Former Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse and his wife are embroiled in a legal dispute with the Ontario government over its refusal to reimburse the couple nearly $700,000 in foreign buyer tax they paid on their Mississauga home.
A notice of appeal dated July 6 and filed with the Ontario Superior Court of Justice alleges that the provincial government wrongfully denied Nurse and his wife a rebate for a non-resident speculation tax (NRST) they paid when they bought their home in 2021 for $4.65 million.
The provincial tax is applied to residential properties purchased by “individuals who are foreign nationals,” according to the province’s website.
The notice says Nurse and his wife Roberta “were not the type of real estate speculators the Legislature aimed to address.”
The home was the principal residence for Nurse and his wife from 2021 to 2023, according to their appeal.
CBC News reached out to the Ministry of Finance for comment but has not yet received a response.
The notice says that during the time Nurse lived at the property, he and his wife were foreign nationals in Canada. But it also says that Nurse held a foreign national work permit and was employed by Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment LTD., the entertainment conglomerate that owns the Raptors, for nearly 10 years.
“Mr. Nurse brought significant economic and social value to the province,” the notice of appeal said.
The rookie head coach that took the Toronto Raptors to an NBA Championship
Nurse led the Raptors to their first-ever championship win in 2019. He was fired in 2023 following a disappointing season when they did not make the playoffs, and then went on to coach the Philadelphia 76ers.
The notice of appeal says that in accordance with provincial rules, Nurse and his wife were eligible for an NRST rebate on the home.
In an email Tuesday, the lawyer representing the couple, Mike Collinge, said the law firm has “no further comment at this time.”
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According to the provincial government website, a foreign national can be eligible for an NRST rebate if specific conditions are met, which include:
The government previously had transitional NRST rebates available, which granted foreign workers in Ontario the ability to get the rebate if they met specific criteria, so long as their agreement of purchase and sale was entered into on, or before, March 29, 2022. The application deadline for the rebate was March 31, 2025.
The notice of appeal states that Nurse and his wife applied for the rebate but it was rejected by the province because they did not occupy their home up to the date that they applied for the rebate.
The appeal alleges that was not a requirement at the time their rebate application was filed.
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According to the court document, Nurse and his wife filed a rebate application in March 2024. They sold their Mississauga home in September 2023.
Their application was denied in April 2024, with Nurse and his wife filing a notice of objection challenging the decision. A back-and-forth of exchanges with the ministry ensued until the government confirmed its rejection on April 10 this year.
Nurse and his wife then filed their appeal. They are seeking a $697,500 rebate plus applicable interest and “further relief” as deemed appropriate by the court.
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