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Do I pay capital gains on inherited property?

Not on inheriting it. The estate pays tax on the gain up to the date of death; you pay on any gain after you receive it.

This is legal information only. For advice on your own circumstances, speak to a lawyer.

Not on inheriting it. The estate pays tax on the gain up to the date of death; you pay on any gain after you receive it.

The Canadian position

Your cost base is generally the fair market value at the date of death.

Selling soon after inheriting therefore usually produces little further gain.

The Islamic position

The estate's tax is a debt paid before the shares are calculated.

Your own later gain is your own affair, not the estate's.

Where the four schools stand

Researched — the four schools agree

Agreed. The estate is worked through in four steps, in this order: (1) the cost of preparing, shrouding and burying the body; (2) the deceased’s debts; (3) any bequest, capped at one third of what is left after (1) and (2); and (4) the fixed shares of the heirs, out of the remainder. The Kuwaiti Encyclopaedia of Islamic Jurisprudence records the sequence itself as a point on which there is no disagreement among the jurists, and records debt-before-bequest as agreed by all of them — even though Surah an-Nisa names the bequest before the debt, the jurists read the order as debt first, because a debt is owed from the outset while a bequest is a voluntary gift. Two rankings inside this sequence are genuinely disputed and are researched separately: whether a debt secured on a particular asset outranks the funeral itself, and whether unpaid religious dues such as zakat or an unperformed hajj come out of the estate at all where the deceased left no instruction. Neither dispute disturbs the four-step order. We checked this point; the schools do not differ on it.

Shared evidence: Surah an-Nisa 4:11 — “after the fulfilment of bequests and debts” · Surah an-Nisa 4:12 — the same clause, twice more · Sahih Muslim 1206a — the pilgrim who died at ‘Arafah was washed and shrouded with no inquiry into his debts.

Researched finding from our madhhab register — issue debt-priority-order, reviewed 2026-08-19.

Full evidence and history: The order of payment out of an estate — the issue page.

Note

This is legal information only. For advice on your own circumstances, speak to a lawyer.

Citations & sources

Every factual claim on this page traces to a source below. Details change — check the original source before relying on any figure, fee or legal position. Anything under “further reading” is related material, not a source for what is stated here.

Canadian legislation & government
  1. What to do when someone has died — Canada Revenue Agency
  2. Income Tax Act, RSC 1985, c 1 (5th Supp) — Justice Laws Canada
  3. Principal residence exemption — Canada Revenue Agency
Further reading — Treadstone Law
  1. Cottage capital gains tax death ontario — Treadstone Law
  2. Selling an inherited property before probate ontario — Treadstone Law
  3. Estate trustee selling real estate below market value ontario — Treadstone Law
  4. Selling inherited property as is executor disclosure ontario — Treadstone Law
  5. Wills & estates practice — Treadstone Law