CRA Form T2062 Non-Resident Certificate of Compliance: Filing and Deadlines

CRA Form T2062 is the notice a non-resident of Canada files with the Canada Revenue Agency to request a Certificate of Compliance when selling taxable Canadian property. Section 116 of the Income Tax Act requires the filing so the CRA can confirm that capital gains tax has been accounted for before the proceeds leave the country. You can submit it online through your CRA account or by mail to the Section 116 Centre of Expertise for the region where the property sits, and standard processing runs about 120 days.¹

When You Need to File

The most common trigger is selling real property located in Canada: a house, condo, commercial building, or vacant land. Canadian resource property and timber resource property also require filing. Shares of private corporations, partnership interests, and trust interests can qualify as taxable Canadian property if, at any point during the 60 months before the sale, more than 50 percent of their fair market value came from Canadian real property, resource property, or timber resource property.¹

If your transaction involves depreciable taxable Canadian property, Canadian resource or timber resource property, or Canadian real property that is not capital property, you use Form T2062A instead of, or in addition to, T2062.¹

Section 116(6) exempts several categories of “excluded property” from the notice requirement: shares listed on a recognized stock exchange (including SIFT wind-up entity equity), mutual fund trust units, bonds and other debt obligations, business inventory other than real or resource property, treaty-exempt property, property of authorized non-resident insurers or foreign banks doing business in Canada, and options or interests in any of these. If your property falls into one of these categories, no T2062 or security deposit is required.²

Get a Canadian Tax Number First

Every non-resident filing T2062 needs a Canadian tax identification number. If you previously lived in Canada, use your Social Insurance Number. If you filed a Canadian return at some point without a SIN, you may already have a Temporary Tax Number or an Individual Tax Number.¹

If you have none of these, apply for an ITN by completing Form T1261 and mailing it with certified copies of identity documents to the Sudbury Tax Centre. Documents not in English or French require an official translation from a certified translator. Processing takes six to eight weeks, so start well before your closing date.³

Filing Deadlines

You can file at two points, and the timing rules are different.

Before the Sale Closes (Proposed Disposition)

Filing before closing is called a “proposed disposition.” The CRA recommends sending this notice at least 30 days before the property changes hands. Filing early gives the reviewing officer time to issue a certificate before closing, which keeps the transaction clean for both sides.⁴

After the Sale Closes (Actual Disposition)

If you did not file before closing, you must send the CRA a notice of the actual disposition by registered mail within 10 days of the transfer date. This is a hard deadline. Missing it triggers a daily penalty.

There is one exception. If you already filed a proposed disposition notice and the final sale price came in equal to or lower than what you reported, and the adjusted cost base did not decrease, you do not need to file a second notice.⁴

Completing the Form

The form is available for download from the CRA website. Every field needs to be filled in using data from your purchase and sale documents. If multiple non-residents co-own the property, each owner files a separate T2062.⁵

Core information you need:

Your full legal name, mailing address, and Canadian tax number (SIN, ITN, or TTN).
The purchaser’s full name and residency status.
The municipal address or legal land description from the title deed, and the type of property being sold.
Proceeds of disposition: the selling price or amount you expect to receive.
Adjusted cost base: your original purchase price plus the cost of any capital improvements made during ownership.
Estimated capital gain: the difference between proceeds and adjusted cost base.

Attach supporting documents to back up every figure. At a minimum, include the original purchase agreement, the current sale agreement, and receipts for any capital improvements you are claiming. Missing documents are the single most common cause of processing delays, so gather everything before you submit.¹

Security Payment

Along with the completed form, you need to provide a payment on account of tax, or acceptable security, before the CRA will issue a certificate. The amount depends on the property type.

