Tax Collections and Billing

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 owners looking to grant or revoke access must submit the Property Tax Authorized Access form.

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.

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.

Interim billing due dates

• last week of February
• last week of April

Final property tax bills are issued annually in May 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 Fees and Charges by-law. 

Final billing due dates

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

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.

 Property tax bills issued by the City of Oshawa contain the following property details:

• 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.

Oshawa property owners can sign up to have their Interim and Final Tax bills sent straight to their email inbox with our E-Billing program.

Why sign up? E-Bills:

• include the same information as paper bills;
• are convenient and easy to view;
• are environmentally friendly and help reduce the City’s carbon footprint; and,
• provide cost savings to the City by minimizing paper, printing and postage expenses.

Registration for the E-Billing service will stop the paper copy of the Interim and Final Tax Bills only. All other mailings will resume in their paper format.

To register, new applicants can submit the E-Billing application form online.

Forms registering for Interim Billing must be received prior to December 15. Forms registering for Final Billing must be received prior to April 15.

Note: Your Property Tax Roll number is on the top right corner of your Property Tax bill (e.g. 0#0 ### ##### 0000). Can’t find it? Contact Service Oshawa at 905-436-3311 for assistance.

E-Billing program members can submit the E-Billing change form to make adjustments to their account.

E-Billing program members can submit the E-Billing cancellation form should they wish to no longer receives their bills online.

Property tax bills and notices are mailed to the address of the property as shown on the tax roll unless the property owner provides the City, in writing, an alternate mailing address. Use of the alternate mailing address continues until it is changed in writing or ownership of the property changes.

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 June 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. 

Property owners can complete the Tax account information change form to provide an update to the City.

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.

Property owner accounts with overdue balances with other City departments and/or the Regional Municipality of Durham, may have their overdue balance transferred to their property tax account and collected in the same manner as property taxes. An administrative fee will be charged per Schedule E in the Fees and Charges By-law. Once these amounts are transferred to the property tax accounts, they are treated as property taxes for collection purposes.