Nick Chen

Nick Chen
Personal Real Estate Corporation

RE/MAX Crest Realty
3215 Macdonald Street
Vancouver, British Columbia
V6L 2N2

What does the city do with our property tax?

February 4, 2019 is a big day The last day to pay your 2019 advance tax is February 4, 2019. Start thinking about getting it done to avoid a 5% penalty on your unpaid balance. February 4, 2019 is also the deadline to submit a property status declaration. If your home is empty in Vancouver west and east, don’t forget this important step. You could face a Vacancy Tax at a rate of 1% of the property’s assessed taxable value as well as a $250 fine if you forget to submit the declaration. The excuse of being busy and it slipped your mind won’t help you, so get on it now. A sample of the Advance Tax Notice can be viewed here: https://vancouver.ca/files/cov/advance-tax-notice-bill-clip.pdf

How to pay your taxes

You can pay your property tax and empty home tax through

Online banking
Mail
City Hall
Your bank
ATM

What does the city do with tax revenue?

Every city has certain services that need to be maintained regularly. The city is always changing and evolving and as such, the council also has to consider investments that are given priority in order to help future needs and growth. We’ve gone to the City of Vancouver website to take a look at the budget priorities for 2019. Here are the highlights so far:

The operating expenditures of $1,513 million
New multi-year capital budget request of $365.8 million
And the annual capital expenditures of $562.7 million

With the still new empty home tax in place, there were many questions as to what will be done with the revenue from this additional tax. The Vancouver council has mandated that all net revenue from the empty home tax will go to affordable housing. There are still many discussions about the best way to invest the money, but we all expect that however it is used will benefit the people who live and work in Vancouver. Read Vancouver’s first ever empty home tax report here: https://vancouver.ca/news-calendar/city-releases-first-empty-homes-tax-annual-report.aspx. You can take a look at the budget priorities of 2019 at the City of Vancouver website here: https://vancouver.ca/your-government/annual-budget.aspx.