Livability Tax Program - Housing Declaration

Complete Your Livability Tax Program Declaration

What You Need to Know

  • Residential property owners in Canmore will need to declare whether it was occupied full-time during the past year. 
  • Failure to declare will automatically assign your property to the higher tax rate. 
  • Only one declaration per tax roll is accepted.  
  • Declarations are due by December 31, 2024.

Your Tax Roll Number and Access Code

  • A letter will be mailed to residential properties on October 30.  
  • The letter contains the tax roll number and access code for you to complete this declaration.  
  • If you have not received your letter by November 8, email taxes@canmore.ca for assistance. 

Program Details

  1. An owner of a residential property, or their authorized agent, will be required to annually declare if their property qualifies for the primary residential subclass by December 31 of each year.
  2. To qualify as a primary residence:
    1. the property cannot be a tourist home,
    2. an owner or renter must live in a dwelling unit on the property for at least 183 cumulative days in a calendar year,
    3. 60 of the days must be continuous. This does not mean the owner or renter can't go away for the weekend or on vacation, it means the property is your primary residence you return to. This provision is meant to preclude properties being rented out short-term from qualifying.
  3. Apartment buildings and employee housing as defined in the bylaw, and individually titled residential parking stalls and storage units will be automatically placed in the primary residential subclass, no declaration will be required.
  4. There will be a number of exemptions that preclude owners from occupying or renting out their properties in a year. In order to have an exemption recognized, a declaration will still need to be made. The exemptions include:
    1. the owner is hospitalized, or placed in a long term or supportive care facility,
    2. the owner passed away,
    3. a dwelling unit on the property was impacted by a catastrophic event that precluded occupancy,
    4. a dwelling unit on the property was undergoing permitted repairs or renovations that precluded occupancy, or
    5.  written order was in force that prohibited occupancy,
    6. the property was sold to an arm's length party in the previous taxation year, is registered or in the process of being registered with Land Titles and is immediately occupied (by the purchaser or a tenant) as a primary residence.

Need Help?

If you have questions or need assistance, email housingaction@canmore.ca 

Frequently Asked Questions

The property cannot be a tourist home, and an owner or renter must live in a dwelling unit on the property for at least 183 cumulative days in the calendar year, of which at least 60 days are continuous, as the place where they are ordinarily resident and conduct their daily affairs. A person can only have one primary residence.

The requirement is that the Canmore property be a person's primary residence for at least 183 days of which 60 are continuous, not that a person must be physically in the property for those number of days. Leaving for vacation, to visit family, or traveling abroad does not change a person's primary residence. It changes where they sleep on any given night, but the requirements for this program aren't about where you sleep. They are about what address is on your driver's license? Where does your mail go to? Where does any correspondence from Canada Revenue Agency get addressed to? Where do you normally return to after you've been away? Do you own or rent other property somewhere else? If so, how often are you there compared to how often are you in Canmore?

This list is not exhaustive nor prescriptive, it is illustrative. The important aspect is that the number of days applies to the number of days as a primary residence and not the number of days a person is physically in their property.

An owner of a residential property, or their authorized agent, will be required to annually declare if their property qualifies for the primary residential subclass. This will be conducted online and only one owner, or their authorized agent, need declare. You do not need to upload any supporting documents, but you may be asked for them later.

Declarations will be required by December 31st of each year for the purposes of assessing taxes owing in the following calendar year. For example, a declaration attesting to the property’s qualification as a primary residence in 2024 will be due by December 31, 2024, for the purpose of assessing the 2025 property taxes. Print and/or retain a copy of your declaration for your records.

Access Codes were included on the Primary Residence Declaration letter mailed to residential property owners in late October. If you have lost or misplaced your letter with Access Code, you can request that it be re-issued using this online request form.

An authorized agent is defined as a person or company authorized to act on behalf of a residential property owner in the Town of Canmore.  This can be an individual who is not a property manager, such as a member of your family.  Alternatively, you can designate a property management company as an authorized agent to manage your account(s). Download and complete the Authorized Agent - Individual or the Authorized Agent - Property Manager form and return taxes@canmore.ca as listed at the top of the form. 

