Mabel Teng: Are You Paying More Taxes Than You Should?

With April 15 - "income tax day" - behind us and with all of our everyday ordeals, it's hard to keep up on all matters.

My job as your tax assessor-recorder is to make sure that you, as a homeowner, are aware of property-tax assistance programs and benefits so you don't pay more property taxes than you should. Most property owners who buy homes in San Francisco are aware of Prop. 13, which provides for a reappraisal of your property only when a change in ownership occurs or when the completion of new construction takes place.

Generally, a change in ownership is a sale or transfer of property, while new construction is any addition and/or improvement to the property, which is not considered normal maintenance. Once a reappraisal is made, this value may not be increased by more than two percent annually.

Are you aware that if your home's existing assessed value is greater than its market value than you have the right to have your assessed value reduced to reflect that market value? This applies mostly to homes purchased over the last several years.

If you believe your property is overvalued, write to us by June 30 and provide us justification with at least three similar properties that recently sold to show that the market value of your home is less than your assessed value. Then our appraisers can review and adjust the market value of your home for your next year's tax bill. This will save you from paying more property taxes than you should.

Send your request to the Assessor-Recorder's Office, City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, Room 190, San Francisco, CA 94102, Attn: Real Estate Division.

However, if you don't provide us with this information by June 30 and/or we have not made an adjustment to your property value, we recommend you file an appeal for the property reduction with the Assessment Appeals Board. For more information, contact the Assessment Appeals Board at 554-6778.

Are you aware that if you own your home and live in it, you are entitled to a homeowner exemption of $7,000 from your assessed value, saving you approximately $78 annually in property taxes? Over the past three months, we have reached out to many of our neighborhoods and assisted hundreds of homeowners in filing homeowner exemptions on homes they have owned for many years. There is no charge for filing for the homeowner's exemption. For more information, call Home Owner Exemptions at (415) 554-5485.

There are also many other ways to save paying more property taxes than you should. Check out the new assessor-recorder website at www.ci.sf.ca.us/site/assessor for assistance on property issues, such as parcel information, forms, recording information and exemptions, exclusions and other property tax assistance programs.

Mabel Teng is the SF tax assessor-recorder.