Several blog posts (and a few years) ago, drawing on the experience amassed over my twenty-five year career at Turner Drake, I did some property tax myth-busting. One bears repeating- particularly at this time of the year:

The Best Opportunity to Reduce Your Assessment (and Taxes) is NOT on Appeal.

In every Province in which we operate, assessing authorities are willing to discuss assessments prior to their values being inserted onto the official assessment roll. In our experience, such preliminary consultations often produce better results- at lower cost- than waiting to file formal appeals.

Nova Scotia’s assessing authority, the Property Valuation Services Corporation- the “PVSC”- and its predecessor, Service Nova Scotia and Municipal Relations, is a pioneer in this regard, and has been pre-publishing its assessments for over twenty years.

This year, 2019 pre-roll assessments for commercial property and apartments containing six or more units were pre-published on September 25th. Proposed values can be accessed on the PVSC’s website at www.pvsc.ca, and the underlying valuations can be obtained by using the AAN and PIN from the top right- hand corner of 2018 assessment notices at:

https://www.pvsc.ca/en/home/findanassessment/multiple-report-tool/default.aspx

Owners with concerns with their proposed assessments have about eight weeks to contact the PVSC: assessors have the ability to amend values until the last week in November. The 2019 roll officially closes on December 1st.

PVSC’s management embraces the opportunity to discuss assessments (and to make changes, where warranted) at the “pre-roll” stage. Property owners are encouraged to avail themselves of this opportunity, and PVSC should be commended for publishing its proposed 2019 values.

Of course, it’s not always possible to engage in preliminary consultation, as not all values will be available with sufficient “lead time” in advance of the filing of the roll. But where the opportunity presents itself, my advice is always to be proactive, and to address a problem before it becomes one. A stitch in time saves nine.

Giselle Kakamousias is the Vice-President of Turner Drake’s Property Tax Division. Her experience negotiating and appealing property assessments is extensive: it is a wise property owner who follows her advice. If you’d like more of it, she can be reached at (902) 429-1811 ext. 333 or .