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How to read a San Francisco property tax bill and assessment notice

San Francisco sends two different documents, from two different offices, months apart. The July Notice of Assessed Value from the Assessor-Recorder is not a bill and does not require payment. The October secured property tax bill from the Treasurer & Tax Collector is the bill. You appeal the assessed value on the July notice, not the dollar amount on the October bill. Lower the value and the tax follows; most special assessments do not.

Mixing the two up is how people miss the September 15 appeal deadline or panic about a bill that is just last year's value times this year's rate. AppealKit is a flat-fee packet tool, not a law firm, and this is not tax advice.

The appeal walkthrough is how to appeal property tax in San Francisco. This page is only how to read the paper.

Is the July notice a bill?

No. The Assessor's office typically mails a Notice of Assessed Value (NAV) in July to the taxpayer on record. It is an informational letter. It tells you the property's assessed (taxable) value for the upcoming fiscal year. The assessed value, minus exemptions, is the basis for the annual property tax. It does not ask you to pay anything.

The fiscal year those numbers feed runs July 1 through June 30. The value date behind them is January 1, the lien date. If you sold the property before June 30, the Assessor says to disregard the notice; if you sold after June 30 you may still see a bill for the slice of the fiscal year you owned.

If you disagree with the NAV, that is the moment to look at a San Francisco property tax appeal — not when the Treasurer's envelope arrives in the fall.

When does the actual tax bill arrive, and what is the rate?

The Treasurer mails secured property tax bills in October. You may pay the entire tax when the first installment is due, or pay in two installments. First installment is delinquent after 5:00 p.m. on December 10; second after 5:00 p.m. on April 10. Each late installment takes a 10% penalty. On June 30 unpaid tax becomes defaulted (Secured property taxes).

The secured rate for Fiscal Year 2025-26 is 1.18268325%. The Treasurer is explicit: the annual rate is recommended by the Controller, adopted by the Board of Supervisors, and approved by the Mayor, and it varies slightly from year to year. The FY 2026/2027 rate may not be posted until later; use the published figure as the current official number, not a marketing "about 1.2%."

That rate is not what you appeal. The Assessment Appeals Board equalizes value. The rate is a political and budgetary fact. See effective tax rate if you are comparing San Francisco to another state; for a local appeal, the Treasurer's published secured rate is the one that hits the bill.

Which number on the bill do I actually appeal?

Net taxable value — gross assessed value minus exemptions — is the figure the rate is multiplied by. The Treasurer's own anatomy of the bill (same page) is:

  1. Volume — the city is divided into 45 volumes; the number locates the property geographically for the roll.
  2. Block and lot — the Assessor's map identity. Residential appeals use block and lot, not a business account number (AAB information page).
  3. Tax bill number — eleven digits identifying that bill.
  4. Property location and owner of record as of January 1.
  5. Mailing address — change that with the Assessor-Recorder, not the Treasurer.
  6. Assessment information — land, improvements, and the total the Assessor enrolled.
  7. Net taxable value — gross taxable value minus exemptions.
  8. Direct charges and/or special assessments — added by other city departments. Contact those departments; the Board does not remove them.
  9. Total due — (net assessed taxable value × tax rate) + direct charges, split into two equal installments.
  10. Tax rate — printed on the back of the bill.

You appeal item 6/7, the Assessor's value, through a Proposition 8 decline-in-value case or another assessment type. You do not appeal item 8 by filing BOE-305-AH. If the bill looks high because of a parcel tax or a special assessment, calling the Board will not help.

Why is my bill higher than rate times what I think the house is worth?

Three honest reasons, and they are not all appeal problems.

First, assessed value is not market value. Under Proposition 13, a longtime owner's enrolled value can sit far below what the house would sell for. A recent buyer's enrolled value can sit at last year's purchase price even if the January 1 market has since softened — that second situation is a Prop 8 question. Assessed value vs. market value is the vocabulary.

Second, exemptions. If you occupy the home as your principal residence and the $7,000 homeowners' exemption is missing, you are leaving about $80 a year on the table. Full exemption requires a claim by 5:00 p.m. February 15; February 16 through December 10 is 80% (exemption page). The NAV should show the exemption deducted. That is a claim form, not an appeal.

Third, direct charges. The total due is value × rate plus everything in section 9. A successful value appeal will not automatically wipe a Mello-Roos-style charge, a delinquent-account add-on, or a school parcel tax. The Treasurer points you at the department listed on the bill.

A fourth, quieter reason: last year's Proposition 8 reduction was restored on this January 1 because the market recovered toward your factored base year. That can look like a "tax increase" on a house that did not sell. It is the system working as designed. If January 1 market is still below the restored number, that is a new decline-in-value case, not a complaint about the restoration itself.

What is a supplemental assessment notice, and how is it different from the NAV?

When the Assessor processes a sale or new construction, the office issues a supplemental assessment notice for the difference between the prior Proposition 13 value and the purchase price or the market value of the new construction. The Treasurer then sends a supplemental tax bill for that difference, often prorated from the event date (NAV page; Treasurer).

