1. What is property assessment?
Assessment is the determination of a property's market value for the purpose of property taxation. An assessor typically determines a property's assessed value by accounting for factors such as location, size, age and local real estate market conditions on a specific reference date. The assessment of your property also consists of the applicable property class and any tax exemptions that apply to it.
2. How frequently are properties assessed?
Properties in Manitoba are assessed every two years to ensure assessment values keep pace with changing real estate market values.
There are several reasons why your property's assessment can change:
- Buildings on your property age over time and consequently they depreciate, although maintenance and renovation reduce the amount of depreciation;
- Significant improvements such as building a deck, an addition, or other renovations may add to your property's market value;
- Supply and demand as well as market preferences change over time;
- Changes in your neighbourhood like a new school, park, or other improvements may add to your property's market value;
If the usage of your property has changed, it may fall into a different property class and the applicability of tax exemptions may have changed.
4. What are property classes?
All assessable property is allocated to classes that are defined in The Classification of Property and Portioned Values Regulation. There are 10 classes and each one has a portion percentage associated with it, meaning that only a certain portion of market value is used when calculating property taxes. For example, residential property pays tax on 45% of its market value and farm property pays on 26% of its market value. The "portioned assessments" appear on the property tax bill as the amount to which mill rates are applied. A property can have more than one class.
There are three internationally accepted methods of measuring the value of property: the Cost approach, the Sales Comparison approach and the Income approach. Depending on the nature of the property being valued, one or more of the approaches may be used by the assessor.
6. Who should I contact to talk about my property assessment?
An assessor will be pleased to discuss your property assessment or any other related questions you may have. For details on how to contract your specific district assessment office, click here. You can also send your question for properties outside of the City of Winnipeg to assessment@gov.mb.ca.
The City of Winnipeg is responsible for property assessment services in Winnipeg. For more information about property assessment in Winnipeg you can call 311 or visit the City of Winnipeg Department of Assessment and Taxation website www.winnipegassessment.com.
For More information about property assessment in Manitoba https://www.gov.mb.ca/mao/public/default.aspx or https://www.gov.mb.ca/mao/public/faqs.aspx#1
If you have specific questions about the assessment of your property, or would like more information about the assessment process, you can contact.
Municipal Relations
Assessment Services
Phone: 204-945-0119
Toll Free: 1-866-801-2888
Fax: 204-945-1994
Email: assessment@gov.mb.ca