Calculating the capital gain for a property that was a principal residence for most of the ownership period. Unfortunately, taxpayer can’t locate original purchase documents and the lawyer who handled the transaction has retired and remains unresponsive after several months and multiple attempts.
We do have a Land Registry document from Service Ontario showing the transaction amount and involved parties. While we’re missing other typical ACB components (e.g., land transfer tax, legal fees), the taxpayer is keen to file and not overly concerned with precise amounts given the relatively small gain (taxable portion under $15K).
Given that the property was primarily a principal residence for the time owned, only a portion of the gain is taxable, and the taxpayer is in the lowest marginal tax bracket.
How have others approached similar cases when documentation is incomplete?
Document the source of the numbers you used - in this case, original cost provided by client. Ensure the client knows that he/she is responsible for providing proof or supporting documents to CRA if they request it.
You can probably calculate the land transfer tax. I’ve used estimated, reasonable figures for legal fees in similar situations. I always warn the client that CRA would disallow it if they checked.
@albertenterprises I tried accessing the site and created a login, but it shows the listing as “inactive” likely because the house is no longer for sale? @Nezzer@kevin - thank you for the great points!
If the house was sold, it should be there…make sure that, on the top banner you select “sold”, filter for year/time period and then, when the blurred picture shows up, click on it and accept terms, then click again and a screen will open up with listing and price history. Very handy!