Transfer duties
Who pays the Montreal welcome tax?
In shortOn an ordinary sale, the buyer pays Montreal’s property transfer duties, often called the welcome tax. The seller does not. The City’s brackets change every year, so the table below is the 2026 scale, not a permanent one.
The bill is easy to misfile as a seller’s cost because it shows up at the same notary appointment as the tax adjustment. It is a different charge, sent by the municipality to the person who acquired the property. The figures here are the City of Montreal’s, from its page How property transfer duties are calculated, last updated 12 January 2026.
Who is billed
The City’s page for new homeowners says the welcome tax is a sum every buyer pays after acquiring a property. If several people buy together, they share the responsibility. The invoice is payable in one instalment within 30 days of the billing date. That page is Taxes for new homeowners
Some transfers can be exempt, for example between spouses or in the direct line of a family, under the Act respecting duties on transfers of immovables. The notary has to note the exemption in the deed. The City explains those cases, and a supplementary duty of up to $200, at Exemptions on property transfer duties An exemption is still not a bill the seller pays. It is a reason the buyer’s bill may be reduced or replaced.
Do not mix this up with the year’s municipal and school taxes. Those are adjusted at the notary to the closing date, so each side pays its share of the year. The welcome tax is not that adjustment, and it is not a succession tax.
How Montreal calculates the 2026 bill
The City says the brackets, which it also calls thresholds, change every year. For a transfer from 1 January 2026 the rate applies in slices, not as one rate on the whole amount. The base is the highest of three numbers: the amount paid, generally the price excluding GST and QST; the amount written in the deed; and the value on the assessment roll at the time of transfer, multiplied by the comparative factor. Montreal’s comparative factor for 2026 is 1.00. It was 1.08 in 2025. A higher assessment can therefore produce a higher bill than the price you discussed.
The City’s own 2026 example uses a base of $700,000 and comes to $9,349: $314.50 on the first $62,900, $2,521 on the next $252,100, $3,559.50 on the next $237,300, and $2,954 on the remaining $147,700. That is the City’s arithmetic for that base. It is not a price for your house and not a quote from Bruce. In 2025 the first bracket ended at $61,500 rather than $62,900, which is why a blog that freezes last year’s table will be wrong. The notary uses the scale in force on the day of the transfer.
Pierrefonds-Roxboro, Lachine and LaSalle are boroughs, so this Montreal scale is the one on those deeds. Pointe-Claire, Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Kirkland, Dorval and Beaconsfield are separate cities inside the agglomeration. Each publishes its own scale. Those pages on this site point at the city’s table. They are not copies of Montreal’s brackets. Kirkland’s page does not guess a local rate above $500,000: the notary reads Kirkland’s by-law as it stands on the day you sign.
Up to $62,900
Rate. 0.5%
$62,900 to $315,000
Rate. 1%
$315,000 to $552,300
Rate. 1.5%
$552,300 to $1,104,700
Rate. 2%
$1,104,700 to $2,136,500
Rate. 2.5%
$2,136,500 to $3,113,000
Rate. 3.5%
Above $3,113,000
Rate. 4%
| Slice of the 2026 base | Rate |
|---|---|
| Up to $62,900 | 0.5% |
| $62,900 to $315,000 | 1% |
| $315,000 to $552,300 | 1.5% |
| $552,300 to $1,104,700 | 2% |
| $1,104,700 to $2,136,500 | 2.5% |
| $2,136,500 to $3,113,000 | 3.5% |
| Above $3,113,000 | 4% |
City of Montreal transfer-duty brackets for a transfer from 1 January 2026. The City says these thresholds change every year.
Welcome tax (transfer duties)
Person selling. Not your bill
Person buying. Pays the City, within 30 days of the bill
Municipal and school taxes for the year
Person selling. Your share up to the closing date
Person buying. Your share after that date
Which city, if the house is in a borough
Person selling. Montreal’s scale, above
Person buying. Montreal’s scale, above
Which city, if the house is in Pointe-Claire, Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Kirkland, Dorval or Beaconsfield
Person selling. That city’s own scale
Person buying. That city’s own scale
| Charge | Person selling | Person buying |
|---|---|---|
| Welcome tax (transfer duties) | Not your bill | Pays the City, within 30 days of the bill |
| Municipal and school taxes for the year | Your share up to the closing date | Your share after that date |
| Which city, if the house is in a borough | Montreal’s scale, above | Montreal’s scale, above |
| Which city, if the house is in Pointe-Claire, Dollard-des-Ormeaux, Kirkland, Dorval or Beaconsfield | That city’s own scale | That city’s own scale |
Who pays what at a Montreal closing, on an ordinary sale
Questions people ask
Keep reading
- Neighbourhoods where Bruce buys housesThirty-one places, with the city or borough and the 2026 transfer duties that actually apply.
- Sell my house fast in PierrefondsBorough bungalows, Roxboro and the Gouin waterfront, with Montreal’s transfer-duty scale.
- Sell my house fast in LachineA Montreal borough: canal plexes, Saint-Pierre, and Summerlea, with the lease surviving the sale.
- Sell my house fast in LaSalleA Montreal borough between the rapids and Newman: mill houses, bungalows and duplexes, lease included if there is one.
- Sell my house fast in Pointe-ClaireThe windmill peninsula, Valois, and the streets near Fairview, each with the city’s own 2026 duty scale.
- Sell my house fast in Dollard-des-OrmeauxAn independent city of bungalows and split-levels, with its own 2026 transfer-duty brackets.
- Sell my house fast in KirklandA reconstituted city of larger lots and quiet crescents, between Dollard-des-Ormeaux and the lakeshore.
- Sell my house fast in DorvalThe old lakeshore town and the streets nearer Montréal–Trudeau, with Dorval’s own 2026 duty table.
- Sell my house fast in BeaconsfieldLakeshore and Beaurepaire lots, Angell Woods inland, and a 2026 duty scale that hits 3% above $630,100.
- Sell without an agent, or sell directlyA broker markets the house. A sale without a broker still finds a buyer. A direct sale means the buyer is Bruce.
- Is my municipal assessment what my house is worth in Montreal?Not exactly. The 2026-2028 roll reflects 1 July 2024 and stays fixed for three years. Here is why your price can differ, how it affects the welcome tax, and how a review works.
This is general information about how a sale usually works in Quebec. It is not legal, tax or financial advice, and it is not a promise about your price or your date. A notary — and, if your file needs it, a lawyer or a licensed insolvency trustee — applies the rules to your situation. Sending an address does not commit you to sell.