Declarations can be audited for up to the later of three years after the declaration was made or required to be made. False or misleading declarations are subject to fines of up to $10,000 and payment of the taxes and late payment penalties that would apply had the declaration not been made. Declarations chosen for audit will require submission of supporting documentation.

In the bylaw, under the definition of "primary residence", it lists examples of documents that would support a declaration of primary residence; this is not an exhaustive list:

  • The physical address shown on the person's driver's license or motor vehicle operator's license issued by or on behalf of the Government of Alberta or an identification card issued by or on behalf of the Government of Alberta,
  • The physical address to which the person's income tax correspondence is addressed and delivered,
  • the physical address to which most of the person's mail is addressed and delivered.

Other documents may be accepted. The key is that you can show the physical address of where you are considered to be primarily located. 

If you made your declaration online and provided your email address, you will receive an email confirming your declaration. Also, your assessment notice will be sent early in 2025 and will show what assessment subclass your property is in. Please check this. If you believe your property is in the wrong subclass, please email us at taxes@canmore.ca or call 403.678.1506.

Apartment buildings will automatically be placed in the primary residential subclass.

The bylaw includes properties in the primary residential subclass if the following occur and the property was used as a primary residence immediately before the event occurred:

  • The owner is hospitalized, or placed in a long term or supportive care facility
  • The owner passed away
  • The property is a new construction
  • A dwelling unit on the property was impacted by a catastrophic event that precluded occupancy
  • A dwelling unit on the property was undergoing permitted repairs or renovations that precluded occupancy, or
  • A written order was in force that prohibited occupancy.

In addition, properties sold to an arm’s length person during the year would also be included in the primary residence subclass if the purchasers intend to use it as a primary residence immediately after the sale, regardless of use prior to the sale.

You will still need to make a declaration to claim an exception.

This will come about from future decisions. As part of the regular budget process, Council will determine how much livability initiative funding revenue to collect each year, then in the spring, using the property tax mechanisms, be asked to set the tax rates needed to collect the budgeted amount.

A range of values was presented to Council at the August 20, 2024 meeting, for informational purposes. You can take a look at the table presented in the August 20 agenda package (item # G-1) on this page.

For the median assessed residential condo ($761,000), for the range of values presented to Council, at 0.10% of assessed value, the increase in municipal taxes would be $761, and at 0.40%, it would be $3,044. For the median residential property ($1,043,000), at 0.10% it would be a $1,043 increase in municipal taxes and at 0.4%, it would be $4,172.

 

 

The revenue is primarily meant for livability and affordability initiatives undertaken by the Town. While specific initiatives have not yet been determined and may be subject to change as opportunities arise, they may include things such as the purchase or property for non-market housing, funding community affordability programs, incentivizing the development of accessory suites or dwelling units, incentivizing purpose-built rentals and/or other residential developments by non-profits, increasing the non-market housing supply including supporting infrastructure such as a pedestrian underpass, and preserving existing affordable housing units. It is not additional funding for Canmore Community Housing (CCH), although Council could choose to provide a portion.

The revenue will also need to cover the administration and enforcement of the program.

On June 6, 2023, Canmore Council approved its Housing Action Plan, which seeks to encourage long-term occupancy of existing housing stock, encourage an increase in rental supply, and create a sustainable source of funding to support affordable housing.

On September 5, 2023 Council approved the creation of the Livability Task Force, which consisted of five members of the public and three members of council. The intent was to engage stakeholders in advancing the following objectives of the Housing Action Plan, as approved by Council, in three phases:

  1.  Develop a plan to phase out the Tourist Home Designation
  2. Investigate tax options to incentivize full-time/long-term 
    occupancy of residential units 
  3. Investigate a tax options to incentivize purpose-built rental 
    accommodation 

On January 9, 2024 Council accepted the recommendations from the Livability Task Force and directed administration to develop an implementation plan. You can view the agenda for that council meeting here.

An open house with member of the Livability Task Force, Council and administration on the recommendations was held on January 31, 2024.

Since that time administration has worked on developing the Livability Tax Program and updating relevant policies and bylaws, which include:

 

Your Government