The Municipal Property Assessment Corporation, or MPAC, is a non-share capital and not-for-profit corporation the is responsible for providing property owners, tenants, municipalities and government and business stakeholders with consistent and accurate property assessments.
Every municipality in Ontario is a member of MPAC, enabling it to administer a uniform, province-wide property assessment system. This is based on current value assessment practices. But what if you want to appeal your MPAC assessment?
The first step is to address any questions you may have about your property’s assessed value. Review your assessment to ensure it contains the most up-to-date and pertinent information about your property. Then contact MPAC’s customer contact centre to ask any questions you may have.
From there, you can review the value of properties similar to yours to help you determine the accuracy of your assessment. You can get information for up to 24 properties of your choosing, free of charge, from MPAC.
Then, ask MPAC to review your assessment through a Request for Consideration. If you still don’t believe your assessment is accurate it will be reviewed free of charge. This will be completed within 60 days and if an adjustment needs to be made, the municipality will be informed so your property taxes are adjusted accordingly.
If no change is made, you can file an appeal with the Assessment Review Board. This is an independent tribunal of the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General . Remember, this appeal can only be filed if you’ve first requested a reconsideration with MPAC and that decision has been made.
Once received, the Board will send you an appeal acknowledgement letter and will proceed to schedule a hearing, which you will receive notice of by mail. Before the hearing begins, you may withdraw your appeal at any time, but once in process you must proceed.
An oral decision may be given at the hearing, with a formal written confirmation of the decision mailed to you at a later date.
An appeal does not always result in a change in assessment, though it’s a relatively inexpensive, if not time consuming, process to go through if you feel your MPAC assessment truly is incorrect.
