Assessment Roll Changes General

Assessment Roll Changes
General
The assessor must complete the local assessment roll and deliver it to the auditor by July 1 of each year.
After delivery of the assessment roll to the auditor, if a correction is made that will decrease the amount
of the unpaid taxes, the consent of the board of supervisors is necessary. All changes to the roll are
authorized by specific statutes, and any roll change must be accompanied by the appropriate statutory
reference.
Assessment roll changes take one of two forms. An escape assessment is an assessment of property that
was not assessed or was underassessed, for any reason, on the original roll. Escape assessments are
made in accordance with Revenue and Taxation Code sections 531 et seq. A correction is any type of
authorized change to an existing assessment except for an underassessment caused by an error or
omission of the assessee. Corrections are made in accordance with Revenue and Taxation Code sections
4801 et seq.
Additionally, section 51.5 requires correction of base year values under certain circumstances. In some
cases those corrections will result in either escape assessments or roll corrections.
Scope of Review
The BOE's assessment practices survey team reviews the assessor's programs for making assessment roll
changes, including escape assessments and corrections.
The specific areas of review may include, but may not be limited to, the following:
General Program Elements
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Does the assessor have a discovery program for escaped property (new construction, changes in
ownership, and business property)?
Who can initiate roll changes? Who reviews the changes? How are roll changes processed?
How are roll changes documented on appraisal records and roll change forms?
Does the county have a low-value property exemption resolution for escape assessments? If yes,
how has the exemption been implemented?
How many roll changes (corrections and escapes, both secured and unsecured) have been
processed for each of the last five years?
Escape Assessments
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What is the time period between the preparation of input documents for escape assessments and
the mailing of the Notice of Proposed Escape Assessment?
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Does the assessor's Notice of Proposed Escape Assessment contain the following required or
recommended elements pursuant to section 531.8?
o Amount of escape assessment
o Telephone number of assessor's office
o The heading Notice of Proposed Escape Assessment
o A statement that an appeal may NOT be filed based on receipt of this notice
(recommended)
Does the assessor send the Notice of Proposed Escape Assessment at least 10 days before entering
the escape on the roll?
After entering the escaped assessment on the roll, does the assessor send either BOE-Prescribed
Form BOE-66-A or BOE-66-B, Notice of Enrollment of Escape Assessment, or a BOE-approved
alternate form, as required by section 534?
Does the notice meet the following requirements of section 534?
o Given within 60 days after the statute of limitations or placing of the escape assessment
on the roll
o Includes date mailed, information regarding assessee's right to informal review and to a
formal appeal, including 60-day filing deadline based on later of printed mailing date or
postmarked notice date
o Includes information on how to file an appeal of the escape assessment
How soon after enrolling an escape does the assessor send a notice to the assessee on Form BOE66-A, BOE-66-B, or a BOE-approved alternate form?
Has the county adopted a resolution pursuant to section 1605(c)? If "yes," does the tax bill contain
the required information?
Does the assessor add penalties and interest when terminating homeowners' exemptions where the
assessee's error caused the exemption to be allowed?
What statute of limitations guidelines does the assessor observe for escape assessments?
How are penalties entered on the roll?
How does the assessor notify the county auditor to apply the interest provisions of section 506?
Corrections
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What are the assessor's guidelines for processing roll corrections for nonjudgmental errors?
What are the assessor's guidelines for correcting base year or full values involving judgmental
errors?