Who this is for
Licensed BC real estate agents, residential and commercial, whether they operate personally or through a PREC. Managing brokers will recognise the brokerage side.
The three clocks
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Six years for tax. The CRA requires records that support your return to be kept for six years from the end of the tax year they relate to. Commission statements, expense receipts, vehicle logs, home office figures, and for a PREC, everything that supports the T2.
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Seven years for the brokerage. BCFSA’s Real Estate Services Rules require a brokerage to keep its financial, trust and trading records for at least seven years after they are created. That is the brokerage’s obligation. Your part is to provide the managing broker promptly with copies of disclosures and other records from your deals. Do not assume the brokerage’s file replaces your own tax records; they serve different purposes.
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Longer for property you still own. Records that establish the cost of something the business still holds, such as a vehicle, equipment, or shares in your PREC, last longer. They are needed until six years after the year you dispose of it. The purchase documents for a car bought in 2022 and sold in 2030 are needed until 2036.
What to keep, by type
- Income: brokerage commission statements, referral fee records, T4A slips, and for a PREC, the invoices between the PREC and the brokerage.
- Expenses: receipts for licensing, board dues, marketing, signage, staging, client gifts, phone, software, courses, and the vehicle log.
- GST: returns filed, input tax credit support, and the commission statements showing GST.
- PREC: the T2, financial statements, minute book, payroll and dividend records.
- Deals: your copies of contracts and disclosures, given to the brokerage, and kept by you as well where they support a tax figure.
One thing many people do not realize
The CRA’s six years runs from the end of the tax year the record relates to, not from the date of the document. A commission statement for a deal that closed in January 2026 belongs to the 2026 tax year. It must be kept until the end of 2032. For a PREC with a June year end, the clock runs from June. Shredding by calendar year catches people out.
What to prepare
- Where your records live now: paper, email, cloud, brokerage portal
- Your fiscal year end if you have a PREC
- The list of vehicles and equipment you own and when they were bought
When professional help may make sense
If you have been discarding records by calendar year, or relying on the brokerage’s files for tax, set up a system now. An hour before the next CRA review is cheaper than an hour during it. Vehicle and marketing claims are the usual targets.
How Rex Tax may be able to help
We prepare personal and PREC returns for real estate agents and set up the record-keeping that supports them. We do not advise on BCFSA compliance beyond the record-retention rule stated above; your managing broker and BCFSA are the authorities there.
Official sources
- CRA: Keeping records
- BCFSA: Real Estate Services Rules (Part 8, records; section 8-10 retention)
- BCFSA: Personal Real Estate Corporation guidelines
This guide is general information, not advice about your situation. It reflects the rules for the 2026 tax year. It has not yet been reviewed by a practitioner. The information was checked against the official sources listed above on the date shown. Rules change. Check the official sources above or ask us. How we prepare these guides.