Quebec Welcome Tax Bill: When It Arrives and When It Is Due

The deed is signed, you have the keys, and the notary has been paid. A few weeks later, an envelope arrives from the municipality: the bill for property transfer duties, which everyone in Quebec calls the welcome tax. Buyers who have purchased in Ontario, where land transfer tax is paid when the deed is registered, are often surprised by the delay. This article does not redo the bracket-by-bracket calculation, covered in our article on the Montreal welcome tax. It focuses on the bill itself: when it arrives, when it is due, what paying late costs, and what the new first-time buyer tax credit does and does not change.

The bill comes from the municipality, after closing

Transfer duties are collected by the municipality where the property is located. As a rule, they are not paid at the notary's office when the deed is signed. Once the deed of sale is registered in the land register, the municipality prepares the bill and sends it to the buyer.

There is no uniform timeline for sending it. The City of Montreal says the bill is sent after the purchase and that, for an existing property, this can take several weeks, longer for new construction. In the meantime, the money set aside for it should stay set aside.

The deadline: the 31st day after the bill is sent

Section 11 of Quebec's Act respecting duties on transfers of immovables sets the rule: the transfer duty becomes payable from the thirty-first day after the bill is sent. The clock starts on the date the bill is sent, not the date you receive it and not the date you signed at the notary's.

The same section requires the bill to inform the debtor of the rules that apply, so the due date is printed on it. In practice, Montreal and Quebec City ask for payment within 30 days of the bill being sent.

Interest if you pay late

Under the same section 11, the duty bears interest from the day it becomes payable, at the rate in force for interest on arrears of municipal taxes. That rate is not the same everywhere: each municipality sets its own.

For example, Quebec City states that payments made after a due date bear interest at 7% per year, plus a penalty of 5% per year. To know the rate that applies to your property, check your bill or your municipality's website.

Paying in instalments depends on the municipality

The law allows a municipality to provide, by by-law, for the transfer duty to be paid in instalments. It is not required, and the terms vary:

• Quebec City: three equal interest-free instalments, due 30, 90 and 150 days after the bill is sent. A bill of $300 or less is paid in full within 30 days.
• Montreal: transfer duties are payable in a single payment within 30 days of the bill being sent.
• Rivière-du-Loup: since 2025, four equal interest-free instalments for duties above $300.

The law also states that the balance becomes payable if the property is transferred again during the instalment period. Spreading the payments helps cash flow in the first months, but it does not lower the amount owed.

The first-time buyer credit refunds, it does not exempt

The refundable tax credit for access to home ownership, announced in Quebec Finance Ministry information bulletin 2026-2 on April 17, 2026, applies to buyers of a first home from the 2026 taxation year. It equals 100% of the first $5,000 of transfer duties paid, plus 25% of the next $3,500, up to $5,875. It is reduced when the taxable base exceeds $750,000 and falls to zero at $1,000,000.

This is not an exemption. The municipal bill arrives and is paid like any other buyer's. Revenu Québec specifies that, to qualify, the transfer duty must have been paid. The credit is then claimed on your Quebec income tax return or, for 2026, through an advance payment request in My Account, no later than December 1, 2026.

The order matters: pay the municipality first, on time, then recover some or all of the amount from Revenu Québec.

Budget for it before you make an offer

The transfer duty amount can be worked out before you even make an offer, from the target price and your municipality's brackets. Our buyer calculator gives an estimate.

Once you know the figure, keep it separate from your down payment and closing costs. Expenses in the first weeks (moving, small repairs, furniture) come before the municipal bill and can easily eat into the money meant for it.