ASSESSMENT: Should you appeal your property assessment in light of this year's "freeze"?

In a normal year, homeowners whose property went up in value faster than others in their city would end up with a bigger-than-average increase in their municipal tax bill. However, this year the B.C. government decided to allow property owners to use the lower of the last two year's assessments as the basis for their 2009 property tax bills.

That means -- for this year only -- homeowners whose property values went up faster than average are actually better off than those who saw more modest increases. To find out whether you're better or worse off under the assessment changes -- and to help you decide whether or not you should appeal -- follow these two easy steps:

Step 1:

Calculate the percentage increase or decrease for your own property assessment between July 1, 2007 to July 1, 2008, using the assessment notices you received from BC Assessment. If you wish, you can use this online calculator to help you figure out the increase/decrease. Just type your 2007 assessment in the first box and your 2008 assessment in the second box and it will tell you the percentage increase/decrease.

Step 2:

Select your municipality from:
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/propertyassessment.html
to see what the average property assessment is. If the increase in your own property assessment is greater than the average, you're better off than most. However, if your increase is smaller than average, you are worse off as a result of the government's policy change. If the value of your property actually went down between 2007 and 2008, you are particularly worse off. You have until Feb. 2 to file an appeal to BC Assessment, which you can do by clicking here:
http://www.bcassessment.bc.ca/online_appeal/online_appeal_form.aspx?nav=appeal_form

(Source: Vancouver Sun)