Calif. Revenue and Taxation Code §402.5
Amended by A.B. 1143
Effective date: September 15, 2014
When determining property values for property tax assessments, a county assessor may not consider the value of any property sold more than 90 days after the valuation date, rather than the lien date, of any property being assessed.
Editor’s note — The use of “lien date” in the prior law was deemed unclear as it may be understood as either January 1 for taxes on the regular roll or the date of the change in ownership on the supplemental roll. Thus, “valuation date” is meant to avoid legal ambiguity.
However, the law itself does not clarify what the valuation date is. The California State Board of Equalization (BOE) released commentary following these changes, stating “valuation date” and “lien date” are synonymous if “lien date” is understood as the date of the change in ownership under the supplemental roll. Therefore, in practice, “valuation date” is considered the date the property changes ownership.
