File for Reassessment

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RTC 170 – Reassessment Ordinance Details

RTC 170 enables counties to enact ordinances for property reassessment following damage from a major misfortune or calamity. Owners can apply for reassessment, prompting the assessor to evaluate the property’s value before and after the damage. If the value difference exceeds $10,000, the assessment roll is reduced, taxes are adjusted, and owners can appeal. The tax rate remains fixed, with prorated taxes based on the property’s condition before and after the event; assessors can also initiate reassessments under certain conditions.

• Reassessment Ordinance: California counties can allow reassessment of taxable property damaged or destroyed due to misfortune or calamity via an ordinance passed by the board of supervisors. The ordinance can allow the assessor to initiate the reassessment if they determine property has been damaged or destroyed within the last 12 months.
• Eligibility for Reassessment: Reassessment is applicable if the damage is caused by a major misfortune in an area proclaimed by the Governor to be in a state of disaster or by a misfortune or calamity.
• Application for Reassessment: The application must be filed within the time specified in the ordinance or within 12 months of the misfortune or calamity, whichever is later. It must include the property’s condition and value immediately after the damage and the dollar amount of the damage.
• Assessor’s Duty: Upon receiving an application, the assessor must appraise the property to determine its full cash value before and after the damage. If the value difference is $10,000 or more, the assessor determines the percentage reductions in value and reduces the assessment roll accordingly.
• Notification and Appeal: The assessor must notify the applicant of the proposed reassessment, which can be appealed to the county board of equalization or an assessment appeals board within six months.
• Tax Rate and Liability: The tax rate is fixed at the time of the misfortune or calamity. The assessee is liable for a prorated portion of taxes for the current fiscal year before the misfortune, plus a proration of tax on the reassessed value after the damage.
• Refunds: Any tax paid in excess of the total tax due will be refunded to the taxpayer.
• Damaged Condition Value: The assessed value of the property in its damaged condition, compounded annually by an inflation factor, will be the taxable value until the property is restored or repaired.
• Repair, Restoration, or Reconstruction: When the property is fully repaired, restored, or reconstructed, the assessor will make additional assessments, and on the following lien date, the new taxable value of the property will be enrolled.
• Assessor Initiated Reassessment: Even without a general ordinance, the assessor, with the board of supervisors’ approval, may reassess a property damaged by misfortune or calamity and notify the owner.