That notice is not the July NAV. It has a 60-day appeal clock from the mail date (or from the bill, if no notice arrived). Escape bills — value discovered late — have their own 60-day clock from the tax bill. Calamity reassessments have six months. Do not wait for September 15 on those. Paper filing only. See the deadlines page and supplemental assessment.

If the July NAV still shows the old owner's value after a recent purchase, the Assessor's FAQ says timing is the usual explanation: events after January 1 typically hit the next calendar year's notice, and delayed processing produces a later supplemental or escape notice. Pay the bill you have. Set aside money for the true-up. Appealing the wrong year's roll will not catch a supplemental that has not mailed yet.

How does the bill connect to an appeal?

Read the NAV in July. Write down land, improvement, total assessed, exemptions, and net taxable. Compare net taxable to what comparable sales say the property was worth on January 1. If the comps, adjusted, sit below the enrolled value, you have a Proposition 8 question. If they sit above it, you probably do not — and a formal hearing can still raise a thin case.

File with the Assessment Appeals Board by September 15 for the regular roll ($120, with published waivers). Keep paying December 10 and April 10. A Board reduction flows through as a refund with interest; it does not rewrite the October bill in real time.

The Treasurer also notes that postmarks are picky: metered mail, Stamps.com-style pre-canceled postage, and lobby-machine stamps may not receive a USPS postmark. A payment that arrives after December 10 without a postmark is late. That is a payment-mechanics warning, not an appeal issue, but it is how people add a 10% penalty while they wait for a hearing.

When you want the comps math instead of another pass through the bill, the free check runs it. No account to see the result.

How do I use the notice to decide whether to appeal?

Take the net taxable value off the July NAV. Ignore the dollar tax for a moment. That net number is what the Treasurer will multiply by the year's rate — 1.18268325% for FY 2025-26 — and then add direct charges.

Worked illustration, labeled as such: if net taxable is $1,200,000, the ad valorem line is about $14,192 before direct charges ($1,200,000 × 0.0118268325). If comparable sales, adjusted, support a January 1 value of $1,050,000, the value gap is $150,000 and the ad valorem gap is about $1,774 for the year. Direct charges would be the same on both bills. That arithmetic is why you appeal value, and why a gap that looks large in dollars can still be too small to bother with once you subtract the $120 filing fee and your time. It is also why a missing $7,000 homeowners' exemption is worth claiming even when you do not appeal: about $80, every year, with no hearing.

If the adjusted comps sit above the enrolled value, you are not looking at a Proposition 8 case. Filing anyway exposes you to a Board that can confirm or increase the roll. The free check is built to answer that comparison without making you do the long division by hand.

Two documents, one decision rule: the NAV tells you the number; the October bill tells you when to pay it. Do not wait for October to start a September 15 clock.

When you pull last year's bill next to this year's NAV, look at whether the enrolled value moved because of the 2% Prop 13 factor, a restoration of a prior decline, new construction, or a change in ownership. Only the last two are reassessment events. A restoration is Proposition 8 working as designed. New construction and change in ownership throw supplemental notices with 60-day clocks — different paper, different deadline, still not the October bill.

Keep a copy of both the NAV and the October bill. If you later win, the refund math starts from the enrolled value the Board changed, not from a screenshot of a payment portal. If the NAV shows a homeowner exemption you no longer qualify for, that is a removal filing with the Assessor, not an appeal. If it is missing and you occupy the home, file the exemption claim — the February 15 full-exemption date is independent of September 15.

FAQ

Is the July Notice of Assessed Value a bill?

No. It is an informational letter from the Assessor-Recorder. The Treasurer's secured bill, mailed in October, is what you pay (sf.gov NAV; sftreasurer.org).

Which number do I appeal?

The assessed value (and the net taxable value after exemptions), as of January 1. You do not appeal the tax rate or most direct charges (Treasurer bill anatomy; AAB).

When is the San Francisco property tax bill due?

December 10 (first installment) and April 10 (second), delinquent after 5:00 p.m., 10% penalty if late (sftreasurer.org).

Why is my bill higher than 1.18% of what I think the house is worth?

Either the enrolled value differs from your sense of market, an exemption is missing, or direct charges were added. Only the first of those is an assessment appeal (Treasurer; exemption page).

What is the current San Francisco secured tax rate?

1.18268325% for Fiscal Year 2025-26, published by the Treasurer. The next fiscal year's rate is adopted separately (sftreasurer.org).

What is a supplemental assessment?

A reappraisal after a change in ownership or completed new construction, billed for the difference from the prior value, often prorated. It has a 60-day appeal clock, not the regular September 15 window (NAV page; Publication 30).

Will winning an appeal remove the parcel taxes on my bill?

Generally no. Direct charges and special assessments are added by other departments and are not the assessed-value line the Board equalizes (Treasurer).

Where do I change the mailing address on the bill?

The Office of the Assessor-Recorder, not the Treasurer (Treasurer bill anatomy).

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This is general information, not legal or tax advice. AppealKit is a self-service tool, not your representative.