Important Deadline For Lowering Your San Diego Property Taxes
Last day to apply for reassessment from the San Diego County Tax Assessor is May 30, 2009
By California Law, owners of San Diego homes and investment properties are entitled to annual reassessment of their property tax values. California Proposition 8 requires the Assessor’s Office to temporarily lower the assessment if the value drops below the taxable or “assessed value” that is shown on your most recent tax bill. If you think that your property value has declined below the value last assessed, there is a simple procedure in place to help you save money for the 2009-2010 tax year.
Most people who have purchased homes in San Diego CA over the past 5 or 6 years will qualify for this tax reduction. Anyone who has purchased a property in San Diego since 2004 should definitely apply. The process is simple:
1) Download the required application from the San Diego County Assessor.
2) Provide your opinion of value by including the property addresses, parcel numbers, square footage, sale dates and sale prices of four recent sales in the neighborhood. Contact one of our San Diego Realtors for this comparable sales data.
That’s it… just a one-page form to complete and mail to the Assessor’s office. The application should take less than a half hour to complete.
If you have questions you can reach the San Diego County Assessor/Recorder/Clerk at:
- 1600 Pacific Highway, Room 103
- San Diego, CA 92101
- Telephone: or
Property tax payments are still due according to the instructions on your tax bill. Don’t neglect to pay your property taxes in full. The Assessor’s office will issue a refund if you overpay. If you underpay or pay late, you will be subject to penalties and interest.
You should receive a response from your application by sometime in July 2009. If you receive an unfavorable response to your application, assessment appeals are available. Appeals must be filed between July 2 and November 30, 2009 with the Clerk of the Assessment Appeals Board. But that’s putting the cart before the horse. First file file the application per the instructions above.
If you obtain a reduction of the assessed value, there is no guarantee that the Assessor won’t increase the assessed value the following year. But the value can only be increased to the original assessed value plus a maximum of 2% (or the amount of the annual Consumer Price Index increase, whichever is lower).
Note that there are predatory companies out there wrongly charging money for this service. Anyone can go to the tax assessor’s website to get the paperwork, then just insert a few comparable sales addresses and prices, and mail in the application. Don’t pay anyone for anything related to this application. Any good San Diego real estate professional should provide comparable sales data as a complimentary service.