Frequently Asked Questions

Every property owner is required to pay school taxes with few exceptions. The exceptions, or exemptions, are determined by the municipal evaluators and often relate to schools; churches, parks, etc.

In Québec school taxes are invoiced by school boards and not via the municipality.

Individuals who purchase from a company may receive two annual invoices, one being from the French school board and one from Western Québec School Board. Each invoice should calculate on a percentage of evaluation with the total not surpassing 100%. While companies must always pay on a percentage basis; individuals may contact the school board of their choice to select one source of taxation support. Both invoices must be paid until a declaration of choice is recorded.

The Access to Information Act limits the disclosure of personal information concerning individuals. For anyone other than property owners, there are formalities to complete in order to access accounts.

To grant a power of attorney to a designated person, you must complete the Power of attorney form.

To revoke a power of attorney to a person, you must complete the Revocation of power of attorney form.

Email: taxes@wqsb.qc.ca
Phone: 819-684-2336 option 2
Toll-free within Canada: 1 800 363-9111 option 2
Hours of operation: from Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Address: P.O. Box 11818, station D, Montreal, Quebec, H3C 1C6

Alternatively, please complete the following form: Contact the school tax customer service

Changes in evaluation are forwarded to the school board from the MRCs and cities as modifications to your property occur. A property owner is notified of the modification from the municipal level in writing. The school board processes the modification and produces an invoice with the calculations corresponding to the effective period. Note: the effective period is determined by the evaluator. A credit invoice may include a coupon to request a reimbursement by cheque or to leave your credit on file voluntarily without interest. Larger credit amounts will automatically be reimbursed.

Yes. The school board is registered as Commission scolaire Western Québec or a variation of our name depending on the financial institution, (i.e. Comm Scol Western). Please use the 20 digit reference number which appears on your coupon. It begins with ‘886’ and is unique per property. Therefore, we ask that each property is paid separately online. Generally your payment is received the next business day and will be processed using that effective date.

The Western Québec school board has undertaken the processing of all cheques at the school board level by our taxation department.  Due to volume, this may create a temporary backlog. However, each coupon is stamped with the reception date and is processed using that date.  Our goal is to have all cheques processed within two weeks of the due date.

To process your payment we need your coupon(s) with the payment amount(s) indicated. This should correspond, or total, the amount of your cheque(s). Cheques are payable to either WQSB or Western Québec School Board. Please do not to combine payments that belong to the French school board in the case of shared invoicing. Your cheque must be signed with the written and numerical amounts reading the same. It is recommended to write your reference or dossier number on the cheque. We welcome all email address and telephone numbers that you may wish to provide in case we need to contact you. We do not receive this information from the municipalities or cities nor would we provide this information to anyone without your consent.

Contact us, or your bank, to have your payment reversed through the financial institutions. The taxation department will process the required paperwork with the bank on an urgent basis and generally the transaction can be completed within a few of days. We keep careful records of these requests and will work collaboratively with you. Notifying to your bank, of the request, usually improves the time delay of the transaction.

A property owner is responsible for his/her taxation payment regardless if they have received an invoice.  Much like hydroelectric services, you are aware there is a responsibility. Contact the school tax customer service immediately to investigate the problem.  NO INTEREST will be written off in accordance with Article 317 “No school board may waive the payment of school taxes or interest.”

To request a statement of account, please complete the following online form: Request for a statement of account. The statement will be emailed to the address indicated on the form.

Please contact our school taxation department by email. The department will forward to you a declaration form to be filled in and returned before April 1st to take effect the following taxation year.

All mailing address changes must be received in written by completing the following form: Request for change of mailing address. This is a temporary change and may be overwritten with updates from the MRC or city data transfers. Therefore, it is essential to also contact your municipality or city and your MRC to ensure the same modification is affected within their database.

The school board will mail out a receipt of payment upon request at the time of payment. Please keep this for your income tax documentation (if applicable). We ask our taxpayers to be conscious of postal rates and, ideally, provide email addresses whenever possible to receive a PDF version.

The Western Québec School Board, in parallel with other Québec school boards, refrains from processing modifications during our annual taxation period. Generally this is from May to the end of September. There may be other challenges that cause delays in processing modifications; however, you may email us at any time. The school board receives between three and seven data updates per year from each of its 103 municipalities. These updates are in electronic format.

Contact the school board to ensure responsible management of your account by recording a payment arrangement immediately. Interest cannot be modified, negotiated or removed; therefore it may be optimal to find a source of financing to cover your taxes that carries a lower interest rate (current WQSB interest rate found further up this page). Payment arrangements must be adhered to or a revision must be recorded to prevent legal recovery procedures against the property owner.

The school board does have the right to seize movable property to pay delinquent accounts. Should a bailiff procedure be initiated on your account the process will add a significant amount of fees to your balance which will not be removed. Municipality land tax sales for delinquent amounts most often include amounts owing in school taxes.