Your property tax is your assessed value multiplied by your municipality’s tax rate. You can’t appeal the rate, which your council sets, but you can challenge the assessed value if it’s wrong. This page covers when that makes sense and how to do it in Ontario and British Columbia. Other provinces have their own assessment bodies and deadlines, which are printed on your assessment notice.
When an appeal makes sense
An appeal is about whether the assessed value is right as of the province’s valuation date. It isn’t about whether your taxes feel too high. Reasons to look closer:
- similar homes near you sold for less than your assessed value, around the valuation date
- the property details are wrong, such as square footage, lot size, bedrooms, bathrooms or a finished basement
- damage or defects that affect value aren’t reflected
- similar nearby properties are assessed lower than yours
The saving is the reduction in assessed value times your tax rate. For example, a $50,000 reduction at a 0.767% rate (Toronto’s) saves about $384 a year.
Ontario
The Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) assesses property. For the 2026 tax year, assessments are still based on values as of January 1, 2016 (MPAC form).
- Request for Reconsideration (RfR). For residential property, you must first ask MPAC to review your assessment. The deadline is printed on your Property Assessment Notice. Include sale information for your property and similar ones, assessed values of similar properties, and photos.
- Assessment Review Board (ARB). If you disagree with MPAC’s decision, you have 90 days from the date of the RfR decision to appeal. The filing fee for residential property is $132.50 per roll number, with a $10 discount if you file online (Tribunals Ontario).
British Columbia
BC Assessment values property as of July 1 of the year the assessment roll is completed (Assessment Act, s. 18).
- Property Assessment Review Panel. File a notice of complaint with the assessor no later than January 31 of the year after the roll is completed (s. 33). An independent review panel hears it.
- Property Assessment Appeal Board. If you disagree with the panel’s decision, file an appeal with the fee on or before April 30 (s. 50). The Board decides whether the property is assessed at actual (market) value, properly classified, or eligible for an exemption.
Building your case
- Sales of similar homes close to the valuation date, as close to yours in location, size and age as you can find
- Evidence of any errors in the assessor’s record of your property
- Photos and reports showing condition problems that affect value
- An independent appraisal, if the amount at stake justifies the cost