Assessor-Recorder Torres Public Service Announcement on Informal Review Requests

***Public Service Announcement***

Thursday, March 31, 2022, will mark the last day residential property owners (single family homes, condos, townhouses, and cooperative units) will be able to file an informal review with the Office of the Assessor-Recorder. For businesses, please see the Assessment Appeals Board information below. The Office of the Assessor-Recorder understands that external factors such as recessions and the current pandemic may adversely impact your property values. Each year, our office engages, and reviews properties’ declines in value.

Property taxes are based on the assessed value of your property, and the Office of the Assessor-Recorder ensures that properties are valued fairly, according to the law. If the market value of your property declines below your property’s assessed value, then your assessed value should be adjusted accordingly. One of the ways our office reviews homeowner’s value is through the Informal Review Process.

Informal Review Process

For the informal review process, our office will accept requests to review the market value of residential properties from January 2 to March 31 of each year. During this period, homeowners must submit their written request either online or in-person at our office, with supporting facts or evidence of their opinion of value.

Appraisal staff will review the property owner’s comparable sales and other market data, estimate the property’s market value as of January 1st and then compare this market value to the property’s current factored base year value. If the January 1 market value is below the factored base year value, then the assessed value will be lowered to market value for the next fiscal year. The results of the review will be available in the Notice of Assessed Value statement which is mailed to property owners at the end of July. The new tax bill will be based on the lower value for the next fiscal year.

These reductions are temporary, and they remain in place until the market value of your property rises above the base year value. When and if the market value of the previously reduced assessment increases above it factored base year value, the Office of the Assessor-Recorder will once again enroll its factored base year value. There is no fee for this service.

If appraisal staff did not find that the property’s January 1 market value is higher than the factored based year value, then there will no change in the assessed value. If the homeowner still feels the value should be reduced, the owner may file a formal Assessment Appeal with the Assessment Appeals Board (see below for more information).

Assessment Appeals Process

For the Assessment Appeals Process, you must apply an Assessment Appeals Application with the Assessment Appeals Board (AAB) from July 2 through September 15 of each year. The Assessment Appeals Board is an independent entity, and they resolve disputes between the taxpayers and the Assessor’s Office. At the Assessment Appeal hearing you must demonstrate that on January 1 of the year in question the market value of your property was less than its current assessed value. After listening to evidence presented by the property owner and the Office of the Assessor-Recorder, the Assessment Appeals Board will determine if a decline a value reduction is warranted. There is a $60 administrative processing fee to file that application.

Our office is committed to fair taxation and to being responsive to changes to property values. Please contact us if you feel the market value of your property has decreased. For more information, contact us at 415-554-5596, assessor@sfgov.org, or visit sfassessor.org and click on the Tax Savings/Market Value Relief link.