Property Tax

Each year your municipality bills you based on what it thinks your home is worth — not what you paid, not what a realtor says, and not the same as your neighbour's. This calculator turns your assessed value and your municipality's tax rate into the annual and monthly amount you actually owe.

What it answers

• Your annual property tax from your assessed value and the current residential rate.
• The monthly equivalent — the figure that belongs in your budget next to the mortgage payment.
• What happens to your bill if your assessment rises at the next revaluation.

What it deliberately does not cover

It does not estimate your assessed value or predict your municipality's next rate — both are set by bodies outside your control. It excludes vacancy taxes, speculation taxes, and land transfer tax, which are separate levies with their own calculators here. It does not model municipal phase-ins or rebates, which change by city and year.

Every input, explained

Assessed value. The value on your assessment notice — MPAC in Ontario, BC Assessment in British Columbia, and equivalent bodies elsewhere. The classic mistake is entering your purchase price or a market estimate. Assessments lag the market, sometimes by years.

Residential tax rate. Your municipality's current rate, shown on the tax bill as a percentage or mill rate. A mill rate of 11.3 means $11.30 per $1,000 of assessed value — 1.13 percent. The common error is using last year's rate after council approved a new one.

Municipality. Rates are set city by city and vary enormously. Identical assessed values in different municipalities can produce bills thousands of dollars apart.

Supplementary levies. Some bills bundle an education portion or other levies with the municipal tax. If yours shows them separately, add them so the total matches what you pay.

How the math works

Annual tax = assessed value × tax rate. Monthly = annual ÷ 12. The arithmetic is trivial; getting the two inputs right is the actual work.

One nuance: a higher assessment does not automatically mean a proportionally higher bill. Municipalities set their budgets first, then set the rate to raise that budget across the whole assessment base. If every property rises 10 percent, the rate typically falls and most bills barely move. Your bill jumps when your assessment rises faster than the city average.

Worked example

A Hamilton homeowner's assessment notice values the house at $618,000. Hamilton's 2026 residential rate is 1.13 percent. [VERIFY]

Annual tax: 618,000 × 0.0113 = $6,983.40. Monthly: 6,983.40 ÷ 12 = $581.95.

Now the next assessment values the home at $680,000, a 10 percent rise. If the city holds its budget flat and the average property also rose 10 percent, the rate drops to roughly 1.027 percent and the bill stays near $6,983. But if this home rose 10 percent while the city average rose only 4 percent, the homeowner absorbs a larger share: the bill climbs to about $7,260, roughly $277 more per year. "My assessment went up" and "my taxes went up" are different statements — the calculator shows both scenarios so you can see which one applies to you.

Location matters enormously for the cost of simply owning. Buyer-side transfer costs on a $600,000 purchase run about $16,950 in Toronto versus $1,180 in Alberta, and annual property tax follows the same pattern: the municipality you choose is a recurring bill, not a one-time one.

Provincial quirks and edge cases

• In Ontario the city bill already combines the municipal levy with the education portion. To dispute the value, appeal to MPAC — city council does not set assessments.
• In BC, assessment notices arrive each January, and the homeowner grant for principal residences is claimed separately through the province rather than appearing automatically. Grant rules and amounts change yearly; check the current terms. [VERIFY]
• Newly built homes are often assessed only after construction finishes, so a supplementary bill can arrive months after move-in covering the period since completion. Buyers of new builds should set that money aside before the bill exists.
• In Quebec the municipal tax bill and the school tax bill arrive separately, and the welcome tax on a purchase is billed two to three months after closing — it is not part of annual property tax at all.
• Rural properties can carry extra levies — conservation authority charges in Ontario, regional district taxes in BC — that never appear in the headline rate. The bill is the truth; the advertised rate is only part of it.

Questions to ask a professional

1. Ask your municipality's tax office: "What is the exact 2026 residential rate for my property class, and does my bill include levies beyond the headline rate?"
2. Ask your assessment authority or a property tax consultant: "My assessment rose faster than street sales suggest — what is the appeal deadline and what comparable evidence do I need?"
3. Ask your lawyer or notary: "How are property taxes split between buyer and seller on closing day, and who pays if a supplementary assessment arrives after closing?"
4. Ask your mortgage broker: "Will my lender collect property tax with my mortgage payment, or can I pay the municipality directly?"