Rental Income Now Has a Second Route to the CRA: What a Platform Reports About Hosts

You have always been the one who tells the CRA what your rental earned. Under Part XX of the Income Tax Act, a platform that connects you with guests and handles the rent files its own return about you, listing by listing and quarter by quarter.

The usual picture of rental income and the CRA runs in one direction. The owner adds up what the property earned, and the owner puts that number on a return. Part XX of the Income Tax Act adds a second channel for rent that is collected through a digital platform, and that channel does not run through the owner at all. The platform gathers information about the host, files its own return with the CRA, and sends the host a copy.

I’m Arthur Zhao with AZ Real Estate Partners. Below I go through that platform return one field at a time, the way the statute lists it, then cover who and what sits outside the rules and the dates that set the timetable. This is a reading of the statute and the CRA’s guidance, not tax advice on your own situation; for that, sit down with an accountant.

Field 1: who the platform thinks you are

For a host who is an individual, s. 284(1) requires the platform to collect four items: your first and last name, your primary address (defined in s. 282(1) as your principal place of residence), the TIN issued to you together with the jurisdiction that issued it, and your date of birth. For Canada, the statute’s definition of TIN includes a social insurance number and a business number. A host that is a corporation, partnership or trust is asked instead for its legal name, registered office address, TIN and business registration number (s. 284(2)).

The return then adds two things the platform works out on its own: any other TIN it has on file for you, and each jurisdiction where you are resident. Under s. 286(1), the platform must treat you as resident wherever your primary address is.

The TIN is the item with a stated consequence. According to the CRA (2024), if you do not provide your TIN to your platform operator, the CRA may assess a penalty of $500 for each failure. The same CRA page notes that platforms may ask for additional information about you or your business, and tells sellers to share information only with trusted sources.

Field 2: where the property is

Section 287 is short: where a seller rents out real property, the platform must collect the address of each property listing. That address goes into the return, along with the land registration number if the platform has it (s. 292(c)(vi)).

“Property listing” is a defined term, and it is not the same as an ad. Under s. 282(1), a property listing includes all units at the same street address offered for rent on a platform by the same seller. Two basement suites and an upper unit in one house, listed by one owner, count as one property listing at that address. The count of rentals in the next field is reported per property listing in that sense.

Field 3: the money, quarter by quarter

The core figure is in s. 292(c)(vii): the total consideration paid or credited during each quarter, together with the number of rentals for each property listing that the payment relates to. The figure is not one annual total. Section 291(7) says these amounts are reported in the quarter in which the consideration was paid or credited, and s. 291(6) says amounts paid in a regular currency are reported in the currency they were paid in.

“Consideration” is defined broadly in s. 282(1): compensation in any form paid or credited to the seller, the amount of which is known or reasonably knowable by the platform.

Two more items sit beside the money. If the payout lands in an account held by someone other than you, the platform reports that account holder’s name and any other identifying information it has about them (s. 292(c)(iv)). The account number itself is reported only where the platform has it and the Minister has specified the relevant jurisdiction (s. 292(c)(iii)).

Field 4: what the platform kept

Section 292(c)(viii) adds a separate line: any fees, commissions or taxes withheld or charged by the platform during each quarter. It sits next to the consideration figure rather than being netted out of it. The statute lists the two as separate items, each reported quarter by quarter.

Field 5: days rented and type of listing

The last item in s. 292(c) is conditional. If available, the platform reports the number of days each property listing was rented during the reportable period and the type of each property listing (s. 292(c)(ix)). The statute does not define the categories of listing type.

The number of rentals is different: it is already a required part of Field 3, counted per listing for each quarter. Days rented is the optional extra.

Inside Part XX and outside it

Who and what sits outside the rules

Part XX has several exits, and each is narrower than it first sounds.

Listing-only or payment-only software. The definition of platform excludes software that does nothing more than process payments, list or advertise, or send users on to a platform, without further intervention. A site where you post an ad and arrange everything else yourself falls on that side.

Large entities, per listing. An entity is an excluded seller if the platform facilitated more than 2,000 rentals of real property for it in respect of a property listing during the period (para. (a), “excluded seller”). The ITA defines an entity as a person other than a natural person, or a legal arrangement such as a corporation, partnership, trust or foundation (s. 270(1)). An individual host does not qualify for this exclusion however many bookings they take. Governmental entities and publicly traded entities (and their related entities) are also excluded sellers.

Sellers who were not active. Only an active seller can be a reportable seller: one that provided a rental during the period or was paid or credited consideration for one. A host who stayed registered but had no rentals and no payments in the year is not reported. Section 289 also lets a platform limit its due diligence to active sellers.

Another operator already reporting. Under s. 291(3), a platform does not have to report you, or send you a copy, where it has obtained adequate assurances that another platform operator has fulfilled or will fulfil the reporting for you under the Canadian rules (or, for a seller not resident in Canada, under substantially similar rules in a partner jurisdiction). The report still exists; it simply comes from one operator rather than two.

The dates

December 31. The platform must complete its due diligence (collecting, verifying and determining residence) by December 31 of the reportable period, which s. 282(1) defines as a calendar year (s. 288(1)). For sellers already registered on the platform as of January 1, 2024, that deadline moves to December 31 of the platform’s second reportable period (s. 288(2)). A platform can rely on earlier due diligence if your primary address was collected and verified or confirmed within the last 36 months and it has no reason to think the information is wrong (s. 288(3)).

January 31. The return goes to the Minister no later than January 31 of the year after the calendar year in which you were identified as a reportable seller (s. 291(1)). Under s. 291(2), the platform must give you the same s. 292 information by the same date. According to the CRA (2024), platform operators will provide sellers with a copy of the annual information collected and reported about them by January 31 of each year.

Beyond Canada. The CRA also states that information reported to it will be shared with partner jurisdictions that have adopted similar rules in certain cases, including where a seller is resident there or rents out property located there, and that it receives information from partner jurisdictions about sellers resident in Canada.

Three moments to act

Organised by when each step comes up, not by how serious it is.