Commercial, Industrial, and Multi-Residential

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For information on property taxes related to commercial, industrial, and multi-residential properties, click on the topics below.

Bill 79, The Fairness for Property Taxpayers Act, 1998 and Regulations

On December 18, 1998, The Fairness for Property Taxpayers Act (Bill 79) was passed by the Province of Ontario. This act has established a cap or maximum tax increase on assessment reform-related tax increases. Assessment reform-related tax increases are tax increases caused by Provincial reassessment of property values. Changes in the property tax system, such as the elimination of the business occupancy tax, are also considered to be assessment related-reform increases. Tax increases due to municipal budget requirements, such as the establishment of new municipal programs resulting from Provincial downloading, are exempt from the cap and may be passed through to taxpayers through a tax increase.

A cap on taxes means that municipal revenues are reduced since any amounts levied in excess of the cap do not have to be paid. To ensure that municipal revenues are not affected, Bill 79 provides funding by clawing back (or taking back) a portion of the tax decrease due to assessment reform received by some property owners. This charge against those who received tax decreases is then used to fund the cap for those who received increases.

The cap or maximum assessment reform-related tax increase allowed for 1998 is 10 per cent above 1997 adjusted taxes, 15 per cent above 1997 adjusted taxes in 1999, and 20 per cent above 1997 adjusted taxes in 2000.

If the property owner has tenants, the Province has passed legislation that allows property owners to pass through some of their increased costs to tenants who were relieved of their tax liability (business occupancy tax) in 1998. Guidelines for this calculation have been provided by the Province and are available from the Ministry of Finance.

Should you require additional information on landlord responsibilities under Bill 79, we suggest that you seek legal counsel.

Bill 140, The Continued Protection for Property Taxpayers Act, 2000:

For 2001 and subsequent years, all municipalities are required to limit the reform-related property tax increases on Commercial, Industrial, and Multi-Residential properties to 5% per year.

For more information please contact Whitby's Taxation Services.

Capping Thresholds and Parameters

The following parameters were established for the taxation year 2012 by the Region of Durham. These parameters are the same for all of the local municipalities located within the Region.

Multi-Residential

Commercial

Industrial

Annualized Tax Limit

10.00%

10.00%

10.00%

Prior Year CVA Tax Limit

5.00%

5.00%

5.00%

CVA Threshold - Increasers

$250.00

$250.00

$250.00

CVA Threshold - Decreases

$250.00

$250.00

$250.00

Exclude Properties Previously at CVA Tax

Yes

Yes

Yes

Exclude Properties that go from Capped to Clawed Back

Yes

Yes

Yes

Exclude Properties that go from Clawed Back to Capped

Yes

Yes

Yes

Decrease Percentage Retained and Municipal Levy Change

Historical breakdown of the Decrease Percentage Retained from 1998 to 2012 inclusive by tax class

Historical breakdown of the Municipal Levy Change from 1998 to 2012 inclusive by tax class

Historical breakdown of the Education Tax Reduction Factor and School Tax Reduction 1998 to 2000 for the industrial tax class only

Gross Lease Property Taxes

The apportionment of property taxes by property owners to their tenant is mandated by the Province of Ontario.  It is not within the municipal jurisdiction.

For those property owners wanting to apportion their annual property taxes to their tenants we would like to direct you to section 367 of the Municipal Act, 2001,  S.O. 2001, c 25.

This new Municipal Act came into effect January 1, 2003, for those who still have an older version of the Municipal Act please refer to section 444 of the Municipal Act , R.S.O. 1990 c M45.

The Province of Ontario released the following Business Rate Factors for Durham Region in July 1998.

Commercial      28.1%

Industrial          37.1%

Another source of information that you may find helpful is a Province of Ontario, Ministry of Finance, Tax Bulletin issued in July 1999.  You can find this on the web site at: http://www.gov.on.ca/FIN/english/tax/1999/land-ten.htm