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Tuesday, May 22, 2012
The Skinny on Lowering Property Taxes
by Ryan Lundquist, published on February 16, 2009 at 8:33 AM
Storyline: Property Taxes
Have you received a letter? My household has been mailed two so far claiming that XYZ Company will help me lower my property taxes if I send them $95.00 or $179.00. Fellow residents, may I offer some advice? Don’t waste your money. We all want to pay lower taxes, especially in a declining market, but as a tax payer you can do this for free (or at least pay someone to help you when the time is right – only if you need to).
Here is what you need to do:
1. First off, wait to see what the Sacramento County Assessor’s Office says your home is worth. They should have this data available around May 2009. Figures for 2009 property taxes aren’t even out yet, so how can these companies accurately “lower your taxes” if they don’t know what your home is assessed at?
2. If you are not satisfied with your property tax assessment, you can contact the Assessor's Office and fill out a “Decline-in-Value Reassessment Application” between July 1, 2009 and November 30, 2009. There is no fee for this application. Basically, the application asks you to provide two similar properties that have sold in 2009 between January 1 and March 31.
3. If you hear back from the Assessor’s Office and still disagree with their value, you can file an “Application for Changed Assessment” with the Assessment Appeals Board by November 30, 2009. This application is free and basically asks you to provide evidence for your opinion of value. If you can supply this evidence through your own knowledge and research, that’s great. If not, this is where you may need to consult with a local and reputable real estate professional to deliver what you need.
4. Don’t wait until the end of November to do Step 2 because you may not hear back from the Assessor’s Office until after the November 30th deadline for filing Step 3. For example, if you do Step 2 on November 30, 2009 and you end up disagreeing with the Assessor’s Office value opinion when you hear back from them in 2010, there is nothing more you can do because you did not file an appeal before the November 30th deadline. Of course if you do Step 2 late in the game, you can also do Step 3 at the same time as a safeguard, but your your best bet is to take care of Step 2 early in the process so that you can hear back from the Assessor’s Office within the filing period and then determine if Step 3 is even necessary.
Keep your hard earned money in your pockets by following the steps above and also contacting the County Assessor’s office at 916-875-0455 or www.assessor.saccounty.net
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"Proposition 8, passed in November 1978, amended Proposition 13 to recognize declines in value for property tax purposes. As a result, Revenue & Taxation Code Section 51 requires the Assessor to annually enroll either a property’s Proposition 13 base year value factored for inflation, or its market value as of January 1st, whichever is less.
Decline in market value, Prop 8 assessments, are TEMPORARY reductions that recognize the fact that the market value as of the January 1 lien date of a property has fallen below its current Prop 13 factored value. Once a Prop 8 reduced value has been enrolled, that property’s value must be reviewed each year as of the January 1st lien date, to determine whether its market value is less than its Prop 13 factored value. Prop 8 values can change from year to year as the market fluctuates. When the market value of the Prop 8 property increases above its Prop 13 factored value, the Assessor will once again enroll its Prop 13 factored value. In no case may a value higher than a property’s Prop 13 factored value be enrolled.
Properties enrolled under Prop 8 provisions are not subject to the 2% annual increase limitation that applies to those enrolled under Prop 13 provisions."