As many residents are aware, the Vacant Unit Tax Declaration period opened on January 4, 2023 for property owners to declare the 2022 occupancy status of their residential properties, and the on-line portal to support the declaration went live at the same time. The City has already received over 82,000 completed declarations.
A VUT declaration can be made in paper form, by phone, or online and requires the Property Roll Number and Access Number.
The Roll & Access numbers can be found:
- On a recent paper copy of your Property Tax bill
- If you have a MyService account with the City of Ottawa, they can be found by viewing a PDF version of a recent property tax bill
You can also make a VUT declaration in your MyService online account by clicking on the “Vacant Unit Tax” tab, where the Roll and Access numbers are filled in for you.
The technical issues that were identified on January 4th have largely been resolved now. Although there has been an unprecedented surge in volume to the call centre, the City is adjusting staffing levels accordingly and providing updated automated messaging for callers who are waiting.
A second notice was issued this week to affected residential property owners over the next week, and includes property owners’ roll number, access code and more information on how to declare. In order to meet the January 9, 2023 mailout date, these letters were generated prior to the end of the year, so those who have already declared will be included in the mailout. Property owners who have already completed the declaration can disregard the second notice.
Included with the second notice are two additional inserts – VUT Guide providing a step-by step overview of the process, and VUT Facts with some background information on VUT. Paperless billing clients will receive an e-mail with links to the PDF versions of the inserts. Distribution of the notices is expected to be completed by January 17th.
Further information on the VUT and how to declare is available at ottawa.ca/vut as well as Vacant Unit Tax Summary.