Buying Property in Cyprus from Canada in 2027: Permit, Canadian Dollars, Form T1135 and Tax on a Sale

A Canadian can buy a home in Cyprus, but as a non-EU buyer needs Council of Ministers permission, which the buyer's lawyer files after the contract is signed. Everything is priced in euros, so a €220,000 resale comes to about €228,518 with transfer fees, a legal fee and Land Registry charges, or about CAD 365,600 at an illustrative CAD 1.60 to the euro, and a 5% move in the rate shifts that by about CAD 18,300. On the Canadian side the CRA does not want Form T1135 for a home you use mainly for yourself, but it does count foreign bank accounts, and a purchase of more than CAD 100,000 in any form of foreign property that is not personal-use is reportable. A sale is taxed in both countries: Cyprus charges 20% on the gain, Canada taxes half of the Canadian-dollar gain, and the treaty deducts the Cyprus tax from the Canadian tax on the same gain. This guide goes through the purchase in order, from the permit to the sale, using the CRA, the 1984 Canada–Cyprus convention and our Cyprus guides (read on 6 November 2026).

Buying property in Cyprus as a Canadian: the permit and the order of steps

EU citizens buy in Cyprus on the same terms as Cypriots. A Canadian does not: the Acquisition of Immovable Property (Aliens) Law, Cap. 109, requires non-EU buyers to obtain permission from the Council of Ministers. Your lawyer prepares the application on Form COMM 145 once the contract is signed, there is no government fee, and the authorities look for a clean criminal record, proof that you can support yourself and proof that the purchase money comes from abroad. It can take from a few weeks to several months, which is why it is filed at once. Published guidance gives the permit as covering one house or apartment per family, or a plot of up to 4,014 m² for building a home. A bill before parliament in 2026 proposed new limits on what foreigners may acquire, and we could not confirm its outcome, so ask your lawyer what applies on the day you buy.

The full sequence, with the costs of each step, is in how to buy property in Cyprus as a foreigner. If you are buying off-plan, our guide to off-plan deposits explains why lodging the contract matters most.

Sending Canadian dollars to Cyprus: what the contract costs at home

The price and every fee are in euros. You pay them by wire from your Canadian account, and two things are asked of the money. The permit application wants the purchase funds to come from abroad, and the lawyer and the Cypriot bank will ask where the money came from, usually with bank statements and the sale or savings that produced it; transferring money to Cyprus lists the documents. Send from an account in your own name. A Cypriot bank will also ask for your tax identification number in each country of tax residence, which for a Canadian is the Social Insurance Number, as the self-certification in our bank account guide shows.

A worked example for a resale apartment, with the Canadian-dollar figures at an illustrative rate of CAD 1.60 to the euro (chosen only for the arithmetic, so check the live rate). A resale carries no VAT; it pays Land Registry transfer fees at 3%, 5% and 8% by price band, halved by the current reduction: 1.5% on the first €85,000 (€1,275), 2.5% on the next €85,000 (€2,125) and 4% on the remaining €50,000 (€2,000). The legal fee is planned at 1% plus 19% VAT, and the Land Registry charges at €500.

If the euro rises 5% against the Canadian dollar between the day you agree the price and the day you pay, the same total costs about CAD 18,300 more (5% of CAD 365,629). On a new-build the money goes in instalments as construction proceeds, each converted at the rate of its own day, and the purchase carries VAT of 19% or 5% instead of transfer fees; the cost of buying property in Cyprus and the VAT guide work through both. Ask your bank or a regulated currency provider whether it can fix a rate in advance for amounts you already know you will pay.

Financing a Cyprus purchase from Canada

Most Cypriot banks lend to residents. For a non-EU buyer who lives abroad the market is a short list of lenders, with loan-to-value of about 60% to 70%, which means 30% to 40% or more of the price in cash, as our guide to mortgages for foreigners sets out. A euro loan against Canadian-dollar income carries the exchange rate for the whole term, so size it to survive a move in the rate rather than to the bank's maximum. If the purchase is meant to qualify for Category 6.2, the €300,000 has to be foreign money and cannot be financed from a Cyprus mortgage.

Reporting a Cyprus home in Canada: Form T1135

The CRA requires Form T1135, the Foreign Income Verification Statement, from Canadian residents who own specified foreign property with a total cost of more than CAD 100,000 at any time in the year. Funds held in a bank account outside Canada count towards the total. Personal-use property is not specified foreign property: the CRA defines it as property that you or a related person use primarily for personal purposes or enjoyment, takes "primarily" to mean more than 50%, and decides each case on its facts. Its own example is a Florida condominium with a cost of CAD 120,000 that the owner uses as a vacation home, which is excluded. A Cyprus home you live in or holiday in therefore does not go on Form T1135, but a property that is not mainly for your own use is reportable, and so is the Cyprus bank account if the foreign funds together pass CAD 100,000.

