' tax credit, a separate credit claimed with form TP-752.HA attached to the return. The most common slips are listed in the mistakes of first-time buyers in Quebec.
With Revenu Québec, never with the city. Either through an advance payment application, in My Account for individuals or by form, from October 2026 and no later than December 1, 2026, or in the 2026 income tax return in spring 2027.
Revenu Québec announces that in October 2026 the advance payment application can be made in My Account for individuals or "by means of a form". The form number is not published yet. Form TP-752.HA serves another credit, the $1,400 home buyers' tax credit.
By direct deposit, once the advance application is processed; Revenu Québec has not published a processing time. Through the tax return, with your tax refund, in spring or summer 2027.
Yes. The credit covers any eligible home acquired after December 31, 2025, so all of 2026. A purchase closed in 2025 is not covered.
Yes. Revenu Québec requires that the transfer duty has been paid by you or your spouse. The advance application assumes it; so does the tax return.
No, the estimated credit must exceed $1,000. You claim it in your 2026 income tax return.
To a condo and a new build, yes, as soon as the right is registered and the dwelling is habitable. For a plex the buyer lives in, check the eligibility of the unit with Revenu Québec before counting on the amount.
Page verified on September 21, 2026. It will be updated when the October 2026 terms are published.
The welcome tax refund: amount, eligibility, stacking · The December 1 deadline · Does the refund survive October 5? · The welcome tax in 50 cities · The costs after the notary
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Also available in French: version française de ce guide.
Published September 7, 2026 by the Loaa & Manseur team, the number 1 team at RE/MAX Platine in 2024 and 2025, 6th RE/MAX team in Quebec, 15th in Canada and in the global top 50 according to the official RE/MAX ranking. Tell us about your project.
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