Stouffville Property Tax: Rates, Deadlines, and Payment Options

Property tax in Stouffville is calculated by multiplying your property’s MPAC-assessed value by the combined tax rate, which came to 0.829590% for residential properties in 2025. On a home assessed at $700,000, that works out to about $5,807 for the year. One payment to the Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville covers three recipients at once: the town itself, York Region, and the provincial education levy.

How Your Bill Is Calculated

The Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) assigns every Ontario property an assessed value using Current Value Assessment, which estimates what the property would have sold for on a fixed valuation date based on comparable sales, lot size, location, and building characteristics.¹ Ontario has not completed a province-wide reassessment since 2016, so current assessments still reflect a January 1, 2016 valuation date. MPAC does adjust for major renovations or additions as they happen.

Your tax bill is that assessed value multiplied by the total tax rate. The 2025 residential rate broke down as follows:²

Municipal (Town): 0.300727%
York Region: 0.375863%
Education: 0.153000%
Total: 0.829590%

For a home assessed at $600,000, the math is $600,000 × 0.00829590 = $4,978 for the year. Roughly 36% of that stays with the town for local services like road maintenance, fire protection, parks, and libraries. About 45% goes to York Region for policing, transit, public health, and social services. The remaining 18% is the provincial education levy.² The town has no control over the regional or education portions; it collects everything and forwards those shares.³

When Taxes Are Due

Stouffville issues two tax bills each year. An interim bill goes out early in the year, usually based on roughly half of the prior year’s total taxes because the current year’s rates aren’t set yet. Once council approves the new budget, a final bill adjusts the remaining balance to the actual rates.

Each bill is payable in two equal installments, giving four payment dates spread across the calendar year.⁴ Exact dates vary year to year and are printed on the bill itself. Not receiving a bill does not excuse a late payment. If yours hasn’t arrived, contact the tax department before the deadline.⁵

How to Pay

Finding Your Account Number

Your tax bill shows a roll number in a format like 000.123.45678.0000. For online or telephone banking, your account number is the eight digits pulled from the middle, so that example becomes 12345678.⁵ That eight-digit number is what your bank needs to route payment to the correct property.

Payment Methods

Online or telephone banking through your financial institution is the most common route. Set up “Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville” as the payee and use your eight-digit account number. You can also pay by credit card through the town’s Virtual Town Hall portal, or mail a cheque to the municipal offices well before the deadline. Payments made through a third-party provider can take three to five business days to be received and processed.⁶

Pre-Authorized Payment Plans

The town runs pre-authorized tax payment (PTP) plans that pull funds directly from your bank account. There’s a 10-month plan that spreads payments more evenly through the year, an installment plan tied to the regular due dates, and an arrears/supplementary plan for catching up on overdue balances. The arrears plan requires contacting the tax department directly. Your account must be fully paid up to enroll in any PTP plan.⁶

If a pre-authorized withdrawal bounces, the town charges a $54 returned-payment fee. Two bounced payments remove you from the PTP program automatically.⁷

Paying Through Your Mortgage Lender

If your mortgage lender collects property taxes through an escrow account, the town sends the bill directly to the lender for payment. You still receive a copy of the final bill in the mail. Check that your mortgage company’s name appears on your tax bill. If it doesn’t, call your lender right away, because the town will assume you’re paying on your own.⁵

Lost Bills and Reprints

Your first bill reprint is free. Second and subsequent reprints cost $22 each.⁷ You can request a reprint through the town’s online portal or by contacting the tax department. A missing bill isn’t a defence against late penalties, so don’t wait for the reprint if your deadline is close.

What Happens If You Pay Late

Stouffville does not offer a grace period. Miss a due date and a 1.25% penalty hits the unpaid amount on the first day of default. Interest then accrues at 1.25% per month on the outstanding balance, applied on the first day of each calendar month until the taxes are paid in full.⁴ On a $3,000 overdue installment, that’s a $37.50 penalty immediately, plus another $37.50 in interest every month it stays unpaid.

