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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?
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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:

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:

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:

It's that time of the year again ... Non-residential property owners and occupiers in Calgary, mark your calendars! The City has announced that its 2013 Advanced Consultation Period will start on October 4 and continute until October 31, 2012. During this time, taxpayers are given the opportunity to engage in a 2-way exchange of information discussing property and business specific questions in advance of the 2013 Assessment Notice mailing. Upon contacting the City, taxpayers are provided with the preliminary 2013 property or business assessment.

Representatives must have valid Authorization of Agency (AOA) filed with the City of Calgary prior to the commencement of any discussions during the 3 week period.

Customer Review Period

Following the mailing of the 2013 assessment notices in January 2013, all taxpayers will have a 60 day period in which to participate in discussions regarding the correctness and fairness of the subject assessment. The values reflected on the 2013 assessment notices will be based on the market value of property and the typical net annual rental value of the business space as of July 01, 2012.

In what is a massive change to the City's taxation process, the City of Calgary is consolidating its business tax with non-residential property tax. A change of this magnitude will require an implementation period of 7 years, with the phased rate breakdown detailed by in the City of Calgary Business Tax Consolidation website.

Great News ... Hot off the Presses!

Service Nova Scotia has announced several major changes to its appeal process and the publication of real estate sale prices.

AEC is proud to have been a participant in the stakeholder consultations that has allowed for this positive legislation change to be passed. The changes are expected to be implemented for the 2013 assessments.

Read here for full details on the changes, and it's impact on your assessment appeals.

To aid our clients, our Atlantic Senior Consultant, Peter McLellan has put together a Question & Answer sheet on the Top 4 questions that clients may have for their New Brunswick Assessment Appeals.

QUESTION 1: Is it necessary to file individual appeals with each region where the properties are situated? Or is there one central regional depository where we can file all appeals from across the province?

ANSWER 1: We can send them all at Head Office at the following address. They will redistribute to the proper Regional Offices afterward:

SNB – Property Assessment Services

Westmorland Place

82 Westmorland Street

Fredericton, New Brunswick E3B 3L3

Canada

Phone (506) 453-2658 Fax (506) 453-4005

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QUESTION 2: Is there someplace on the web where I can quickly match the region to the municipality?

ANSWER 2: GO on the SNB.ca website to find the fax # and address for the 11 regional assessment offices. The 11 regional offices are as follows: