Ingrid Protacio's blog

On April 4, Bob Langlois, Managing Director and Vice-President, awarded this year's winner of Seneca College's Steve McLean Memorial Scholarship to Steven Eakins. It is a $1000 award given to a graduating student in the Real Property Administration or Real Property Administration Accelerated program with above average grades in all RPA courses. Preference is given to students demonstrating strong work ethic, meaningful contributions to the camaraderie and collegial nature of the class and involvement in extra-curricular activities.

Aside from being named after a well-loved and remembered AEC practitioner, this scholarship is of significance to AEC as it embodies the model of Unique Abilities in which we believe. As a strength-based organization, AEC believes that the balance of technical aptitude and the ability to build strong and enjoyable relationships with internal and external stakeholders is critical for any Real Estate valuation professional. This year's recipient Steven Eakins epitomizes this balance and we wish him all the best! Congratulations, Steven!

Last week, the Fraser Institute released a report on "The Compliance and Administrative Costs of Taxation in Canada 2013".

While the direct and explicit costs of taxes simply being the economic costs of the tax itself, there is a different cost to tax that maybe factor into the total effect of a tax on both taxpayers and taxcollectors, as summarized below:

The costs associated with complying with the tax code are almost always ignored in public policy debates. Compliance costs include the time required to collect and organize receipts, accounting and other professional fees, the time required to complete tax forms if professionals are not used, appeal costs if applicable, and the general costs of remitting returns. Similarly, the administrative costs incurred by governments to administer and collect taxes are often ignored. In both cases, one explanation of this is the lack of quantitative estimates of these costs. This study will facilitate taking these costs into account.

The research astutely attempts to quantify and qualify these "hidden" costs. You can download the whitepaper here.

If you own or occupy commercial property in British Columbia, it is of immense interest to you what percent changes can be seen across various cities in British Columbia. This provides you a starting point for comparing your recent assessments. We have summarized the averages for various cities below, as reported by the BC Assessment Authority. If you have a question …

• - How are these averages calculated?
• - What if I want to know about another BC city not listed below?
• - Who can I ask to review my specific property as compared to these averages?
•  

David Nishi-Beckingham who oversees AEC British Columbia will gladly discuss via email or directly at 604.629.4643.

AEC actively participated in the City of Calgary's Advance Consultation Period (ACP). It has provided us with an excellent opportunity to engage in the assessment process and to review the details of our clients' properties and businesses prior to the 2013 Assessment Rolls being finalized. As a courtesy to AEC, the City's Assessment Business Unit provided us with an updated list with some of the preliminary 2013 assessment values (reflective as of December 7) for non-residential property, multi-residential property and business premises whereby the value changed greater than 5% from the last preliminary 2013 assessment value that was communicated. If you are an AEC client and have any questions regarding these updated values, please contact Jill McKenna via email or directly at 403.265.0271 x315. Please find below communication from the City of Calgary on the 2013 Customer Review Period.

MPAC is in the final stages of preparing the 2012 CVA Assessment Notices to be mailed to property owners. You may have already received your notice for your home, while the industrial and commercial sectors are the next group to receive their notices.

AEC has been able to ascertain 7 facts about the updated values and re-assessment processes, which may help you as a taxpayer:

Bob Langlois, Managing Director, will be participating as a panelist in the Canadian Self-Storage Association's 7th Annual Ontario Conference and Tradeshow on Thursday, November 8, at the Delta Toronto East Hotel.

Along with Iqbal Khan, CFO of Access Storage and Chair of the CSSA's Ontario Property Tax Committee, Bob will be discussing the "Status of the Ontario Property Tax Project: Where We Currently Stand with MPAC". Bob will be providing insights into the pending re-assessment in Ontario, while also updating the attendees with respect to ongoing appeal matters regarding vacancy rebates for self-storage in Ontario. There will also be a very focused discussion on four previously heard appeals and future challenges as it relates to having the Assessment Review Board re-assessing decisions that went against the taxpayer.

Property Taxes represent the single largest controllable expense impacting commercial and industrial properties in Canada. In Ontario, the province-wide property tax reassessment occurring in 2012 for the taxation years 2013 to 2016 will affect all non-residential properties. MPAC has started mailing out over 5,000,000 property assessments notices (September 13 to November 16). This assessment is based on the Jan 1, 2012 valuation date and is effective for the 4 years (property taxes for 2013 to 2016). It is important to note that market increases between 2008 to 2012 will be phased in and decreases will be applied immediately. Key dates are:

No, it is not what you think! AEC is proud to announce that we are opening an Ottawa office to support the growing needs of our clients in the nation’s capital.

With the recent addition of key team members, Gordon Jones, Monika Cholewa and Brian Merkel, we are thrilled with our expanded capability to meet the needs of our clients and respond to new challenges arising from the 2013-2016 re-assessment. 

We are very excited about increasing our capacity to deliver our core service and to tap into the knowledge, experience and track record of the key senior-level personnel that will form the cornerstone of our Ottawa office. The addition of the Ottawa team strengthens AEC's presence in the hospitality and industrial sector while increasing our bench strength in the area of municipal taxation expertise.

This is another new and exciting chapter for AEC, always looking onward and forward to deliver the Gold Standard in the Property Tax Advisory industry.

Brock Ryan, Director of Income and Complex Properties, and Steven Rickard, Advisor, will be speaking at the Calgary Hotel Association (CHA) Member Luncheon on Thursday, November 15 at the Greenwood Inn & Suites. They will be reviewing changes to the 2013 Calgary property tax assessment process. For sure, this will be a timely and lively discussion on matters that are currently top-of-mind to many in the Calgary hotel market.

Other speakers include:

• Gisele Danis from Tourism Calgary, discussing the Paul Hardy event as a big win for Calgary
• Pravesh Thathiah and Jonathan Cleall from Enmax, presenting the current and future outlook for the Power industry in Alberta and discussing the program in place with the AHLA

All CHA hotel and associate members are welcome to attend. Please RSVP to Cindy Tedd to help confirm catering numbers.

The province of Saskatchewan has an upcoming property tax re-assessment. As a taxpayer, the information below is especially important for you since the determination of the final roll will be the base of your Saskatchewan properties’ taxation for the next four (4) years. 

A. Regina and Saskatoon Only - Pre-Roll Consultation Available!

Starting September 3rd, non-residential Regina and Saskatoon property owners should have received pre-roll assessment notices for the 2013 to 2016 taxation years. As property tax advisors, we aim to clarify and make the assessment review process easy for non-residential taxpayers by highlighting:

• The importance of the process
• What you need to know
• What you need to do

Why Pre-Roll Consultation Matters to You

This form of negotiation prior to the publication of the final assessment roll in January, where available, has proven to be a useful additional tool for taxpayers hoping to proactively address any concerns related to the assessment of their non-residential properties. By utilizing this advance consultation process, it allows you as the taxpayer the opportunity to pre-negotiate property assessment reductions proactively between September and December 2012 with the goals of: