Condominium corporations in Alberta do not pay municipal property tax. It is the owners of private property within the common property that pay property tax, and the value of common-property improvements is deemed to be reflected in the higher values of each property, also referred to as “units”. This situation is often misunderstood; I’ve even heard it explained wrongly in new-home condominium sales suites. The corporation’s property tax is NOT paid through the monthly condo contributions, as there is no such tax!
Here’s how it works. A condominium corporation may own millions of dollars worth of land, buildings, parking garages, swimming pools, tennis courts and gardens, but those lands and improvements pay no property tax to the city. All these common-property improvements make possible and increase the market value of every home within the condominium community, and thus increase the municipal and school taxes paid by each home.
This concept extends across all condominium developments in Alberta, whether they are residential condos of any style, commercial condos, industrial or recreational condominiums. Remember that the word “condominium” itself only describes the type of ownership, not what you own. You need to specify that you own a condo apartment, a condo townhouse, or even a condo single-family home. These days retail shops and small industrial businesses can own condominium storefronts within buildings, and condominium warehouse and light-industrial bays in industrial parks. You might also have heard of condo recreational sites, where you own the site for your RV within a lakeside vacation condominium development.
In all these cases the corporation of condo owners pays no property tax, regardless of the value of the assets it owns. Condominium corporations also pay no federal income tax, either personal or corporate, on the same basis as non-profit societies.
Let’s clear up a second confusion about property tax for houses and condominium homes, namely the rate of tax paid by residential properties. In most jurisdictions in North America—and certainly in Calgary—there is only one residential tax rate. In other words, it doesn’t matter if you own a single-family house or a condominium home of any style, the same rate of taxation applies to the tax-assessed value of the home. Let’s review an example:
Say you’ve retired and sell your single-family home for $400,000, then buy a villa-style attached condominium home on a golf course for $400,000. The civic property tax you pay will be the same, differing only to the extent that property assessments vary as city staff struggle to track changing market values. In both cases your property tax bill will be the same, no matter whether it’s a non-condominium single-family house in a subdivision or a condominium home of any style, be it apartment, townhouse, villa or even a condominium bare-land single-family home.
Calgary Condominium Directory
