2016 BC Property Assessment

So an 80 year old widow shouldnt expect to be able to live out her days in her family home without deferring the tax burden onto her estate?

To many people a home is just that….a home,not a cash cow that should be subject to market fluctuations. I remember about 10 years ago folks were starting to be taxed out of their own homes in NV.

so the estate should enjoy the windfall provided by the economy (rising home prices) without having to incur any taxes? the home can still be just a home and there are systems in place to assist those that need it, ie deferral.

your disagreement is misplaced, it should be with the system that has allowed the rapid spike in home prices and that rests with several levels of government and the financial industries. but even with that, the 80 year old widow or her estate is also benefiting from those same rules.

you can't rave about the major horsepower and torque of a large engined truck on one hand and complain about it's poor fuel economy on the other. the two things go hand in hand and the benefit has an expense.

willing to bet a large majority of people who qualify for the deferral program wouldn't even consider it due to the "old world"(lack of a better term) mentality. A lot of older people would not consider letting the government own a portion of their home, even if it was less than 1%. These are the same people who refuse to use credit cards and likely still go to the bank to pay their bills.

This is heavily based on the 6 or so old people I know.

Why is it such an issue that if property/home values increase that the qualifying amount wouldn't along with it? I mean should it stay the same as when it was first introduced? There has been increases before…..and we all survived.

also it's not like the actual cash amount is changing(guessing on that one as I actually have people that handle these type of things for me).

so the estate should enjoy the windfall provided by the economy (rising home prices) without having to incur any taxes? the home can still be just a home and there are systems in place to assist those that need it, ie deferral.

No taxes on sale of a primary residence, nor on an estate (from my one reading of a turbotax article)…. so a bit of a pickle.

No taxes on sale of a primary residence, nor on an estate (from my one reading of a turbotax article)…. so a bit of a pickle.

taxes only in the sense of deferred property taxes.

https://turbotax.intuit.ca/tax-resources/deceased-tax-returns/is-inheritance-taxable.jsp

Inherited property
From a tax standpoint, two general types of inheritances exist. These are:

• cash and personal property, and * property that may grow or decline in value, such as investments or real estate.

At the time of inheritance, there's no tax for you as recipient on either type, since these are taxed while still being part of the estate. In the case of cash and personal property, that's usually it. Property with changing value, such as stocks and land, is called capital property. When you receive an inheritance of this type, you receive it at its fair market value. For example, consider some stock worth $10,000 when you receive it. You're not taxed on this at the time of the inheritance, but if you sell the stock in two years for $12,000, you are taxed on the $2,000 increase, called a capital gain.

I have a decent idea of what goes on 1st hand with this type of inheritance , my wife lost both her parents in the last 4 yrs and we have spent a fair amount of time dealing with this

… Why is it such an issue that if property/home values increase that the qualifying amount wouldn't along with it? I mean should it stay the same as when it was first introduced? There has been increases before…..and we all survived.

also it's not like the actual cash amount is changing(guessing on that one as I actually have people that handle these type of things for me).

Agreed it should be simply, up to last year I was able to claim the home owners grant. Last year, the new assessments pushed me way over the ability to claim the grant. This year even with the increased grant limit, I will either lose the grant entirely or get almost nothing.

It should make sense that for a given area the grant is in sync with the assessment gain or loss.

It was previously mentioned that $570 should not likely break most people. Some that are on small fixed incomes could be an issue, but likely they are older and could use the tax deferral. For me what gets me is that I see this as just another tax increase. Sure my house has gone up lots, but unless I am willing to sell and "cash out", it does not mean too much. In the span of the last 5 years everything has gone up over and over again. BC Hydro, Fortis, cost to insure you house and car, groceries … pretty much everything you can thing of except wages for the so called average joe smoe, middle class folk.

There is a serious erosion of the middle class occurring along with the those further down the economic scale getting pushed even lower. This is simply the outcome of the 1% or the 0.01% squeezing out that much more out of the 90% to 99.9% of those out there.

/end of soap box rant

willing to bet a large majority of people who qualify for the deferral program wouldn't even consider it due to the "old world"(lack of a better term) mentality. A lot of older people would not consider letting the government own a portion of their home, even if it was less than 1%. These are the same people who refuse to use credit cards and likely still go to the bank to pay their bills.

This is heavily based on the 6 or so old people I know.

huh?

the government doesn't own a portion of your home if you defer the property tax. the deferment is a next to zero interest loan that has to be paid when the home changes ownership.

I have a decent idea of what goes on 1st hand with this type of inheritance , my wife lost both her parents in the last 4 yrs and we have spent a fair amount of time dealing with this

i know a friend in a somewhat similar situation and will unfortunately be having to deal with it a few years down the road. it's vitally important to get all this stuff sorted out before parents/relatives pass away to reduce the amount of bs and red tape one would otherwise have to go through. if people aren't willing to take the time to educate themselves on the rules then it is highly recommended to speak with an estate lawyer to get things sorted out.

To 0.000004% of all homeowners in the Lower Mainland a home is just that….a home,not a cash cow that should be subject to market fluctuations.

fyp

I'm of the other 0.00004% of homeowners who's hoping for a 75% crash.

You want to fix this problem? Elect people who view speculation on our housing stock as a cancer (because it is).

It was previously mentioned that $570 should not likely break most people. Some that are on small fixed incomes could be an issue, but likely they are older and could use the tax deferral. For me what gets me is that I see this as just another tax increase. Sure my house has gone up lots, but unless I am willing to sell and "cash out", it does not mean too much. In the span of the last 5 years everything has gone up over and over again. BC Hydro, Fortis, cost to insure you house and car, groceries … pretty much everything you can thing of except wages for the so called average joe smoe, middle class folk.

There is a serious erosion of the middle class occurring along with the those further down the economic scale getting pushed even lower. This is simply the outcome of the 1% or the 0.01% squeezing out that much more out of the 90% to 99.9% of those out there.

/end of soap box rant

Yes, this is all happening and it's a cancer to society. The policies put in place by our government have done nothing but make this worse, year in and year out.

This $500 is nothing but an aspirin for an alcoholic.

If you want to honestly fix the issues you spell out above, this tax grant is pretty much the last thing you'd want to do.

i think yer homeowner wishing for market prices to crash estimate is a bit high….

i think yer homeowner wishing for market prices to crash estimate is a bit high….

lol

You're probably right.

How does 5.6 x 10-9 sound…

huh?

the government doesn't own a portion of your home if you defer the property tax. the deferment is a next to zero interest loan that has to be paid when the home changes ownership.

don't think that's the way some old timers see it.

I understand why its an awesome deal….you don't need to explain it to me, although I'm sure you will…..

huh?

the government doesn't own a portion of your home if you defer the property tax. the deferment is a next to zero interest loan that has to be paid when the home changes ownership.

"While you carry a property tax deferment balance, you'll have a restrictive lien registered against your property. Once the lien is registered, you can only change your property title to add your spouse. You must repay the outstanding balance of your agreement before you:
sell your property
change property owners other than adding your spouse Â
refinance with some financial institutions (check with your financial institution )
Other title changes may require repayment. Contact us for information."

while they don't own portion it, they do have a lien on it for that amount……so pretty much the same thing.