Property Taxes

Cash and interact payments can be made in person by visiting the Township Municipal Office from Monday to Friday between 9:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. (8:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. during July and August).

Please do not send cash by mail.

Please make cheques payable to, “The Township of Puslinch”. Attach the remittance stub and print your 19-digit property tax roll number (starts with 2301) on the front of each cheque.

Cheques can be dropped off at the Township’s Municipal Office during business hours, deposited after hours in the mail slot located on the Municipal Office’s front door, or sent to the Municipal office in the mail. To avoid penalties and interest as a result of postal or other delays, make sure to mail your cheque(s) early.

Post-dated cheques cannot exceed one year from the first issue date. Current or post-dated cheques corresponding with the due dates on tax stubs are accepted and held for deposit until they become due. 

It is the taxpayer’s responsibility to ensure that all cheques are completed properly. Any dishonoured payments will result in a charge of $40.00 being added to your tax account.

Arrangements for this type of payment must be made through your mortgage company. Contact your mortgage company for further information.

Check with your financial institution regarding the availability of these options. In most cases, you can add your property tax account to your telephone or online banking by entering the 19-digit tax roll number that appears on your tax bill (starts with 2301 with no dashes or spaces).

Pre-authorized payments are easy and convenient. They can ease your budget by enabling you to spread out your payments, help you avoid interest or service charges, and ensure you never miss a payment or due date. 

Eligibility

If you have no outstanding arrears on your tax account and you do NOT pay your taxes through your mortgage company, you’re eligible for pre-authorized payments. 

Choose between two pre-authorized payment plan options:

11-Month Plan

11 monthly payments will be withdrawn directly from your bank account on the 15th of each month (or the next business day if this day falls on a weekend or holiday) from February to December inclusive. The final payment of the year (December) will be adjusted to clear any outstanding tax dollars owing.

A statement will be mailed 10 days before the date of the initial withdrawal in February and 10 days before the final withdrawal in December.

Tax Installment Plan

Four payments will be withdrawn on the regular tax due dates directly from your financial institution. A statement will be mailed 21 days before the date of the initial payment (February and August)

How to apply for pre-authorized payments

If you would like to pay your taxes using one of the pre-authorized payment options, please click here to access our online application form. You can also print our pre-authorized tax form application or pick one up at our Municipal Office. Please attach a “VOID” cheque and submit the application and void cheque to the attention of the Taxation Department. Submit only one application per property and review the terms and conditions prior to submitting.

Deadline for Enrollment

A minimum of 10 days’ notice is required to initiate a pre-authorized payment plan. If you are currently enrolled in a pre-authorized payment plan, it will automatically renew each year.

Cancellation

To cancel your pre-authorized plan or to change your banking information, you must notify the Tax Department in writing at least 10 days before the next payment is due.

Arrears

If your property tax account in arrears, you may contact us directly to catch up with a customized automatic payment plan to bring accounts up to date. Some restrictions apply.

Tax installments are due by the due date given on your tax bill. To avoid penalty charges, payments must reach the Township Municipal Office by their due date. If taxes are not paid on time, a penalty of 1.25% will be charged on the first of each month. This penalty will continue to be applied to the total amount of outstanding taxes until the outstanding balance is paid in full. Payments received are applied to the outstanding penalty first, then to the outstanding tax balance.

Please be advised that Council and Township staff do not have the authority to waive or alter a penalty and/or interest charge for any reason. Failure to receive a tax bill does not excuse a taxpayer from the responsibility for payment of taxes nor relieve the owner of the liability for the penalty or interest due to the late payment.

MPAC completes a uniform, province-wide property assessment based on current value assessment every four years. The last province-wide assessment was completed in 2016 (based on a market value of January 1, 2016). This assessment will apply for four tax years (2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020). MPAC may re-assess property during this period when you have changed the property and altered its value.

MPAC’s province-wide assessment in 2016 has a four-year update cycle for years 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020. It phases in any increases in the assessment value from the 2012 value over four years. If the assessment value decreases from the 2012 value, your next tax bill will immediately show the decrease.

To establish your property’s assessed value, MPAC uses current value assessment to analyze property sales in your community. Most assessment jurisdictions in Canada and throughout the world use the current value assessment. MPAC also looks at the key features of every property. It considers as many as 200 factors when assessing the value of a residential property. Five major factors usually account for 85 per cent of the value:

• location
• lot dimensions
• living area
• age of the property (adjusted for any major renovations or additions), and
• quality of construction

Other features that may affect value include: 

• the number of bathrooms
• fireplaces
• garages
• pools, and
• whether properties have water frontage

MPAC analyzes the key features of your property with sales of comparable properties in your community to determine your assessment.

You can contact MPAC for more information on your property or comparable properties. You will require a copy of your Notice of Assessment as sent to you by MPAC in order to access your property information for the first time.

