Blog

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Additional School Tax (AST) APPEALS UPDATE

Since our last communication, we have discussed issues with the leading appellant agents and legal counsel experienced with AST.

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Effect of Consolidation on Property Taxes

What happens to property taxes when an assembly is consolidated into one lot?

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2024 Property Assessment Value Changes

The chart below details the average % difference in the value change for each class between July 2022 and July 2023, in BC Assessment’s opinion.

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Whistler and Pemberton Assessed Values

The assessed values of retail and industrial properties have increased significantly. On average those increases were...

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2023 Assessment Update

You should have received your assessment notices by now. The appeal deadline is Jan 31, 2023. Some points to note...

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2023 Property Assessment Value Changes

The chart below details the average % difference in the value change for each class between July 2021 and July 2022, in BC Assessment’s opinion. Note that the assessed value for 2023 is the value at July 2022.

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Expected Assessed Value Changes In 2023

In November, BC Assessment provided a summary of assessment changes that they were planning to institute for the 2023 roll values in comparison to the 2022 roll values for ICI properties. We have paraphrased BCA’s comments for ease of reading. Our comments are in italics, with our advice at the end.

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Potential Property Tax Relief For Local Businesses

Currently, businesses located on a future development site such as 4th Avenue in Vancouver, pay an inequitable amount of property tax. Why? The lot is valued as a development site, which is worth more than the investment value (Net income/cap rate).

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Reasons For Landlords To Appeal Their Property Assessments

Why should landlords and property managers care about property tax?

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Developers need to Appeal the Additional School Tax (AST)

If a developer holds a parcel of land for future development, it likely will be charged an additional amount of school tax (AST). In our opinion, that tax is not applicable, and an APPEAL must be filed by January 31st to the Property Assessment Review Panel (PARP).

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Misconceptions within the Property Assessment Process

Everyone knows there are only two certainties in life: Death and taxes. Most landlords, tenants, and property owners want to know if they are paying too much tax and what to do about it.

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Additional School Tax Exemption for Developers

A property under construction is generally exempt from Additional School Tax (AST), HOWEVER land in the development phase prior to construction is TAXED as BC Assessment state that it has “no use.”

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Minimizing Property Tax on Development Land

Any action you do or do not take before or after Oct 31 and November 30 will affect the amount of tax you have to pay.

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Assessment Of Residential Sites Under Construction

Last year, we found a number of overvalued development sites under construction. Until a few years ago, BC Assessment primarily used the Cost Approach, whereby they take the land value and add the development costs in place to obtain the total assessed value.

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Should Homebuilders Be Paying Additional School Tax?

This is an extra tax imposed by the NDP on wealth. Unfortunately, Homebuilders have been caught in the web. Was it really the intent of the government to increase the cost of housing by making homebuilders pay extra tax for 2-4 years during the pre-construction phase? The following explains the status of and reasons for current Appeals to the Assessment Appeal Board or just skip to the conclusion.

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Development Sites: Is The Additional School Tax Applicable?

The municipalities may have made An error in charging the extra school tax to developers.

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Vancouver Vacancy Tax

The City of Vancouver enacted the Vancouver Vacancy Tax Bylaw to come into effect for 2018 under Bylaw #11674. The tax of 1% will be imposed if a property is deemed either unoccupied or vacant.

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Misconceptions within the Property Assessment Process

Everyone knows there are only two certainties in life: Death and taxes. Most landlords, tenants, and property owners want to know if they are paying too much tax and what to do about it.

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Housing Market in the City of Vancouver

Does the city have enough zoned land, if so, why do prices keep increasing? Should we rezone more land along transit lines?

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