2017 Business tax bills

CALGARY –Tax bills for over 26,000 businesses were mailed Friday. This week all business owners should receive their 2017 business tax bill in the mail.

Annual business tax impacts will vary based on changes to your business premises.

Business owners who have not received their business tax bill by the end of the week should contact 311 to obtain a copy of their bill.

Business taxes are due on Friday, March 31. A late payment penalty of seven per cent will be applied on April 1 and July 1 to any unpaid portion of the business tax balance for the current year.

The business tax deadline does not apply to business owners who pay monthly through The City’s Business Tax Instalment Payment Plan (BTIPP). Business owners can join BTIPP at any time by visiting www.calgary.ca/BTIPP to request an agreement or by calling 311.

This year business owners will see an approximate 20 per cent decrease in the 2017 business tax rate as a result of business tax consolidation. The change from the business tax consolidation will be reflected in a decrease in the amount owing on your business tax bill.

The City is phasing out the business tax through a gradual transfer of revenues collected through business tax to the non-residential property tax base. Each year the business tax will decrease and non-residential property tax will increase, with business tax being eliminated in 2019. Business tax consolidation does not increase the amount of revenue collected by The City and does not impact your business assessment.

The business tax consolidation process reduces the 2017 business tax rate by 20 per cent while increasing the 2017 non-residential property tax rate by an additional 4.6 per cent. When the 2017 property tax bills are mailed at the end of May, non-residential property owners will see an estimated 4.6 per cent increase in their property tax resulting from the consolidation.

If you are a tenant, you may see the increase in the property tax being passed onto you by your landlord.

It is important to remember that your business tax reduction in March may offset the increase in June.

Non-residential property taxes are also affected by shifts in annually assessed property values, the municipal property tax rate, and the provincial property tax requisition. City Council recently approved a Municipal Non-residential Phased Tax Program that will limit the increase in municipal non-residential property taxes due to the shift in assessed property values to no more than five per cent in 2017 (not including the effect of business tax consolidation). The Alberta Government will set the provincial property tax rate in the spring.

Learn more about how The City is phasing out the business tax at www.calgary.ca/ourfinances .

-30-

Public Contact Information:
311
www.calgary.ca/businesstax