The city has received thousands of complaints on its online vacant home tax portal from Toronto residents who say they are living in the home they’ve been charged the levy for.
The deadline for vacant home declarations for 2023 was extended to March 15. Those who do not declare that they occupy the property they own are also subject to the premium.
Property owners who live in the residence they possess are required to declare occupancy annually, if they don’t they are subject to the tax, a stipulation stated on the city’s website.
And a city spokesperson said homeowners were alerted about the tax.
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“Notices of assessment for the Vacant Home Tax for the 2023 taxation year have been issued to owners who declared their property vacant and to owners whose property has been deemed vacant because they did not submit a declaration by the deadline,” Russell Baker told Now Toronto in an email statement.
Approximately 125,000 households did not declare the status of their property and as a result, these homeowners have received a vacant home tax notice of assessment, Baker explained.
The portal to submit a complaint on the vacant home tax website opened on Tuesday, the following day more than 43,000 notices of complaint had been filed by owners claiming that their property was occupied in 2023, Baker confirmed.
“As part of the vacant home tax bylaw, owners are required to make a declaration of occupancy status every year,” baker added.
“Those who believe the Vacant Home Tax Notice of Assessment was sent in error may have made a previous declaration for the 2022 tax year and not made the annually required declaration for 2023,” he continued.
The Vacant Home Tax does not apply if the property in question was the principal residence of the owner, or was occupied by tenants or other permitted occupants for more than six months in 2023. However, owners must file a Notice of Complaint and indicate that the property was occupied, according to Baker.
“The City is receiving a high volume of Notice of Complaint filings through the portal and staff are prioritizing the processing of these complaints,” Baker said.
Once a complaint is reviewed and the grounds of the complaint are found to be valid then the person’s property tax account will be adjusted and the Vacant Home Tax levy will not apply.
In addition, the city is reviewing the current process by which owners must submit an annual declaration of their property’s occupancy status and making improvements for the 2024 taxation year, Baker confirmed.
Residential property owners who receive a Vacant Home Tax Notice of Assessment for the 2023 taxation year and would like to dispute it – and confirm that their property was in fact occupied – can submit a complaint through the portal at www.toronto.ca/VacantHomeTax.
On Thursday evening the city announced it will waive the late fee of $21.40 immediately for any property owner who states that they completed their declaration before the March 15 deadline.
