Start with the documents, before budgeting the proceeds
You are abroad, the Ontario sale is moving toward closing, and the CRA section 116 certificate of compliance has not arrived. An uploaded T2062 does not tell you which funds will be available. Build a short status record, then ask your sale lawyer and qualified tax adviser to resolve the open items with purchaser counsel.
The question to send with your file
“Here are the documents we actually have, the items still requested and the proposed sale facts. Please confirm which seller and purchaser actions remain, who is handling each one, and the written basis for any funds retained, remitted or available to me.”
Who this guide is for
An individual non-resident reviewing the sale of an Ontario personal-use home held as capital property. Ask your adviser to confirm that scope. Living abroad or holding Canadian citizenship does not settle tax residency. Rentals, depreciable or mixed-use property, business/flipped property, gifts, non-arm’s-length sales, treaty claims, entities, Quebec, deaths and disputes need separate review.
This is preparation for a transaction review. It does not decide whether you can close, calculate tax or authorize release of money.
01 / Identify the evidence
What document do you actually have?
Label each item not supplied, requested or received — needs review. Record its source and date. A label such as “CRA acknowledged it” needs the actual document attached privately.
| Document or status | What it records | Question still to resolve |
|---|---|---|
| T2062 and upload receipt | A notification/request and evidence of submission. | Tax adviser: what was sent, what is missing and what has CRA actually confirmed? A receipt is neither a complete-file decision nor a certificate. |
| Comfort-letter request | Evidence that someone asked for a specific letter. | Responsible adviser: when and how was it requested? A request is not a received letter. |
| Actual section 116 comfort letter | CRA’s written position for the identified transaction, subject to its terms. | Both lawyers and tax adviser: whose obligations and funds does this wording address? No automatic reduction or release follows from its title. |
| T2064 — proposed disposition | A proposed-transaction certificate with a certificate limit. | Lawyers/adviser: does it fit the actual purchaser and sale facts? It is not an actual-disposition T2068. |
| T2068 — actual disposition | An actual-disposition certificate. | Lawyers/adviser: confirm the property, parties and consequences for this transaction. It is not final income-tax assessment. |
| Acknowledgement of full purchaser remittance | Acknowledgement addressing the purchaser obligation after full remittance. | Purchaser counsel: obtain the actual acknowledgement and payment record. This is different from an application receipt. |
Document distinctions: CRA disposal overview; CRA responses in the 2025 CPAC questions, Q16, printed pages 22–23. Read the CRA Response, separately from the question’s assumptions.
Does a comfort letter reduce or release the funds?
Not automatically. Its purpose concerns retention of withheld funds while the file is reviewed, under the actual letter. It is not an accepted principal-residence claim, a certificate, permission to close or authority to release money to the seller. Do not translate “letter received” into “proceeds available.” Ask the responsible lawyers and tax adviser to explain the wording and any separate written closing arrangements.
The CRA’s Q16 response says a comfort letter must be specifically requested before remittance is due, with a complete T2062 notification including an account number. The request can accompany early notification once a disposition is scheduled, clearly identified in the cover letter; General Enquiries is another route. This is not automatic issuance or a guaranteed issue date. Ask your adviser to confirm the current request route and status for your file.
02 / Separate the actions
A pending certificate does not pause every obligation
Put these four tasks on separate lines. Agree who will act and when the next update is due; do not assume every duty belongs to the buyer’s lawyer.
Seller: actual-disposition notice
Under section 116(3), actual notice is generally required no later than 10 days after disposition. The proposed-notice exception requires the same purchaser, actual proceeds no higher than notified and actual adjusted cost base no lower than notified. Ask your tax adviser to check the actual facts and whether another notice is required.
Purchaser: remittance and applicable protection
The ordinary section 116(5) remittance period is 30 days after the end of the acquisition month, not 30 days after closing. Purchaser counsel should confirm the applicable certificate, exception or actual comfort-letter position and the action required. “Application pending” alone is not a blanket deferral.
