Should our real estate development use an HST joint venture election or a partnership structure?

The two structures are treated differently for GST/HST purposes, so the choice matters beyond how the parties divide profits. A genuine partnership is generally itself treated as a separate person for GST/HST purposes, it typically registers, charges tax, claims input tax credits, and files its own returns, with the individual partners not each separately accounting for the partnership's activities. A joint venture, by contrast, isn't a separate person in that same way; instead, the election lets the co-venturers designate one of themselves as operator to account for tax on the group's behalf, while each co-venturer otherwise keeps their own separate tax identity.

Which fits better for a real estate development often comes down to how the parties want to be treated more broadly, for income tax, liability, and financing purposes, not just the GST/HST mechanics, since a true partnership carries broader legal consequences than simply electing joint venture treatment for HST administration. Developers sometimes assume the two are interchangeable ways to simplify HST, when choosing one over the other can have very different implications outside of HST entirely.

Because this decision affects far more than tax filing convenience, work through it with both your tax advisor and your real estate lawyer before the development structure is finalized.