If taxes stay outstanding long enough, the consequences escalate. Under Ontario’s Municipal Act, once any portion of tax arrears is still owing on January 1 of the second year after the taxes originally became due, the municipal treasurer may register a tax arrears certificate against the property’s title.⁸ That registration starts the clock on a potential tax sale, and the property can eventually be sold at public auction or tender to recover the debt. Rare in Stouffville, but it’s the backstop that makes property tax a secured obligation.

Challenging Your Assessment

If you believe MPAC’s assessed value is too high, you have two avenues, and you must use the first before the second.

Start with a Request for Reconsideration (RfR) filed directly with MPAC. It’s free. You can submit it online through MPAC’s AboutMyProperty portal or by mail. MPAC usually responds within 180 days, though they can take up to 240. If the review finds your assessment was too high, MPAC issues a corrected notice and tells the town to adjust your taxes.⁹

If the RfR doesn’t resolve it, you have 90 days from the date of MPAC’s decision to file a formal appeal with the Assessment Review Board (ARB), an independent tribunal under the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General. For residential properties, the filing fee is $132.50 per roll number, with a $10 discount for electronic filing.¹⁰ The RfR step is mandatory for residential, farm, and managed forest properties before the ARB will accept an appeal.⁹

Because Ontario assessments are still frozen at the January 1, 2016 valuation date, the most common basis for a successful challenge is a property-specific error: MPAC has the wrong square footage, wrong lot size, or is treating your property as having features it doesn’t have. A general feeling that your neighbourhood has declined since 2016 is harder to win on unless you can point to comparable sales data supporting a lower 2016 value.

Deferral for Seniors, Low-Income Residents, and People With Disabilities

Stouffville offers a property tax deferral program for qualifying residents. A deferral postpones collection of some or all of your taxes, but the obligation remains and accumulates against the property. Three groups are eligible:¹¹

Seniors aged 65 and older, with no income test. You verify your age and confirm the property is your principal residence.
Low-income seniors aged 55 to 64, earning $23,000 or less if single, or $40,000 or less for a family of two or more.
Low-income disabled persons receiving benefits under the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) or the Guaranteed Annual Income System (GAINS) for the disabled, and eligible to claim a disability amount under the federal Income Tax Act.

All applicants must own and occupy the property as a principal residence in Stouffville, and the cumulative amount of deferred and outstanding taxes cannot exceed 75% of the property’s assessed value. Applications are due by September 30 of each taxation year, and you must reapply annually.¹¹

Tax Certificates When Buying or Selling

When buying or selling property in Stouffville, your lawyer will typically order a tax certificate confirming whether any taxes are outstanding. The town issues these through the Virtual Town Hall portal. You need the property’s service address and full legal description. The fee is $115, which includes a water certificate, and payment is by credit card. Certificates can be delivered by email or mail, and the town provides verbal confirmation of the details for up to three months after the certificate date.¹²

The tax certificate is separate from any closing adjustment. When a property changes hands partway through the year, buyer and seller typically prorate the taxes so each pays for the portion of the year they owned the property. Your real estate lawyer handles that calculation as part of the closing statement.

1
Town of Stouffville. Assessments
2
Town of Stouffville. Tax Rates
3
Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville. By-Law to Establish Rates and Levy Taxes for 2024
4
Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville. By-law 2024-072-TX – Establish Rates and Levy Taxes
5
Town of Stouffville. Paying Your Property Taxes
6
Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville. Virtual Town Hall – Payment Options
7
Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville. By-law 2025-079-FI – Fees and Charges
8
Ontario. Municipal Act, 2001, S.O. 2001, c. 25
9
Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC). How to File a Request for Reconsideration
10
Tribunals Ontario. Filing an Appeal – Assessment Review Board
11
Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville. Seniors, Low-Income Seniors and Low-Income Disabled Persons Property Tax Deferral Program
12
Town of Stouffville. Tax Certificates