Both transaction lawyers: closing and funds arrangements
Ask the lawyers to confirm the contractual closing arrangements, any undertaking, who holds funds and the written conditions for remittance or release. A statutory tax process does not answer what the parties have agreed in their contract.
Seller and tax adviser: later return and designation
Keep reporting, payment-credit reconciliation and any principal-residence designation as a separate after-sale task. A certificate does not finish that review.
The older CRA circular IC72-17R6, paragraph 6, recommends notifying CRA at least 30 days before disposition. That is preparation guidance, not a processing promise. Do not build a closing commitment around an assumed turnaround.
03 / Name the money
Held funds, a tax payment and final tax are different
The ordinary section 116(2)/(4) certificate payment or acceptable-security route is based on proceeds above adjusted cost base. The purchaser’s section 116(5) exposure instead uses purchaser cost above any applicable proposed-certificate limit, subject to exceptions. Without that limit, gross cost can matter; it is not simply the seller’s gain. Different property branches have different rules. Mortgage payout or net cash is not the statutory base.
A private trust holdback is not automatically security accepted by CRA. Ask which amount is retained, which amount has actually been remitted, the account/case to which it was credited and the basis for any amount described as releasable. Do not redirect held funds from this general guide.
T2062’s instructions distinguish its certificate calculation from final tax settlement. Sale commissions and legal outlays are not deducted in that certificate calculation, although applicable disposition expenses may affect the later return. Your adviser should explain the different calculations without treating either as a promise of a refund.
04 / Assemble privately
Give each unanswered question an evidence trail
Keep the actual documents in your existing secure adviser file. Use aliases or document references in the blank review record below; do not put SIN/ITN numbers, banking details, identity documents or an exact address in it. This page has no upload or data-entry form.
- Transaction facts: purchase and sale agreements, deeds, co-owner interests, proposed and actual dates/parties/amounts, use and change-of-use history, and adjusted-cost-base support. T2062’s supporting-document list is a starting point, not a completeness decision.
- Notification package: the applicable forms, attachments and submission confirmation; any missing items, CRA request, responder and agreed update date. Depreciable property can require T2062A alongside T2062; let the adviser select the branch and co-owner notifications.
- Account and payment status: ask whether the tax account is established and any payment/security has been accepted. Current CRA guidance says an ITN application goes separately and in advance of the disposition request; do not follow an older instruction to bundle it.
- Actual correspondence: separate the comfort-letter request, received letter, certificate, payment evidence and any purchaser acknowledgement. Add the lawyers’ written closing/funds arrangements.
CRA’s current overview permits online Submit Documents or regional Centre of Expertise mail. Section 116(3) and the form retain registered-mail wording. Ask your adviser to confirm the route and evidence of accepted submission for the notice in question; do not treat those wordings as interchangeable. Silence is not confirmation that the file is complete.
05 / A fictional review file
Turn “I think it is done” into a specific question
Fictional example — no client result or amounts. Maya lives abroad and is selling an Ontario home. Closing is approaching. She has an upload receipt, no certificate and a message saying a comfort letter was requested. She expects the remaining sale cash to be available soon. Her actual residency, exemption and transaction treatment have not been decided.
- “The application is in.”
- Keep the submitted package and receipt. Ask the tax adviser: what remains missing or unanswered, and what status has CRA confirmed?
- “A letter was requested.”
- Obtain request evidence and its date. Ask the responsible adviser for the received letter or a clear pending status, not an assumed issue date.
- “The cash should be available.”
- Ask both lawyers for retained, remitted and releasable amounts and the written basis for each. A mortgage statement or upload receipt cannot settle that question.
- A letter later arrives.
- Change its status to “received — needs review.” Ask the lawyers/adviser to read its conditions and identify the next action. Do not mark the funds released simply because the document arrived.
