Avoiding Capital Gains Tax on Farmland in Ontario, Canada

[Bryce Witherspoon]

Hello all!

I wanted to put this question out there to see if anyone might have a recommendation, it is referring to Ontario, Canada tax laws, but I know there are some Canadian members on here so I'm hoping they might chime in.

A family friend came to Canada 25 years ago from Germany as an investor and he purchased a 100acre piece of farmland with a nice home on it for $180,000 in 1989. The land is in Waterloo Region which is about 1.5hrs from Toronto. He is now looking to sell and take the money back to Germany for retirement, the home and 100acres is now valued at approx. $1.8 million, he is looking for an accountant in the area who would have some specialized knowledge in avoiding capital gains tax and other expenses in this type of situation. Right now he is looking at paying almost 30%! in taxes on the $1.8 million in order to bring the money out of the country. Any advice or recommendations on contacts would be much appreciated. He has been advised that if he farms the land for the 2 years prior to selling, and his farm earnings are more than his personal income, then he can avoid the capitals gains tax, he more or less needs a good accountant to organize the whole deal and who might have some recommendations on how to structure everything.

Thank you in advance for any tips/feedback!