After you buy a house in Alberta, you will need to pay annual property tax.Property tax is a tax on land and property. It is based on the assessed value of a property. If you own a property, you will have to pay property tax. It is used to pay for city services such as police, the fire department, and public transit as well as elementary and secondary education.
I know my home’s SAMA Assessment value
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City | Final Tax Rate |
---|---|
North Battleford | 1.073418 % |
Prince Albert | 1.614203 % |
Moose Jaw | 1.435250 % |
Swift Current | 0.947206 % |
Property taxes in Saskatchewan are primarily made up of two components: a municipal tax and a provincial education tax. The former is used to fund municipal expenditures including city services, police and local infrastructure. The latter is used to fund primary and secondary education throughout Saskatchewan.
The Saskatchewan Assessment Management Agency (SAMA) revalues property every four years, and the year on which the assessments are determined is called the “base date.” SAMA uses a system that calculates the value based on long-term values and avoids taking into account short-term market fluctuations, and thus their assessment may be different from the market prices which are immediate and based on fluctuating market conditions.
When the municipal council determines the financial budget for the year, they predict an expected revenue that needs to be funded by property tax for municipal services. Based upon the expected revenue, they then decide a municipal tax rate that will allow them to achieve the revenue amount. The tax rate is expressed in mills, where 1 mill = 0.001.
In order to distribute the tax amongst different types of properties, Saskatchewan uses the mill rate factor system where each property classification is assigned to pay a certain percentage of the tax rate. For example, a property determined to be of the residential type will pay a smaller percentage of the full tax rate than one of the commercial type. The mill rate factor is determined by the municipality council, and can be higher than 1.0 for some property classes. For each municipality, the highest mill rate factor for a class cannot be higher than nine times the lowest rate factor for another class.
After your property is assessed by the assessment service provider of your municipality which is usually the Saskatchewan Assessment Management Agency (SAMA), a taxable rate established by the province will be applied to the full value which determines your taxable assessment.
For the municipal portion of your tax, the municipal mill rate will be multiplied by the total taxable assessment then multiplied by the mill rate factor for determining the amount.
There is a set education mill rate established by the province for all municipalities, and no mill rate factor is applied to it. It is multiplied by the taxable assessment to determine the education portion of the tax.
The combination of municipal and education tax portions along with any base taxes or other special taxes determines the full amount of your tax.
Some municipalities also have established minimum taxes, where if the taxable assessment of your property is too low you may have to pay a higher flat fee instead.
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