Base Year Reversal Leads to Massive Homeowner Refund

Overview

Since 2011, Protax LLC has been assisting a client with securing temporary Proposition 8 reductions across five properties. Recently, the client faced a significant challenge when one of these properties was incorrectly reassessed, leading to a substantial increase in tax liability. The client sought a permanent reversal of this erroneous assessment.

Challenge

Following a dissolution of marriage, the client received a Supplemental tax bill that increased the property’s assessed value by $1.3 million. The county mistakenly reassessed the property after it was transferred from one spouse to the other as part of the divorce proceedings. This reassessment was erroneous, as inter-spousal transfers are legally excluded from reassessment under California law.

Solution

Protax LLC promptly filed a Base Year appeal on the Supplemental tax bill with the Los Angeles County Assessor, challenging the incorrect reassessment. In addition, Protax submitted a comprehensive brief to the Los Angeles County Ownership/Legal Services Department, clearly detailing why the reassessment was invalid due to the legal exclusion for inter-spousal transfers.

Results

After reviewing Protax’s brief, the Ownership Department concurred with the analysis and reversed the reassessment. This led to a permanent adjustment of the Proposition 13 base year value and refunds exceeding $20,000 for all affected years. The correction ensured that the property was taxed in accordance with the law, rectifying the improper tax increase.

Conclusion

Protax LLC’s swift response and deep expertise in property tax law allowed them to successfully challenge an erroneous reassessment, saving their client a significant amount of money. This case underscores Protax LLC’s proficiency in navigating complex tax issues and their unwavering commitment to achieving favorable outcomes for their clients.