By — January 5, 2019
Just a friendly reminder that tax season is coming up fast. If you haven’t already, you might want to start thinking about sorting out the paperwork for you Advance Tax Notice.
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
- 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.
References:
https://vancouver.ca/home-property-development/deadlines-and-penalties.aspx#property-tax-deadline