For capital property that is not depreciable, subsection 116(5) sets the buyer’s withholding at 25 percent of the purchase price (or 25 percent of the amount by which the purchase price exceeds the certificate limit, if a certificate has been issued for a proposed disposition). For depreciable property, real property, Canadian resource property, and timber resource property, subsection 116(5.3) raises the rate to 50 percent of the purchase price. The higher rate reflects the fact that these dispositions can generate both capital gains and recaptured depreciation.²

The CRA may accept a letter of credit or other security in place of cash. Any overpayment gets reconciled when you file your Canadian income tax return for the year of the sale.⁴

Where to Send It

Two submission methods are available. Online is faster and works through the CRA’s My Account for Individuals, Represent a Client, or My Business Account portals; use the “Submit Documents” feature to upload the T2062 and all attachments.¹

If you mail the package, send it to the Section 116 Centre of Expertise for the region where the property is located. The regional offices are in Charlottetown (Atlantic), Montréal (Quebec), Ottawa (Ontario and Nunavut), Winnipeg (Prairies and Northwest Territories), and Surrey (British Columbia and Yukon). Full mailing addresses, including separate street addresses for registered and certified mail, are listed on the CRA’s disposition page for non-residents.¹

What Happens Next

The CRA assigns your file to a reviewing officer who checks the form, supporting documents, and security payment. Standard processing takes roughly 120 days when the file is complete. Missing documents or complex transactions push the timeline further.⁶

Once the review is complete, the CRA issues one of two certificates. Form T2064 is the certificate for a proposed disposition under subsection 116(2); it sets a certificate limit based on the expected sale price and cost base you reported. Form T2068 is the certificate for an actual disposition under subsection 116(4); it confirms the final figures and clears the buyer’s withholding obligation. The certificate goes to the seller, and Copy 2 goes to the buyer as legal cover to release the remaining sale proceeds.⁴

Penalties and Buyer Withholding

A non-resident who fails to send the T2062 notice within the 10-day window for an actual disposition faces a penalty under subsection 162(7) of the Income Tax Act: $25 per day the notification is late, minimum $100, maximum $2,500.⁷

The larger risk sits on the buyer’s side, and it flows back to you as a stalled closing. Without a certificate, the buyer must withhold tax from the purchase price (25 percent for standard capital property, 50 percent for depreciable property, real property, resource property, and timber resource property) and remit it to the Receiver General within 30 days after the end of the month of acquisition. A buyer who fails to withhold becomes personally liable for the amount that should have been remitted, plus interest and penalties, with no limitation period. That exposure is why buyers refuse to release 25 to 50 percent of the sale proceeds until they see the certificate.²

Filing a Canadian Tax Return After the Sale

The T2062 process does not replace your Canadian tax return. After disposing of taxable Canadian property, non-resident individuals file a return by April 30 of the following year, attaching Copy 2 of the Certificate of Compliance. Non-resident corporations have six months after the end of their fiscal year, and non-resident trusts have 90 days after the end of their taxation year.¹

The return reconciles the actual tax owed against the security payment made with your T2062. Overpayments are refunded; underpayments are billed. You can skip the return only if no tax is payable for the year, you have no outstanding CRA debts from previous years, and every property you disposed of was either excluded property or one where no security payment was required for the certificate.¹

Quebec Property Needs a Separate Provincial Filing

If the property is located in Quebec, the T2062 filing with the CRA is not the whole picture. Revenu Québec requires a separate provincial notice, Form TP-1097-V, covering the provincial tax on your capital gain. It is filed directly with Revenu Québec in addition to the federal T2062. Build extra time into your schedule if Quebec property is involved, especially if you are also applying for an ITN.⁸

1
Canada Revenue Agency. Disposing of or Acquiring Certain Canadian Property
2
Justice Laws Website. Income Tax Act – Section 116
3
Canada Revenue Agency. Applying for an Individual Tax Number (ITN)
4
Canada Revenue Agency. Procedures Concerning the Disposition of Taxable Canadian Property by Non-Residents of Canada – Section 116
5
Canada Revenue Agency. T2062 Request by a Non-Resident of Canada for a Certificate of Compliance Related to the Disposition of Taxable Canadian Property
6
Canada Revenue Agency. Check CRA Processing Times
7
Canada Revenue Agency. Failure to Comply Penalty – Non-Resident Vendor Notification on the Disposition of Taxable Canadian Property
8
Revenu Québec. Notice of Disposition or Proposed Disposition of Taxable Quebec Property by an Individual or Corporation Not Resident in Canada