City rolls out tax relief plan for flood impacted property owners

The city and province have established a program to give property owners who were displaced because of flooding last June a break on property taxes.

The Property Tax Relief Program will launch on March 3, 2014 and was created for those people who lost the use of their property either permanently or for a period longer than 90 days because of severe damage.

“We are very pleased to be able to offer this new program to the community,” said Acting Chief Financial Officer, Beng Koay. “It provides some financial relief to help property owners rebuild and we are pleased to be able to offer additional enhancements to the program.”

The program applies to all property taxes and those people whose property was deemed uninhabitable can apply for a property tax break for the time they were out. A 30 day grace period will be added after the property is reoccupied.

All 2013 and current year penalties charged to qualified property tax accounts will be credited back to the accounts and interest will be added to acknowledge the time delay in receipt of the credit.

People who qualify will need to complete an application and provide documentation to show that the property was uninhabitable and could not be occupied for more than 90 days after the flooding started.  

Applications can be submitted by:

•    Mail: The City of Calgary, Finance & Supply, Tax & Receivables 
             P.O. Box 2405 Stn M, Calgary, AB    T2P 3L9
•    Fax: [phone]
•    In person: 3rd Flr., Calgary Municipal Building, 800 MacLeod Trail, S.E.  

A website will also be available starting on March 3 for more information and online applications at  www.calgary.ca/taxrelief.

Business owners whose businesses were closed for an extended period becuase of the flood last June can contact the Business Licence Registration (BLR) at 403-268-5311 to inquire about adjustments to their Business Tax.