Chapala Property / Real Estate Taxes from Ajijic, Mexico
When we first arrived in Ajijic, Lake Chapala paying bills could sometimes be a challenge as I have mentioned before. First you had t find the bill in question and then began the process of finding out where to pay said bill.
Our property tax bill in Canada for our house in Toronto was going up to $6,000.00 Cdn. when we left in 1994.
You can imagine our very pleasant surprise to find that here in Ajijic, Lake Chapala property taxes were substantially lower.
For the first few years of owning a home here our property tax bill was paid by someone else who paid several tax bills at the same time saving us the possible frustration of finding out how to pay it ourselves.
Last year we paid it ourselves for the first time and we delighted at how easy it really was.
The place where you pay it is relatively new as opposed to the hole in the wall you had to try and find in some small office as the end of a long corridor in Chapala.
Yesterday I had reason to go to Chapala to get a new debit card from Bancomer so I could continue banking online so I decided as it was January I would endeavor to pay our property tax bill at the same time.
You now can pay your property tax bill in the main lobby at Chapala’s Palacio Municipal which is on Avenida Madero # 202 which is beside the banks on the main street of Chapala. When you drive into Chapala you turn right towards the lake and the Palacio Municipal is on your right hand side.
Window service is available Monday through Friday from 9:00am – 3:00 pm.
What you will need is your last year’s real estate property tax bill. You hand this bill into the Catastro office windows at the left of the foyer. You then are to take a number and directed to the cashier windows on the opposite side of the room where payments are received.
As luck would have it number 509 was being served and my number was 512. I was in and out in 15 minutes having made a payment of approximately $170.00 US which was indeed a far cry from the $6,000.00 Cdn. they had wanted in Toronto.
If you pay in January or February you are entitled to a 15% discount and the prompt payment deduction drops to 5% from March 1 through April 30.
There is a 50% discount available to senior citizens over 60 but only applies to persons holding Mexican Citizenship.
Buoyed by my success at paying our property taxes, and thrilled that they had not increased 1 peso since last year, I went into Bancomer and got my new debit card in a very timely fashion.
All in all it was a very successful trip as I accomplished with incident or without lacking any of the necessary paperwork (which is very often the case) both transactions.
It was a very good morning indeed.