Property assessment and appeals in Saskatchewan

SAMA "operates independently from government" and "manages the province's property assessment system". Under The Assessment Management Agency Act it sets the policies, procedures and standards for assessment, which "must be followed by all Saskatchewan municipalities". Each municipality decides who assesses its property. SAMA does it for most cities, towns, villages and rural municipalities. Saskatoon, Regina, Prince Albert and Swift Current have their own assessors, and SAMA's own page also lists North Battleford among cities that do their own revaluation.

Assessments use mass appraisal only, and "All property is to be assessed as of the applicable base date" (Cities Act s. 165; Municipalities Act s. 195). The base date is set by SAMA (Cities Act s. 163(d)). For the 2025 revaluation it is January 1, 2023. Each assessment also reflects the property's condition "as at January 1 of each year as if those facts, conditions and circumstances existed on the applicable base date". In other words, physical changes such as an addition are picked up as of January 1 each year, but valued at base-date market levels. Regina says it uses the sales comparison and cost approaches for homes.

The assessed value is not what is taxed. The assessor multiplies it by the provincial percentage of value for the property's class to get the taxable assessment (Cities Act s. 167; Municipalities Act s. 197). For the 2025-2028 tax years the percentages are: - residential, multi-unit residential and seasonal residential: 80% - commercial, industrial, elevator, railway, resource and pipeline: 85% - other (cultivated) agricultural land: 55% - non-arable (range or pasture) land: 45%

Municipal and education mill rates are then applied to the taxable assessment (see property tax in Saskatchewan).

Each municipality prepares an assessment roll every year and must give public notice when it is complete. Municipalities other than cities must also advertise it in The Saskatchewan Gazette. Assessment notices may be mailed to all owners, or only to owners whose assessment changed. In a revaluation year, all owners receive one. A notice must show the information on the roll, the date it was sent, the last date to appeal, contact details for the board of revision secretary, and any appeal fee (Cities Act s. 185(1); Municipalities Act s. 215(1)). A notice of appeal form must be sent with any assessment notice.

2026 was not a revaluation year. Saskatoon began mailing 2026 assessment notices on January 5, 2026 to "about 14,000 property owners who have had changes to their property's assessment, tax status or ownership since January 1, 2025". Its 2026 roll was open for inspection from January 5 to February 6, 2026. Regina sends notices in non-revaluation years only to owners whose assessment or tax status changed. An assessment notice is not a tax bill.

Where SAMA is the assessor, SAMAView lets the public "search, view and compare individual property assessments in all SAMA's client jurisdictions". It requires an account, and access is free for personal and non-commercial users. Those users get 25 credits per revaluation cycle for property reports, at one credit per report.

The cities that assess for themselves have their own lookups: - Regina: property assessment - Saskatoon: Property Assessment & Tax Tool - Prince Albert: assessment values online

Saskatoon's tool shows the assessed value and the property characteristics the City has on file. The Province notes that owners may ask for a copy of the field sheet for their property, which gives the details used to calculate the assessment. Regina asks owners to check that their name, address, school support and assessed value are correct on the roll.

Saskatchewan has no cap on assessed values: each revaluation resets all properties to the new base date. Councils can instead phase in the tax effect. "Starting January 1, 2025, all municipalities are now able to phase in significant tax shifts due to revaluation"; before then, only cities could. A phase-in can run over two to four years but may not extend beyond the four-year revaluation period. It cannot be used to phase in education property tax, and it does not apply to changes in assessed value outside a revaluation. Regina phased in the 2025 revaluation for all non-residential property: "1/3 of the tax change applied for 2025", "2/3 of the tax change applied for 2026" and "100% of the tax change applied for 2027". Separately, the provincial percentages of value mean only 80% of a home's assessed value, and 85% of a commercial property's, is taxable from 2025 to 2028.