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Nova Scotia Property Tax Appeal Period 2015

Apartment Property, Nova Scotia ($112,048/annum – 89 % in tax savings)

If you own property in Nova Scotia you should receive your 2015 Assessment Notice shortly: it was mailed out today, January 9th 2015.  You have 31 days in which to file a Request for Review (appeal).  If your property is enrolled in our PAMS® Property Tax manager program we have already reviewed your property assessment and have filed an appeal if the opportunity exists to reduced your tax burden.  If your property is not yet PAMS®protected we can still file the appeal for you or you can file it yourself.  Bear in mind that the basis for the 2015 Assessment, as mandated by the Assessment Act, is your property’s Market Value on January 1st 2013 (the “Base Date”) having regard to its physical condition on the date the assessment roll closed on December 1st 2014 (the “State Date”).  You can estimate the Market Value by comparing your property with the sale prices of properties that sold within six months of the Base Date.  Sale prices are now published on PVSC, the assessment authority, web site www.pvsc.ca → Find An Assessment → Advanced Search.  

The fact that your property is assessed higher than a similar property is not a valid ground for appeal even though the Assessment Act contains a “uniformity” provision.  Instead, court decisions have established that “uniformity” must be applied to all properties in the municipality using the General Level of Assessment (“GLA”) mechanism.  The GLA is calculated by dividing the sum of the 2015 assessments of those properties that sold between July 1st 2012 and June 30th 2013, by the aggregate of their sales prices.  PVSC have, on occasion (when prodded) condescended to divulge their General Level of Assessment.  However it is unwise to place any reliance on it.  On the one occasion in which we were able to formally review PVSC’s calculations, they proved to be a nonsense: a point on which the Court concurred.  When calculating the GLA first determine whether the property is assessed as “residential” or “commercial” and utilise the relevant pool of property transactions.

If your property is enrolled in our PAMS® Property Tax manager program we automatically review your assessment and file an appeal where necessary.  If your property is not yet PAMS®protected and you would like advice on whether to file an appeal, call our Nova Scotia Tax Team, Giselle Kakamousias, Mark Turner or Greg Kerry at 902-429-1811 (HRM) or toll free 1-800-567-3033 (elsewhere).  They will be pleased to help you.  For further information visit the Tax Appeals section of our website.

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