The Education Property Tax Assistance for Seniors program provides an annual rebate to assist senior homeowners with the year-to-year increases in the education tax portion of their property taxes since 2004.

The program is not based on income.

To be eligible for the Education Property Tax Assistance for Seniors program, you must be:

• 65 years of age or older,
• an Alberta resident,
• own residential property in Alberta, and

you have had an increase in your education taxes.

A “base year” is set to determine eligibility for a rebate. The rebate amount is the difference in the education tax amount between the base year and the amount in following years. For most seniors enrolled in the program the base year is 2004.

If you turned 65 after 2004, your base year will be the year before you turned 65. In general, if you have moved since 2004, your base year will be established using your first full year’s property tax notice.

Senior homeowners who have never applied to the Alberta Seniors Benefit program should complete an application for the Education Property Tax Assistance for Seniors program. A copy of your property tax notices should be included with your application.

You only need to apply once. Rebate cheques are mailed starting in the summer after the property tax notices have been issued.