Property Tax Appeal

Paying too much in property taxes?

If your property tax bill looks too high, your first step is discussing it with the Assessor's Office. If that does not resolve it, you have the right to file an appeal with the County.

An independent, professional appraisal is often the difference-maker in getting a reduction approved: it replaces opinion with documented, defensible market evidence.

What we provide

A USPAP-compliant appraisal with an effective date matching the assessment date, comparable-sales analysis specific to your property, and a report format assessors and appeal boards are used to reading.

Who orders this appraisal

• Homeowners
• Commercial property owners
• Property tax consultants
• Attorneys

The rules that govern it

Proposition 13, factored base year value, Your base year value is set when you buy or build, then adjusted upward each year by the lesser of the California CPI change or 2%. That factored base year value, not the market, is normally what you are taxed on, which is why long-held property is often assessed far below what it would sell for.

Proposition 8. Decline in value (Cal. Const. art. XIII A), When market value on the January 1 lien date falls BELOW the factored base year value, the assessor must enroll the lower of the two. The reduction is temporary: the assessor reviews it every January 1, and the full factored base year value is restored once the market recovers to it. A Prop 8 reduction never permanently lowers your base year value.

San Diego County regular filing period, July 2 through November 30, San Diego County does not mail value notices to every secured-roll owner by August 1, so it uses the extended window rather than the July 2 – September 15 period that applies in notice-mailing counties. Appeals go to the Assessment Appeals Board through the Clerk of the Board of Supervisors.

Supplemental and escape assessments, 60 days, These run on their own clock, not the regular period. A supplemental assessment must be appealed within 60 days of the mailing date on the notice (or of the supplemental tax bill where no notice issued); an escape assessment within 60 days of the official assessment notification.

How it works

1. Establish the correct effective date. A regular decline-in-value appeal is argued as of January 1 of the tax year, not as of today, and not as of when you noticed the problem.
2. Confirm the factored base year value on the assessor’s roll, since that is the number the market value has to beat.
3. Develop market value as of the lien date from sales that had actually closed by then, with the adjustments documented well enough to survive cross-examination.
4. Deliver a USPAP-compliant report written as evidence for the Assessment Appeals Board rather than as a lender report.
5. Appear for testimony if the board sets a hearing.

What you receive

Appraisal report prepared as evidence for an assessment appeal, with testimony available. Standard turnaround is 1–3 weeks. Rush appraisals available for urgent deadlines.

Common questions