Q: I want to sell my place in Quebec to move back to Ontario to be near the cottage, and I want to declare the Quebec property as my principal residence. My cottage address in Ontario is my address for OHIP and my driver’s licence. Do I have to change my health card address and driver’s licence and plates to Quebec to be able to declare that residence as my principal residence? Then change my health card and driver’s licence and plates back again to Ontario, once I’ve moved to Ontario?—Christie, via email
A: There’s no problem with declaring the Quebec place as your principal residence. “An Ontario address on a driver’s licence and health card does not automatically deny the claim,” says Karen Slezak, a partner with the Tax Group at Crowe Soberman in Toronto. “And changing them now would not fix the issue for prior years.”
Let’s recap how the principal residence exemption works. “The Quebec home will qualify as a principal residence for each year of ownership that it was ‘ordinarily inhabited’ by the owner, assuming that other criteria for the exemption are also met,” says Slezak. (This would also include a bonus year.) “Even though ‘ordinarily inhabited’ is not defined in the Income Tax Act, the Canada Revenue Agency and Revenu Quebec apply low thresholds,” she says. So, living in a home for as little as a few weeks per year can be enough for it to qualify. “You can even designate only some of the years for one property, leaving the remaining years for the second property.”
Cottage Q&A: Will this ownership trick avoid the capital gains tax?
Now back to your question. It’s possible that, after you file your tax return—which is where you report the property sale and exemption—the CRA or Revenu Quebec could look for proof that the home was ordinarily inhabited. And they might look at the address on your driver’s licence or health card. But there are other documents—if they have the Quebec address on them—that would prove you lived in your home: utility or repair bills, bank statements, credit card statements, and tax notices of assessment, for example.
Presumably you have at least some of these documents. Gather as many of them as you can before you sell your home, says Slezak. That way, you’ll be ready to bust out the proof if the government demands it. Good luck with the sale!
This article was originally published in the Early Summer 2026 issue of Cottage Life.
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