Property Tax Bulletin, October 2000

The purpose of this Bulletin is to inform business property owners of recent changes that were made to the rules regarding the property tax treatment of vacant units in commercial and industrial properties.

Background

On January 12, 2000, the Minister of Finance announced that the Government intends to introduce a new system for the taxation of vacant business properties that would take effect for the 2001 tax year. The new system would be a real-time approach whereby property owners would receive tax rebates based on the actual period of time that a property is vacant.

Legislation to implement the new real-time system will be introduced this Fall.

Transitional Changes

To facilitate the transition from the current system to the new real-time system, the Government has made the following changes through Ontario Regulation 457/00:

• Property owners do not have to submit an application to their local assessment office by the current deadline of November 1, 2000 in order to be eligible for a tax reduction in respect of vacant units or excess land for the 2001 tax year.
  
• Property owners do not have to offer their vacant units for lease from July 1 to September 30, 2000 in order to be eligible for a tax reduction in respect of vacant units for the 2001 tax year. (This extends the moratorium on the requirement to offer premises for lease that applied in 1998 and 1999.)

For More Information

For more information, you may call the Ministry of Finance Information Centre toll-free at:

English: 1 800 263-7965
French: 1 800 668-5821
Teletypewriter (TTY): 1 800 263-7776