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Assessment Process Information
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Appealing an Assessment
Explains the process when owner and assessor do not agree on the assessed value of property.
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Assessing Manufactured Homes
Almost all manufactured homes in Napa County are located in specially designed parks, where a space is rented from the park owner, who owns the land and the park's streets, clubhouse and other amenities. County Assessors have assessment responsibility for manufactured homes placed in parks after 1980; those homes receive a Proposition 13 base-year value and supplemental assessments.
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Assessing Sales of Bank-Owned Properties
The buyer of a bank-owned property needs to understand the reassessment process that will establish the taxes they pay and the refunds they receive.
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Compiling the Assessment Roll Part 1
Once a change in ownership has been established or a new parcel has been created, the computer system generates a worksheet which goes to the appraisal staff to determine the change in value. To track new construction, support staff enter permit information received from the County and municipalities (approximately 2,000 per year) into the computer which again produces a worksheet for valuation.
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Compiling the Assessment Roll Part 2
The tax bills that Napa County property owners receive in mid-July (unsecured) and late October (secured) which cover the tax year July 1 through June 30 are based on values compiled by assessor office staff during the prior fiscal year. Read the second part of compiling an assessment.
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Escapes & Refunds
Once the Assessor delivers the assessment roll to the Auditor and it becomes the tax roll, only the Auditor can make changes to the roll upon the request of the Assessor. These changes are called roll corrections. In Napa County,the Assessor processes approximately 1,800 roll corrections a year.
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Field Discovery
Field discovery of new construction can trigger a reappraisal as well as find construction without a permit.
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Lessee-Owned Improvements
An owner of real property who leases property to another is known as the lessor. The person to whom the property is leased is known as the lessee. Find more information on improvements.
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Lien Date
California Revenue and Taxation Code Section 117 says the "lien date is the time when taxes for any fiscal year become a lien on property." Learn more about the definition of lien dates, and how they affect property taxes.
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Partial Interest Transfers
When a partial interest transfer occurs, the assessor must calculate a blended value for the entire property as of the date of the partial interest transfer. This blended value consists of the Proposition 13 factored base year value of the interests that did not transfer and the new, full cash value of the undivided interest that transferred.
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Penalties
Most property owners provide information requested by the assessor and pay their property taxes on time. California law sets forth penalties for those property owners who fail to meet these obligations in a timely manner.
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Personal Property Assessment
While the California Constitution establishes that all property is taxable, the legislature over the years has decided that intangible personal property is not subject to property tax. Find more information on personal or business property.
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Possessory Interests
When someone rents a hangar at the Napa County Airport; occupies employee housing at Napa State Hospital or at the California Veterans Home; leases grazing land from the Federal Bureau of Land Management; holds a concession agreement at Lake Berryessa; or holds regular events at one of the fairgrounds, a taxable property right is created known as a possessory interest.
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Signatures on Assessor Forms
The primary reason for requiring a signature is that forms are a key communication channel between the property owner and the assessor. Find more information on signatures and agents who can sign.
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When Public Lands Pay Property Taxes
The taxation of lands owned by local governments outside their own boundaries began with an amendment to the California Constitution in 1914. The amendment was prompted by the purchase of large tracts of land in the area around Mono Lake by Los Angeles water agencies in order to obtain the rights to water for shipment to the growing population of the Los Angeles area.