If your house was destroyed due to a calamity, you may be eligible for property tax relief under Revenue and Taxation Code section 170. Normally, to get this relief you would file a disaster relief claim with your County Assessor and you would file a property tax deferral claim to postpone your payment due date until you receive the corrected tax bill.
Due to the extensive damage from the North Bay fires, Sonoma County is automatically re-assessing impacted properties and will send out corrected property tax bills without individuals needing to file any paperwork with their office.
In Sonoma County the Assessor’s office and the Tax Collector’s office are pro-actively working with Cal Fire and local fire departments to identify all properties that would qualify for this relief and they will automatically send out corrected property tax bills by December 11, 2017. Taxpayers will then have a 30-day deferral period following receipt of the corrected tax bill. If your lender pays your property tax bill, be sure to alert them to the reassessment so they can reduce your monthly impound amount.
Other counties have not yet announced an automatic re-assessment so you should file forms with your respective counties. To qualify for a calamity adjustment, the property must have suffered more than $10,000 worth of damage and the owner must file a claim with the Assessor within twelve (12) months of the date of calamity.
Forms and more information by County can be located following the links below:
• Butte County
• Lake County
• Mendocino County
• Napa County
• Nevada County
• Sonoma County
• Yuba County