Calgary property tax:how to pay and why your assessment value is not market value.
Are you wondering how to pay your property taxes?
And you're kind of hoping that there's a payment plan or are you a seller and you're wondering
if your sale price will be the same as your assessment price?
By the end of the video, you're going to know what the differences between market value
and assessment value and you'll know exactly what your payment options are going to be.
Okay.
So here's some facts about Calgary's property taxes.
The tax period is between January 1st and December 31st.
The tax billing mailing is usually in the month of May.
The tax due date is June 30th.
If you don't pay on or before September 30th, then there's
a 7% penalty fee.
If you're wondering what your tax breakdown is and where it goes to?
63% of it goes towards city services.
So things like police and the fire department, and then the rest 37% of that goes to
the government of Alberta.
So how are properties assessed?
Well, they pull information from a few different things, such as the MLS system, land titles office with the sales.
They also take into consideration, things about your property.
So the location, the size, if it backs onto a park or main road, the age of it.
Now, there isn't anyone that sits behind a desk and figures all this out.
It is an algorithm that the city has and they spit out this valuation on the 1st of
July.
Now, if you're wondering where you can find your tax assessment, you can go onto the
city's website.
And if you're also wondering where the tax rate is, I'm going to include the two links
down below in the description.
So make sure you check that out.
Now, sometimes I get a call from my friends or my past clients, and they're like, okay,
Hey Fee, what happens is if my property assessment goes down, does that mean I pay less tax?
Oh, by the way, my friends call me Fee.
So if you call me, you can call me Fee.
And the truth is not necessarily because the tax rates could actually go up, um, or
sometimes what they do is they shift some of the tax burden from non - residential properties
to residential properties.
So there are two main ways to pay your property taxes.
The first one is you can pay in full and you have a few options.
You can either go down to the city and pay for your property taxes.
There's cashiers there.
You can mail it, or you could drop it off at their 24-hour deposit box.
Second way you can do it is you could go to your bank.
You could go into the branch or pay online or telephone banking.
The second way you can do it is by paying your taxes through the TIPP program.
It stands for tax installment payment plan.
And this is a plan with the city of Calgary.
And you can make your monthly payments through that program.
Now, there is no fee if you enroll for the program before January 1st, but most of the
time people enroll throughout the year.
And if you do, then there is a 2% filing fee.
Now you can't pay by credit card.
It has to be through your checkings accounts, and it comes out of your account on the first
of every month.
This is a great way to pay for your property taxes because you just
kind of set it and forget it.
And it eliminates any chances of you not making payments or not paying before the due date.
Because if you do, then there is a 7% penalty.
Now, once you're in this program, it automatically renews on a year to year basis.
So you won't have to worry about it ever again, as long as you own the property.
So here are the steps that you can take to be part of it.
The first thing you have to do is you have to go to the city's website and I'll add the
link in the description and you have to request for an agreement.
Once you received the agreement for your specific property, then you have to complete it and
sign it and send it to the city.
And then the last step is making your initial payment.
Now there is a third way that you could make your payments.
and it doesn't apply to everyone, but if you're putting less than 20% down, you
can see if your mortgage lender is willing to make your property taxes on your behalf.
Sometimes it's mandatory.
They just say, hey, we're going to pay for your property taxes.
And if they were to do that, then what they do is they usually take out two payments from
your account every month, one for the mortgage, and then the other would be for the property
taxes.
And they make those payments to the city once per year.
I'm going to leave the phone number
and all the links you need in the description below.
So if you want to reach out to the city and get more info on it, you can go-ahead
and do that.
Now, what is the difference between assessment value and market value?
Wow, it's getting really windy and the clouds are coming.
We're going to have a very big thunderstorm.
I'm going to head inside.
There is a crazy story storm happening.
Okay.
So I'm back inside.
And what I wanted to talk about was just the assessment value versus market value.
Now the assessment value is not the market value for a few different reasons.
Number one, there's no physical person from the city that comes into your home and takes
into account the features and interior finishings of your house.
It's all done through an algorithm on July 1st of every single year.
So if you've done cosmetic renovations or updates, finishings can easily add tens of
thousands of dollars to the value of your home, they don't take that into consideration
versus market value.
Now market value is when an appraiser or realtor comes into your house and they make adjustments
on your home value based on similar properties that have sold within the last 120 days.
And they make adjustments based on interior finishings, that you have any renovations
and features of a home.
There's a big difference between active properties and sold properties.
Active properties are just properties on the market.
And the sellers are just asking for a price.
However, sold properties is what really determines market price, because that's the price that
sellers and buyers have agreed to transact on a property for.
And assessment value is great as a general rule of thumb to see what your property is
worth, but it doesn't give you the exact value.
If you're in Calgary and you're a seller, and you're thinking about selling your home,
give our team a shout and we will be happy to do a free market valuation for you.
So guys was this helpful?
Let me know in the comments below, and if you've enjoyed this video, feel free to hit
that like button and subscribe.
So you don't miss out on any other valuable real estate and mortgage tips.
My name is Felix Chan with the LiveInnerCity real estate team, helping you keep real
estate simple.
And we'll see you in the next video.
I literally just got inside right before all of this happened.
Wow.
Look at my deck.
It is June, almost July.