A buyer who sends CAD 150,000 to a Cyprus account for instalments and holds it there at any time in the year has crossed the CAD 100,000 line on the funds alone, whatever the home is used for. Keep the dates and balances.

Selling a Cyprus property: how the gain is taxed in both countries

Cyprus charges capital gains tax of 20% on the gain from selling Cypriot property, and it does so whether or not the owner lives in Cyprus. The gain is the sale price less the purchase price and costs, both adjusted for inflation, and since 1 January 2026 the total gain from all your sales is tax-free up to €30,000 (or up to €150,000 on a main residence you have occupied for at least five years), as our selling guide sets out.

Canada taxes the same sale in Canadian dollars. The CRA says to convert the proceeds at the exchange rate in effect at the time of the sale and the adjusted cost base at the rate in effect when the property was acquired, so the euro rate at both dates changes the gain. One half of a capital gain is taxable: the proposal to raise the inclusion rate was cancelled on 21 March 2025, and Budget 2025 confirmed it. Article 13 of the Canada–Cyprus convention lets the country where the property stands tax the gain, and Article 24 says the tax payable in Cyprus on gains arising in Cyprus is deducted from the Canadian tax on those gains, subject to Canada's own credit rules.

A worked example with illustrative rates. You buy a resale apartment for €220,000 when the euro is CAD 1.50, so the adjusted cost base is CAD 330,000, and sell it for €300,000 when the euro is CAD 1.60, which is CAD 480,000. In euros the gain is €80,000. In Canadian dollars it is CAD 150,000, because the euro also rose. Half of it, CAD 75,000, is taxable; at an assumed combined marginal rate of 40% that is CAD 30,000 of Canadian tax. Cyprus tax at 20% of €80,000 is €16,000, or CAD 25,600 at 1.60, before inflation adjustment and any exemption, both of which would lower it. The treaty deducts the CAD 25,600, which leaves about CAD 4,400 to pay in Canada.

The principal residence exemption changes the picture. The CRA allows it only if you report the sale and the designation on your return, on Schedule 3 and Form T2091(IND), and only one property can be designated for each year by you and your family, so a Cyprus home competes with any Canadian home for the same years. The CRA's definition speaks of a housing unit that you or your family lived in during the year, and the text we read does not limit it to homes in Canada, but check with a Canadian tax adviser before relying on it for a Cyprus property. If the exemption applies, the Canadian tax falls to nil, and the Cyprus tax of 20% remains unless a Cyprus exemption applies, since there is then no Canadian tax against which to deduct it.

Does buying give you the right to live in Cyprus?

No. Ownership does not give residence, and Cyprus is not in the Schengen area, so no Cyprus status gives Schengen travel rights. A Canadian may enter without a visa as a visitor for up to 90 days. The route that follows a purchase is Category 6.2: a first-sale new-build of at least €300,000 plus VAT, income from abroad of at least €50,000 (plus €15,000 for a spouse and €10,000 per child), and a visit at least once every two years. The pink slip and Category F suit those who do not buy. The choice between them is in moving to Cyprus from Canada and the Category 6.2 guide.

Closing a Cyprus purchase from Canada without travelling

Almost every step can be done from home: reservation, due diligence, signing under a power of attorney, lodging the contract and the permit application. The power of attorney is executed before a notary and apostilled, which takes one to two weeks. Canada has issued apostilles since it joined the Apostille Convention on 11 January 2024; which office issues yours depends on the province, since some provinces issue them for documents notarised there and Global Affairs Canada handles the rest, and your lawyer will confirm the route. The power of attorney belongs with your own independent lawyer, never with anyone on the seller's side. What you should not delegate is the final inspection before the last payment; buying property in Cyprus remotely has the detail.

Buying property in Cyprus from Canada: the dates

A buyer who signs on 1 March 2027 has the contract lodged by 1 September 2027 at the latest, and the first T1135 question arises on the 2027 return if the foreign property or foreign balances together cost more than CAD 100,000 at any time in 2027.

Buying property in Cyprus from Canada: questions Canadians ask

Sources, all read on 6 November 2026. Canada Revenue Agency: Form T1135 and the questions and answers about it; Capital gains, guide T4037 (conversion of foreign currency, principal residence); the principal residence reporting rules (Schedule 3 and Form T2091(IND)); the update on the capital gains inclusion rate. Department of Finance Canada: the 2025 tax expenditure report confirming the cancelled increase. Convention between Canada and Cyprus for the avoidance of double taxation, Articles 13 and 24. Global Affairs Canada and provincial notices on apostilles. The Cyprus permit, tax and cost figures come from our guides on buying, costs, VAT, selling and mortgages, and the exchange rates and the marginal rate in the examples are illustrative. This guide is general information and not tax advice; a Canadian tax adviser should confirm your filings and the treaty reading. Cyprus VIP Estates assists investors in choosing new developments; legal and immigration advice comes from licensed professionals.