Ottawa says tenants not on hook for foreign landlords' tax bills

Clarification follows extremely rare’ situation in which CRA ordered Montreal man to pay six years worth of fees plus interest and penalties

- WENDY GILLIS

National Revenue Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau said the Canada Revenue Agency doesn’t expect tenants to withhold 25 per cent of rent from landlords.

The federal government will not force tenants to pay unpaid taxes owed by their foreign landlords, the minister of national revenue confirmed Friday, after mounting confusion from renters caused by an “extremely rare” tax court decision.

In a statement released Friday, Marie-Claude Bibeau said tenants will not be on the hook for taxes owed by landlords who live outside of Canada’s borders.

“I want to reassure Canadians that the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) does not intend to collect any portion of any non-resident landlords’ unpaid taxes from individual tenants. It is incorrect to state otherwise,” she said in a statement posted to X, formerly Twitter.