Overview
The proposed 2025 property tax assessments for the City of Winnipeg have been mailed. New assessments issue every two years.
This begins the process which gives property owners the right to appeal the assessed value of their property. The appeal window in the City of Winnipeg opens on June 5, 2024, and closes at 4:30 p.m. on Tuesday, July 2, 2024.
For municipalities outside the City of Winnipeg, appeal deadlines vary and can be found on municipal websites.
What does it all mean?
One of the primary methods by which the City of Winnipeg, and other municipal governments throughout Manitoba, fund their expenditures is by way of property taxes, but commercial properties also contribute by payment of a provincial education levy not charged on residential properties.
UnderThe Municipal Assessment Act, all properties in Manitoba are to be assessed at their market value. Market value means what a willing buyer would pay to a willing seller in the open market for the property. For purposes of the 2025 reassessment, which will also apply to the 2026 taxation year, properties are valued at their market value at April 1, 2023.
How are property values determined? This depends on the type of property. Generally speaking, properties are valued by the following methodologies:
- Residential properties are valued based on comparing homes to the sale prices of other similar homes, known as the direct comparison method.
- Income-producing properties, such as office buildings, industrial properties, retail properties, and apartment buildings, are generally valued based on the income approach.
How do you know if the proposed assessed value for your property is reasonable? If it is a residential property, you have to compare it to the sales of other similar residential properties. The City of Winnipeg has on the Assessment Department webpage City of Winnipeg - UD : Assessment and Taxation Department sales information relating to residential properties sorted by year of sale and neighbourhood.
For income-producing properties, the basis by which the City Assessor has calculated the value can be found by accessing the "My Properties portion of the Assessment Department website, where a calculation of the assessment can be found. This requires the private user ID, which can be found on the assessment notice.
The initial assessed value of all properties reflected in the assessment notice is not done on an individual basis; it is done through the use of mathematical models. These models attempt to replicate market conditions through the research of data from sales, as well as with respect to rents, vacancy rates and expenses in the case of income-producing properties.
Models are not 100% accurate. That is why it is important to carefully review the proposed assessment of your property. It is entirely possible the value proposed will be too high, and in this circumstance, an appeal should be considered.
There is a filing fee that must be paid for appeals to the City of Winnipeg: $61 for a residential property and a minimum of $61 for an income-producing property with a value of $599,999, but increasing by $12 per $100,000 of value topping out at $610 for properties with a value over $5 million. Municipalities outside the City of Winnipeg have their own filing fees, which vary from municipality to municipality.
The appeal process begins at the Board of Revision. A property owner unhappy with the results of that appeal has a further right of appeal to the Municipal Board of Manitoba. Appeals can frequently be settled by discussions with assessors in advance of a hearing.
Ultimately, the assessed value of the property determines the amount of taxes which will be paid by the property owner.
We can assist you in considering whether your property value is accurate and whether an appeal should be considered.