Paying Property Taxes

Property owners seeking to grant access to a third party, authorized individual to their property tax account must submit a written consent to disclose property tax information to Taxation Services. 

The Municipal Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act R.S.O., 1990 requires written authorization to disclose your personal information.  By completing the form, the third party, authorized individual will be granted access to the personal information regarding your property tax account with the City of Oshawa. 

The City does not make any warranties, representations or endorsements to the information provided from this authorized access.  By submitting this authorized access, the property owner acknowledges that:

• Information is provided in a certain point in time;
• The information provided is unsuitable for purposes of transacting property sales or any other legally binding matters;
• The information provided through this authorization is not certified accurate for real estate transactions.  Taxation Services recommend the seller use tax certificates for legal matters.  The Tax Certificate Forms are available electronically with 24 hour rush service where required.
  
• If the third party, authorized individual is to change the mailing address and, as a result, you do not receive your property tax bill, you are still required to submit your property tax payments by the required installment due dates in order to avoid penalties and interest;
• Property Tax Authorized Access must be revoked in writing using this form and providing the revoke option contained in the form below.

The City of Oshawa is not responsible for, and will not be liable to you or anyone else, for any damages, including any indirect, special, incidental or consequential damages, arising out of or in connection with your authorized access submission.

NOTE:  Taxation Services staff will contact the property owner to authenticate authorization.

Due Dates

Due dates for the payment of property taxes are set annually and approved by Council according to the interim and final property tax by-law. Installment due dates will also be set by City by-law with two installments for interim billing and two installments for final billing. Due dates will normally be as follows:

Interim Billing

• last week of February
• last week of April

Final Billing

• last week of June (residential)
• last week of September (residential & non-residential)
• last week of October (non-residential)

The City may have a minimum bill in the event that the amount owing is $25 or less on a tax bill. In this case, the property tax owner shall pay the full amount in one installment on the specified due date, being the first installment due date. The second installment due date will not apply. 

Submit the appropriate form as outlined below. Forms registering for Interim Billing must be received prior to December 15. Forms registering for Final Billing must be received prior to April 15.

• E-Billing Application Form
• E-Billing Change Form 
• E-Billing Cancellation Form

Interim Billing 

Interim property tax bills are issued annually in January. Interim taxes reflect 50% of the previous year's annual taxes. If the property had assessment adjustments, such as a supplementary bill or PRAN, S.357 adjustment processed on the account during the previous property tax year, the adjusted current year assessment is used to calculate the 50% levy for the interim bill. 

Interim billing installment dates are clearly marked on the interim tax bill.

Final Billing 

Final property tax bills are issued annually in May (June for non-residential) and provide the balance of taxes owed by the property owner including the changes in the property taxes for the year. It contains the current value assessment for the year multiplied by the tax class rate to determine the levies for the full year, less the interim tax bill amount already billed. This remaining balance for the year also contains any arrears, penalties & interest or other amounts in accordance with the Municipal Act (M.A.), 2001, as amended.

Final billing installment dates are clearly marked on the final property tax bill.

The final property tax bill is the official document used to support a claim regarding property taxes made with Canada Revenue Agency when completing the T1 tax return. In the year of purchase or sale, property owners are advised to use the Statement of Adjustments document provided upon closing of the transfer. Re-issuance of a final property tax bill upon request will be imposed the fee in accordance with the General Fees and Charges By-law 13-2003. 

Supplementary and Omitted Billing 

Supplementary tax bills are issued and mailed in the same manner as interim and final tax bills with the exception that it is a separate levy where a by-law is not required.

Penalty and interest charges will be calculated on supplementary taxes that are owing past their due date, consistent with other City due dates, being on the first day of each month they remain unpaid.

There are two sections of the Assessment Act that allow for taxation of taxable property not included in the annual revised assessment roll. These deal with omissions and additions to the tax roll.

• Section 33 of the Assessment Act allows for the taxation of real property that has been omitted from the return roll. The provision allows for taxation in the current year, plus a maximum of the two preceding years.
• Section 34 of the Assessment Act allows for the taxation of assessment that has increased in value or has been added after the return of the last revised assessment roll. These taxes apply to the current year only.

• Name(s) of the property owners – as registered at the Land Registry Office 
• Customer Number
• Tax Roll Number
• Civic address
• Legal description of the property
• Current Value Assessment as received from the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (M.P.A.C.)
• Realty Tax Class & Realty Tax Qualifier as received from the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (M.P.A.C.)
• Levies distribution to City of Oshawa, Region of Durham and school board (s) by realty tax class/realty tax qualifier
• Total amount of taxes payable
• Total levies billing in year including penalties and any additions to the tax account
• Installment due dates

The property tax billing will meet all requirements of the provincially legislated standard tax bill. Arrears are included in the first installment due date amount. Installment due dates will be indicated on the payment stubs. Billing messages may be used to relay information to property owners such as penalty and interest charge rates.

All tax bills or notices sent by standard letter mail are considered delivered to and received by the addressee unless Canada Post returns the mailing to the City and an error in the mailing address is evident. Property owners are responsible to ensure they receive their tax bills annually. Property owners are asked to follow up with Taxation Services where they have not received their tax bills by February and July each year. Property owners are responsible to notify the City of changes to a mailing address in writing. Failure to notify the City of an address change is not an error on behalf of the City. Complete the Tax Account Information Change form to provide an update to the City if needed.

Legislative requirements surrounding property tax billing assist with the processing of the property tax collections. Despite all efforts made, if an error or omission in the form or substance of a property tax bill occurs, it does not invalidate any proceedings for the recovery of taxes.

Ownership Changes 

The Provincial Land Registry Office (L.R.O.) System is the service for the legal determinant of the ownership of land. The names of the owners on the property tax account are to agree with the ownership registered at the Land Registry Office on the parcel register. The City requires the instrument (deed / transfer of land) registered at the L.R.O. be submitted to Taxation Services for processing. This includes removing a name from ownership, changing a name on title or adding a name to ownership for all property tax accounts.

Letters submitted by a law office do not contain all the pertinent information required for ownership changes to be processed. The property owner is responsible to ensure that their property tax account has the correct mailing address. 

Severances / Consolidations 

Property owners may apply for severances of their properties under the authority of The Planning Act. If granted by the City of Oshawa Planning Department, the assessment values must be split between all the parcels of land. As part of their legislated services, M.P.A.C. divides the assessment information.

Under the authority of The Municipal Act (S. 356), the Treasurer may divide the assessment roll into the parcels being severed and direct the property taxes accordingly.

As severed portions of the land are often sold, the Municipality will not recalculate the property taxes for a part year. It is understood that the seller and purchaser's lawyers would allocate the levies accordingly during the sale process. The allocation of levies will be shown on the “statement of adjustments” provided to the property owners by the law office completing the title transfer.

Consolidations are processed by M.P.A.C. at the written request of the property owner. Property owners should contact M.P.A.C. directly.

A severance or consolidation of a parcel identification number at Land Registry Office does not constitute a consolidation or severance of a tax roll.