January 2019
Property tax assessments can be confusing.
Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) is operated by the Government of Ontario. Every four years this corporation determines an assessed value for every property in Ontario. This information is used to determine each property owner’s obligation for the expenses of their municipality.
Assessed value information is delivered by MPAC to each municipality for all properties within their jurisdiction.
The assessed value determined by MPAC identifies current value of a property if it were to be sold in an open market. Assessed value takes into consideration factors that include age of property, location, living area and lot dimensions. MPAC excludes certain property sales that distort value. A property selling for dramatically more or less than expected may be excluded from determination of assessed value. Assessed value is intended to be consistent relative to other property values in Ontario.
Toronto, like other municipalities, uses assessed value to determine property taxes. A higher assessed value does not necessarily mean higher property taxes which depends on the financial requirements of each municipality.
Property tax revenue requirements are determined by each municipality. Once total revenue required has been identified, MPAC’s assessed values are used to determine the share paid by each property owner.
