Capital Gains tax on second property in the US

[gei]

If someone owns a house here in Canada (their principal residence) and then goes and buys a vacation home in Florida, how does capital gains tax work when they decide to sell that home in Florida?

The home in Florida will NOT be rented out, they will NOT be spending more then 2-3 months per year in it, and they have no other source of US income.

Do they just pay capital gains tax on the property to the us government? Is the CRA involved in this sale at all?

 

[simuls]

To the best of my knowledge, both govt's will take their cut. The US always does (as not even their principal residence is exempt from capital gains) and as it's a 2nd home, Canada will look at that as income.

 

[gei]

As far as I can tell they both indeed do take capital gains tax. However I believe you can claim a "foreign tax credit" to the CRA on the portion you are already paying to the US government. Sadly there doesn't appear to be much information on this online. Or if there is, it's very difficult to find...