MAINTAINING YOUR EXISTING PROPERTY TAX BASIS IF YOU ARE 55 OR OLDER AND SELL YOUR PROPERTY
Proposition 60, passed in 1986, and modified by Proposition 90, passed in 1988, allows "qualified" individuals over the age of 55 to transfer the base year assessed valuation from a former residence ("original property") to a replacement residence, of equal or lesser value and that meet other certain conditions. Link: http://www.smcare.org/library/pdfs/Broch-Props_60-90-110_v_BG-PK.pdf which discusses this issue in detail. Effective January 1, 2007, claims must no longer be filed within 3 years, however if the claim is filed after 3 years, relief will be granted beginning with the calendar year in which the claim was filed. In addition, any upgrades paid by the buyer outside of escrow and not reflected in the sales price must now be reported on the Preliminary Change of Ownership Report so as to be included in the determination of the "equal or lesser value" test.

HOMEOWNER'S EXEMPTION ON PROPERTY TAXES
If you own a home and occupy it as your principal place of residence on January 1, you may apply for an exemption of $7000 off of your assessed value. This will save you over $70 a year on your property taxes. All you need to do is file a simple one page form with the county tax assessors office. For information click on this link at the L.A. county assessors office: http://www.lacountyassessor.com/extranet/guides/exemptions.aspx . For a copy of the form to be filed you must call the L.A. County Tax Assessors office at (213) 974-3211 and request that a form be mailed to you. The form is not available on the internet. If you do not know if you have a homeowners exemption on file, go to the assessormap link in the first paragraph above, and review the property tax information for your property.

PARENT TO CHILD TRANSFER EXEMPTION
Under Propositions 98 and 193, property transferred between parents and children (Proposition 58, effective 1986) and from grandparents to grandchildren (Proposition 193, effective 1996) is not reassessed for property tax purposes. In order to take advantage of this, however, a claim must be filed with the county tax assessors office. The exemption to reassessment is 100% of the assessed value for the parents/grandparents principal residence plus the first $1,000,000 of assessed value for other property transferred. This is, of course, only for California property.See http://www.lacountyassessor.com/extranet/guides/prop58.aspx for additional information on filing this claim. For estate planning purposes, it is important to understand the details of this exemption. For instance, a family home left to several children as tenants-in-common would be eligible, however if some of the children sell their interest to the other child, the property would be reassessed for this interest sold. The exemption is only for parent to child, not child to child. Therefore, it would be advantageous to leave a family home, with a low property tax basis, to one child, and to leave other assets of comparable value to the other children.

DISABLED VETERANS EXCLUSION
If you are a California veteran who is rated 100% disabled, blind, or a paraplegic due to a service-connected disability (or if you are the unmarried widow of such a veteran), you may be eligible for an exemption of up to $150,000 off of the assessed value of your home.

BUILDERS EXCLUSION
Certain new construction may be excluded from supplemental assessment. The property must be for sale and the builder must file the necessary claim form with the Assessor's Office prior to or within 30 days from the start of construction. If the form is not filed, a supplemental assessment is sent to the builder upon completion of construction.

SEVERELY AND PERMANENTLY DISABLED EXCLUSION
A severely and permanently disabled person, who buys a new home, may be able to have his/her old assessed value transferred to the new home. You must file a claim.

DISASTER RELIEF
If a major calamity, such as fire or flooding, damages or destroys your property, you may be eligible for property tax relief. In such cases, the Assessor's Office will reappraise the property to reflect its damaged condition. In addition, when you rebuild it in a like or similar manner, the property will regain its pre-damage valuation basis for tax purposes. To qualify for property tax relief, you must file a Misfortune or Calamity Claim with the Assessor's Office within 12 months* from the date the property was damaged or destroyed. In addition, the loss must exceed $10,000* of current market value.

For more information on Property Taxes for the South Bay of Los Angeles, visit my website at Property Taxes