A Vancouver property tax inquiry starts with two pieces of information from your most recent tax notice: the 12-digit folio number and the six-digit access code. With those in hand, you can check your balance, confirm payments, download past notices, and claim your Home Owner Grant through the City of Vancouver’s MyCity portal, by phone at 3-1-1, or by mail to Revenue Services.1City of Vancouver. Taxes – Property Tax and Empty Homes Tax
What You Need Before You Look
Your folio number is a unique 12-digit identifier tied to your specific property. Your access code is a six-digit security code required to set up and use online services. Both sit on the top right of any tax notice the city has mailed you.2City of Vancouver. Sample Property Tax Notice
Lost the notice? You can look up your folio number and legal description through BC Assessment’s online search tool using your street address.3BC Assessment. BC Assessment – Independent, Uniform and Efficient Property Assessment The access code is a different matter: it isn’t on BC Assessment’s records. To retrieve it, call 3-1-1 (or 604-873-7000 from outside Vancouver) and verify your identity with a representative.1City of Vancouver. Taxes – Property Tax and Empty Homes Tax The folio number and legal description you give must match the city’s records exactly; a small discrepancy will block access.
Checking Your Account Online With MyCity
The fastest route is the city’s MyCity portal, which combines property tax, Empty Homes Tax status, and utility accounts in one dashboard.4City of Vancouver. MyCity First-time users create an account and then link their property using the folio number and access code from a tax notice.5City of Vancouver. Property Tax
Once you’re in, the dashboard shows your current balance, any outstanding penalties, and downloadable PDFs of tax notices from previous years. You can confirm whether a payment has been received and whether credits such as the Home Owner Grant have been applied. For most owners, this is where problems surface early, like a missing payment that was supposed to arrive through a bank or a mortgage lender.
Inquiring by Phone or Mail
If you’d rather talk to someone, call 3-1-1 from within Vancouver or 604-873-7000 from outside the city.1City of Vancouver. Taxes – Property Tax and Empty Homes Tax Choose property tax or financial services from the automated menu. The representative will verify your identity using your folio number before pulling up your records, and most balance questions get resolved in a single call.
You can also write to Revenue Services at PO Box 7747, Vancouver, BC, V6B 8R1.6City of Vancouver. Drop Off, Mail, or Hand in Your Payment in Person Include your folio number, a clear description of what you need, and a return address. Mail is the slowest option. For anything time-sensitive, especially near the July payment deadline, use the phone or the portal.
The Deadlines Your Inquiry Is Really About
Vancouver runs on a two-notice cycle. An advance tax notice goes out in late November and is due by the first business day in February. The main tax notice arrives in June, carries the larger balance, and is due on the first business day after Canada Day. For 2026, those dates are February 3 and July 3.7City of Vancouver. Get Your Property Tax Account Balance and Notice
Missing either deadline triggers a 5% penalty on the unpaid amount.8City of Vancouver. Tax Deadlines and Penalties The penalty is immediate, not gradual. One day late costs the same as one month late. If you check your account in August and the balance is higher than you expected, this is almost always why.
Any balance still unpaid at year end rolls into tax arrears and begins accruing interest at 8.95% starting January 1 of the following year.8City of Vancouver. Tax Deadlines and Penalties That interest sits on top of the earlier penalty.
Confirming Your Mortgage Lender Actually Paid
If your mortgage lender pays your property taxes through an escrow account, don’t assume the payment went through. Log in to MyCity or call 3-1-1 before the July deadline and confirm the city received it. Lenders sometimes send payments late or to the wrong account, and the penalty lands on you, not the bank.
The reverse problem shows up too. If you paid directly and your lender also paid, you’ll see a credit on the account. Contact Revenue Services to arrange a refund.
Vancouver accepts payments through online banking, at your bank or ATM, by mail, in person at City Hall (453 West 12th Avenue), through a mortgage lender’s escrow arrangement, or on a monthly schedule through the Tax Instalment Prepayment Plan (TIPP).9City of Vancouver. Ways to Pay Your Taxes Credit cards and wire transfers are not accepted.
Claiming Your Home Owner Grant Through the Account
The BC Home Owner Grant reduces your property tax bill if you own and live in your home as your principal residence. In Metro Vancouver, the basic grant for 2026 is $570. Seniors aged 65 and older, persons with disabilities, and certain other qualifying groups can claim an additional $275, for a combined grant of $845.10Province of British Columbia. Home Owner Grant
The grant begins shrinking once your property’s assessed value exceeds $2,075,000, dropping by $5 for every $1,000 above that threshold. The basic grant disappears at $2,189,000, and the additional senior and disability grant disappears at $2,244,000.11City of Vancouver. Are You Eligible for a Home Owner Grant Many Vancouver homeowners sit inside the phase-out range.
You can claim the grant once your main tax notice arrives in June. The deadline for the 2026 tax year is July 3, the same day the main taxes are due.12City of Vancouver. Retroactive Grant Missing it doesn’t permanently forfeit the grant; you can apply retroactively. But the city may have already applied the 5% penalty to your full balance in the meantime.
When you check your account, the grant shows up as a credit once it’s been applied. If you filed and it isn’t showing a few days later, call 3-1-1 before the deadline rather than after.
Empty Homes Tax Is a Separate Inquiry
Your MyCity dashboard displays Empty Homes Tax status alongside your property tax, but the two are administered separately and the Empty Homes Tax has its own declaration requirement. Every residential property owner in Vancouver must file an annual property status declaration, even if the home is occupied. The declaration for the 2025 reference year was due February 3, 2026.13City of Vancouver. Empty Homes Tax If you don’t declare by the deadline, the city treats the property as vacant and applies a 3% tax on assessed value automatically. There is no instalment plan or deferment program for the Empty Homes Tax.9City of Vancouver. Ways to Pay Your Taxes
The province’s Speculation and Vacancy Tax and the federal Underused Housing Tax are separate again, with their own declaration processes run by the province and the Canada Revenue Agency, not the city.14Province of British Columbia. How to Declare for the Speculation and Vacancy Tax15Canada.ca. Underused Housing Tax They won’t appear in your Vancouver tax account.
If a Balance Stays Unpaid
After the 5% penalty and 8.95% interest on arrears, unpaid taxes become delinquent. Under the Vancouver Charter, the city’s tax collector must warn you on your tax statement once taxes have been delinquent for one year, stating that the property will be sold the following November unless the balance is paid. The city auctions any property with taxes delinquent for two years, and you have one year from the sale date to redeem the property.16BC Laws. Vancouver Charter
Tax sales are uncommon in Vancouver, but the timeline from a missed payment to a scheduled auction is shorter than most owners expect. Checking your account regularly, especially after a lender is supposed to have paid, is how you keep that timeline from ever starting.