The useful result is an assigned issue list and an agreed update date. This example does not establish that Maya can close or that her exemption, holdback or release expectation is correct.
06 / Print and take to review
Blank documents, status and questions record
Use one copy per review. A discussion aid, not a CRA form, legal undertaking or approval to close/release funds. Status choices: not supplied / requested / received — needs review. Add a continuation sheet if needed.
Seller notice and actual facts
Document/fact:
Status:
Source and document date:
Who confirms:
Question / next action:
Agreed update date:
Purchaser remittance / letter or certificate
Document/fact:
Status:
Source and document date:
Who confirms:
Question / next action:
Agreed update date:
Closing and retained / remitted / releasable funds
Document/fact:
Status:
Source and document date:
Who confirms:
Question / next action:
Agreed update date:
After-sale return / designation / payment credit
Document/fact:
Status:
Source and document date:
Who confirms:
Question / next action:
Agreed update date:
Keep private documents and identifiers in your secure adviser file. An unanswered item stays pending. Record the advice and its source; a checked box is not proof a legal or tax duty was met.
07 / Keep the final review separate
What remains after closing?
Compare the actual sale facts with the proposed notification promptly, and ask whether further notice is required. Reconcile remittance evidence to the seller’s account and retain the closing documents. Section 116 payments are on account; final settlement follows assessment of the applicable return. See IC72-17R6, paragraphs 59–64.
Having lived in the home, or never renting it, does not establish a full principal-residence exemption. CRA Folio S1-F3-C2, paragraphs 2.75–2.78, addresses non-resident ownership and a supported request to reduce certificate prepayment/security. Ask your tax adviser to confirm the residence years, facts and designation reporting; a comfort letter does not accept that claim.
For an ordinary individual 2026 sale, the normal return date is April 30, 2027, subject to personal exceptions. A certificate alone does not establish a no-return exception or refund. Confirm the filing duties under section 150 and the separate payment duties with your adviser. The currently linked T2091IND is revision 25; this guide has not verified a 2026 annual package and does not supply a return worksheet.
Leave the review with four named actions
- Who confirms the seller’s actual-notice position?
- Who confirms the purchaser’s remittance/protection position?
- Who confirms the written closing and funds arrangements?
- Who completes the later return/designation and reconciles the payment credit?
For each, keep the evidence, unresolved question and next update date. If the answer is not yet known, keep it visibly pending before relying on the proceeds.
Sources and limits
Read November 1, 2026. Primary links sit beside material claims. The source versions below identify the evidence used; source checks are not professional tax review of this guide or your file.
- Income Tax Act, section 116 — Consolidation current to September 30, 2026; Act last amended June 18, 2026.
- CRA disposal overview — Current online disposal and submission guidance; read November 1, 2026.
- CRA IC72-17R6 — September 29, 2011 circular. Used for lead-time guidance and final-settlement distinction, with current procedure checked separately.
- T2062 and form instructions — Linked T2062 E(21); landing page dated June 25, 2025. Form instructions and supporting-document list checked.
- T2062A form directory — Linked T2062A E(21); landing page dated December 4, 2023.
- 2025 CPAC Provincial Questions for CRA, Q16 — CRA-authored 2025 responses, hosted by CPA Alberta; Q16, printed pages 22–23. Administrative guidance, not transaction-specific advice.
- CRA Principal Residence Folio S1-F3-C2 — Paragraphs 2.75–2.78; folio effective January 30, 2024.
- T2091IND form directory — Currently linked T2091IND revision 25; no 2026 annual package verified.
- Income Tax Act, section 150 — Consolidation current to September 30, 2026; Act last amended June 18, 2026.
The 2025 CRA responses are administrative guidance, not the statute or the actual letter for your transaction. No processing period is guaranteed. Current guidance takes precedence over older procedural details; actual facts and accepted arrangements require adviser review. The 2026 annual tax package has not been verified.