How to Appeal Your Calgary Property Assessment in 2026

What Your 2026 Assessment Actually Measures

In January 2026, the City of Calgary mailed more than 614,000 property assessment notices (the mailing date on the notices is January 14, 2026). Your assessed value is the City's estimate of what your property would have sold for on July 1, 2025, with the physical condition of the property considered as of December 31, 2025. It is not today's market value, and it is not a listing price.

This matters because 2025 was a much flatter year than the ones before it. The City reports that the typical residential assessment changed by about 1% this year, compared with roughly 15% the year before. The median single residential assessment for 2026 is about $706,000, up slightly from around $697,000 in 2025. If your notice jumped far more than the typical change, that is a reasonable prompt to take a closer look.

A quick note on why people care: your assessment is one of the two inputs (assessment multiplied by the tax rate) that determine your annual property tax. For 2026, Calgary's overall residential tax change works out to roughly 8.1% on average, but that is driven mostly by the provincial education levy, which rose about 19.8%. The City's own municipal portion rose about 1.2%. An assessment complaint can address your assessed value; it cannot change the tax rates themselves.

Step 1: Review, Then Talk to an Assessor (Free)

Before filing anything formal, use the Customer Review Period. This is the window to check your assessment details and raise concerns directly with a City assessor at no cost. It is genuinely worth doing first: the Calgary Assessment Review Board notes that roughly 80% of concerns are resolved before a formal hearing is ever needed.

Log in to the City's assessment portal (or call 311) and confirm the basics are correct: living area or square footage, lot size, year built, number of bathrooms, finished basement, garage, and condition. Assessments are produced by mass appraisal across hundreds of thousands of properties, so factual errors on an individual home do happen. If an assessor agrees something is wrong, the City can correct your assessment without you filing a complaint at all.

Pull comparable evidence while you are at it. You can look at how similar nearby homes are assessed, and you can review actual sold prices from around the July 1, 2025 valuation date. A local REALTOR® can help you assemble sold comparables; you are welcome to reach out for a comparable-sales pull if you want a second set of eyes before the deadline.

Step 2: File a Formal Complaint With the Assessment Review Board

If talking to an assessor does not resolve it, you can file a formal complaint with the independent Assessment Review Board (ARB). In Calgary the process is generally referred to as a complaint rather than an appeal, though people use the words interchangeably.

The deadline is firm. For the 2026 assessment, complaints must be filed by March 23, 2026 (the deadline printed on the front of your notice; the review period runs 67 days from the mailing date). Miss it and you generally lose the right to challenge this year's assessment.

• Filing fee: For residential properties with three or fewer dwellings and for farmland, the fee is $50. Confirm the exact fee and deadline on the front of your own notice, as they can vary by property type.
• Grounds: You cannot complain simply because you disagree with the number. You need to show that the assessment does not reflect market value as of July 1, 2025, or that there is a factual error in the property details.
• Where to file: Complaints and agent-authorization forms are available through the Assessment Review Board; check the current filing steps on the City's assessment pages before you submit.

Step 3: Build Your Evidence

The strength of your case comes down to evidence, not opinion. Two kinds tend to carry the most weight:

• Factual corrections. If your notice credits square footage, a finished basement, a bathroom, or a garage you do not have, that is concrete and often resolves quickly.
• Market-value evidence. Sold comparables of similar homes near the July 1, 2025 valuation date, and how comparable homes are assessed relative to yours (for example, on a per-square-foot basis).

Because the valuation date is fixed, a sale from late 2025 or 2026 is less persuasive than one close to July 1, 2025. Organize your comparables clearly and be ready to explain why each one is genuinely similar. If you want help identifying the right comparables and understanding where your home realistically sits, our free home-value tools and comparable-sales support are a useful starting point.

Step 4: The Hearing and What Comes After

If your complaint proceeds, it is heard by an independent Assessment Review Board panel. You present your evidence, the City's assessor presents theirs, and the panel decides. You can attend yourself or authorize an agent to act on your behalf.

There is no guaranteed result. Complaints grounded in clear factual errors tend to fare better than those based on a general feeling that the value is too high. If the panel agrees your assessment should be lower, it is adjusted, which in turn reduces the assessment portion of your tax bill. If it does not, your assessment stands. Board decisions apply to that year's assessment; they do not automatically carry forward, so each annual assessment can be reviewed on its own.

Whatever the outcome of a complaint, remember the tax deadline is separate. For 2026, Calgary mailed property tax bills on May 14, with payment due June 30. You can pay in a lump sum or spread it over the year through the City's TIPP monthly plan, which carries no extra service fee. Enrolling in TIPP by the June 30 due date also helps you avoid late-payment penalties.

Is It Worth Appealing? A Realistic Take

An appeal makes the most sense when you have something concrete: a factual error on the notice, or solid sold comparables suggesting your July 1, 2025 value was overstated relative to similar homes. If your increase simply tracked the typical change and the details on your notice are accurate, a complaint is less likely to succeed and may not be worth the fee and effort.

Because your assessment carries into how much tax you pay, getting it right is a normal part of managing your home's costs, alongside knowing your current market value for planning purposes. If you are weighing an assessment challenge as part of a possible move, our home-selling resources can help you connect assessed value, current market value, and your net proceeds. And if you would like a hand assembling comparables before the March 23 deadline, feel free to get in touch.

Frequently Asked Questions