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Apply for property tax relief because of sickness or extreme poverty

Apply for property tax relief because of sickness or extreme poverty

Learn how to ask for your property taxes to be reduced, canceled or refunded if you can’t pay because of sickness or extreme poverty.

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About

You may qualify for property tax relief if you cannot pay your property taxes because of sickness or extreme poverty.

Before you file with the ARB

  1. Contact your municipality. Depending on where you live, you will either have to submit your sickness or extreme poverty application to the municipality or the ARB. Contact your municipality to find out.
  2. Use Statistics Canada’s Market Basket Measure (MBM) Thresholds to estimate whether you meet the definition of extreme poverty. When a family’s disposable income is 25% below the threshold, they meet the definition of extreme poverty. Find out your threshold by selecting your household size and where you live.

    Important: Your disposable income is not the only factor the ARB considers when deciding whether to reduce, cancel or refund your property taxes. The ARB also takes your assets (what you own) into account.

  3. Gather documents that show your income, assets and living expenses. The ARB uses this financial information to decide your application or appeal.

Apply or appeal?

Apply to the ARB if:

  1. your municipality has authorized the ARB to receive applications on its behalf

Appeal to the ARB if you applied to the municipality, and:

  1. you disagree with its decision, or
  2. the municipality has not made a decision by September 30 of the year after you applied

Deadlines

Stage 1: Apply

The deadline to apply for property tax relief is the last day of February in the year after you couldn’t pay your taxes. For example, if you couldn’t pay your taxes in 2026, you would have until February 28, 2027 to apply. The deadline is the same whether you are applying to the ARB or your municipality.

Stage 2: Appeal to the ARB

Stage 2 only applies if you first applied to your municipality.

  • If you disagree with the municipality’s decision, you have 35 days from the date of the decision to appeal the decision to the ARB.
  • If your municipality has not made a decision by September 30, you can apply to the ARB to make a decision instead. In this case, the deadline to apply is October 21 in the year after you couldn’t pay your taxes.

How to file

Scenario 1: You are unable to pay property taxes and the ARB handles sickness or extreme poverty applications for your municipality.

If your property is in the City of Toronto, there are two ways to file:

  1. Visit the City of Toronto’s Property Tax Appeal: Sickness or Extreme Poverty webpage for instructions, or
  2. e-File by selecting “City of Toronto Act” and then “s. 323 (1)(e) Unable to pay taxes due to sickness or extreme poverty.”

If your property is elsewhere in Ontario, there are two ways to file:

  1. Fill out the form: Municipal Act Application/Appeal – Sickness or Extreme Poverty and mail or email it to the ARB, or
  2. e-File by selecting “Municipal Act” and then “s.357 (1)(d1) Unable to pay taxes due to sickness or extreme poverty.”

Scenario 2: You are appealing your municipality decision about your sickness or extreme poverty application

  1. Use the form: Municipal Act Application/Appeal – Sickness or Extreme Poverty
  2. Mail or email it to the ARB

Note: If the ARB made the original decision, it cannot be appealed. You can ask the ARB to review a decision within 30 days after it is issued. A review is not a chance to make the same arguments as in your original appeal. Instead, the ARB review process looks for specific, serious mistakes.

Scenario 3: Your municipal council failed to make a decision on your application for relief from paying property taxes due to sickness or extreme poverty.

  1. Use the form: Municipal Act Application/Appeal – Sickness or Extreme Poverty
  2. Mail or email it to the ARB

e-File

e-Filing an application takes about five minutes. You must have an email to use the service. Print or save a copy of the application and acknowledgement for your records.

For step-by-step e-File instructions, see: Information Sheet – Filing Appeals and Applications .

File by email or mail

By e-mail: arb.registrar@ontario.ca

By mail:

Assessment Review Board
15 Grosvenor Street, Ground Floor
Toronto, ON M7A 2G6

Filing fees

There are no filing fees for sickness or extreme poverty applications and appeals.

After filing

After the ARB receives your appeal or application, the ARB will send you:

  1. A letter acknowledging receipt of your application or appeal

  2. The Financial Information Form

    The form asks for details of your income, assets and living expenses. You will have 90 days to complete the form and send it to the ARB.

    Timelines: The municipality will have 10 days to respond to your form. You will have another 10 days to submit your final reply. For more information, read the Financial Information Form Guide

  3. The date of your written hearing

    In a written hearing, the adjudicator reviews evidence and arguments that were submitted in writing. There is no teleconference, videoconference or in-person meeting.

    Timelines: The written hearing will take place no more than 120 business (or calendar?) days after the ARB receives your application or appeal. You will usually get a decision about your application or appeal within 60 days of the hearing date.