Not necessarily. Municipalities and school board tax rates will be set to reflect the updated assessment values. Those properties that received an assessment increase which was approximately the same or less compared to the overall average for that municipality will, in all likelihood, not experience a tax increase as a result of a reassessment. However, if the value increases above that of the average increase in the municipality, in all likelihood, a tax increase will occur due to the reassessment program. For example: Assuming the average assessment increase in a municipality is 15%, if your property assessment has increased by more than 15%, you may experience an assessment related increase.

Besides the valuation changes occurring from a reassessment, changes in the municipality’s budget requirements also affect tax rates. Both reassessment and budget requirement changes are reflected in the final tax bill, after municipalities pass their annual budgets and tax rate by-laws.

If you disagree with your property assessment, you may file an appeal to have it changed.

Property owners with a residential, farm or managed forest property must first submit a Request for Reconsideration (RfR) with the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) by March 31 of the taxation year. RfR forms are available online at MPAC or by calling 1-866-296-MPAC (6722). MPAC will provide a decision by September 30th (or November 30th if both parties agree to an extension). This is a free process.

For supplementary and omitted assessments, the deadline to file an RfR or appeal is 90 days after the mailing date of the assessment notice.

For all other tax classes, filing an RfR is not a mandatory first step. Commercial, industrial and multi-residential property owners have the option of filing an RfR with MPAC or appealing directly to the Assessment Review Board (ARB). Either option must be done by March 31 of the taxation year.

If a property owner files an RfR with MPAC and is not satisfied with the result, they may then file an appeal to the ARB within 90 days of receiving MPAC’s decision. There is a cost to file a formal appeal to the ARB. Forms are available online at Assessment Review Board or by calling 1-866-448-2248

MPAC will send you a letter with the results of their review within 180 days or less of when they receive your request.

The formula for estimating the taxes on a new home is the current tax rate multiplied by the assessed value of the property.

If you have recently purchased a property in the Township and have not received a tax bill prior to the above due dates, please contact the Taxation Department.

Failure to receive a tax bill does not excuse a taxpayer from the responsibility of payment nor from liability for late charges.

Your lawyer will do a statement of adjustment, which will show what portion of the tax bill the current owner is responsible for and what the new owner will be required to pay. The lawyers will make these adjustments at the time of closing. Owners are required to make all tax payments as they are due up to the date of closing.

Once your project has been completed, the Township will send completed permit, or occupancy permit information to the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC). This will result in an additional assessment being added to your property. Property owners are cautioned that the full assessment of a property may not be determined by MPAC until well after the physical changes to a property have been completed. This change can be backdated to the date of the change to a maximum of three years. Please do not hesitate to contact the office if you have any questions.

During the course of each year Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) may be made aware of changes in properties that impact the assessed value. Some examples of these changes include construction, renovations or improvements, demolition, changes in use, etc. MPAC forwards a data file identifying these changes to each municipality a few times each year. The municipalities then issue ‘supplementary/omitted tax bills’. These tax bills are issued after the annual tax rate by-law has been passed and are based on the final tax rates.

Property owners are cautioned that the full assessment of a property may not be determined by MPAC until well after the physical changes to the property have been completed (e.g. a house has been built on a property and it has become occupied). In this case, this change can be backdated to the date of the change to a maximum of 3 years.

In the case of a newly constructed home, there can be a delay between the occupancy dates and when we receive the assessment information from MPAC. Until we receive this information, we are unable to issue a full tax bill. Once the assessment information becomes available, we send a supplementary tax bill, dating back to the occupancy date for the new owners, to a maximum of three years. Billings received prior to the supplementary billing are usually smaller and represent land only.

Supplementary taxes are in addition to other billings you may receive in the year. You will be notified by MPAC of the assessed value before you receive the bill from the Township. Supplementary bills can be pro-rated for the part-year that the building was in existence for. Taxes on a supplementary bill are calculated by multiplying the tax rate by the supplementary assessment and then pro-rating the taxes owing for the number of days the supplementary assessment applies for. If the supplementary assessment applies to the full year, it is not necessary to pro-rate the taxes. 

When there is delay in receiving information from MPAC, the Township cannot issue a tax bill. This delay can be considerable, with some individuals not receiving a tax bill for as long as three years or more after occupancy.

If any of the three tax rates (Township, County, or Province/Education) have increased, or the assessed value on your property has increased, the final tax bill will be for a larger amount. The Township bases the interim tax bill on 50 per cent of the previous year’s taxes.

If MPAC had not assessed your house before the Township billed you, the Township may base taxes on the value of the land only. You will get another bill when MPAC assesses the house. 

The formula for determining the approximate taxes on a home is the tax rate multiplied by the assessed value of the property. To find out about property assessment, please contact the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation.