Property Tax Assessment Appeals
Compare the assessed value on your notice with the market value you can actually evidence, then take the question to the authority that decides it. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
Your figures
Copy it exactly from the assessment notice, including the valuation date it states.
Use comparable sales close to the assessment's valuation date, or a written appraisal — not a current asking price.
Working an assessment question properly
An assessment appeal is an evidence exercise, not a negotiation. The comparison on this page only puts your two numbers side by side; everything that decides the outcome sits in the documents below.
Gather these inputs first
- The assessed value and the legislated valuation date printed on your notice
- The property classification your assessment was issued under
- Three to five comparable sales close to that valuation date, with addresses and sale dates
- The assessed values of comparable neighbouring properties, where your authority publishes them
- Any condition issue that existed at the valuation date, with dated evidence
Documents and bills to have open
- Your current assessment notice and the previous one
- Your municipal property tax bill, which shows how the assessment is applied
- The authority’s property record for your home (square footage, year built, features)
- A written appraisal, if you have one, stating the effective date of value
- Invoices, engineer or contractor reports for defects you intend to rely on
- Photographs dated at or near the valuation date
What this estimate can establish
- The arithmetic gap between the assessed value on your notice and a market value you can evidence
- Whether the factual property record matches your home
- Which body in your province receives the challenge
- What evidence you still need to collect before filing
What it cannot establish
- Whether an appeal will succeed, or by how much an assessment might change
- Any dollar figure for tax savings — the tax rate is set separately by your municipality each year
- Your filing deadline, fee, or the forms your authority requires
- Whether your comparables are the ones the authority considers appropriate
- Whether a reassessment cycle, phase-in or freeze applies in your province this year
Questions to ask your assessment authority
- What is the legislated valuation date my assessment is based on?
- What is the exact filing deadline for my property this cycle, and is there a fee?
- Is there an informal review or request-for-reconsideration step I must use first?
- How can I see the property record you hold for my home, and how do I correct a factual error?
- Which comparable properties were used, and can I obtain that list?
- What form does acceptable evidence take, and when must it be exchanged?
Official sources to verify against
- Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) — Ontario
- BC Assessment — British Columbia
- Your municipality (assessment is municipal in Alberta) — Alberta
- Municipal assessment roll (rôle d’évaluation foncière) — Quebec
- Manitoba Assessment Services (or City of Winnipeg) — Manitoba
- Saskatchewan Assessment Management Agency (SAMA) — Saskatchewan
Related Resources
Checking a figure on this page? Open the home cost source ledger for every primary source we cite, when its link was last checked, and what it does not establish.