A base-year value is the acquisition-year figure later factored assessments start from. A purchase or new construction can reset that starting point.
A base-year value is California's Prop 13-style acquisition-year figure that later factored assessments start from. Most states reassess to market each cycle instead of locking that starting point and applying a later inflation factor. A purchase or completed new construction can reset it. This page uses example numbers, not a California filing guide.
How does a base-year value become the assessed value?
California's Board of Equalization describes a base-year value as the market value set at a change in ownership or at completed new construction, then adjusted each year by an inflation factor that cannot exceed two percent. That adjusted figure is the factored base-year value. Other acquisition-value systems use the same shape with different stamps.
Example: a $200,000 purchase becomes the base year. A 2 percent factor prints $204,000 the next year. Ten mills on $204,000 is $2,040. Those dollars are an example, not a live inflation letter.
Look up if you are overpaying.
Does a property tax appeal change the base-year value?
A property tax appeal is aimed at a printed assessed figure. In a base-year system that print often is the factored starting point, so a successful challenge can move the number later years will factor from. The property tax glossary keeps that starting point next to assessed value. FairAppeal reviews your property and decides whether to file, and there are no upfront costs with Fair Appeal.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a base-year value?
- A base-year value is the acquisition-year figure later factored assessments start from. California's Board of Equalization describes it as the market value set at a change in ownership or at completed new construction. Annual factoring then adjusts that starting point.
- How is a factored base-year value calculated?
- The factored base-year value is the original base year plus an annual inflation factor. A $200,000 purchase at a 2 percent factor prints $204,000 the next year. That labeled example shows the step. It is not a live California inflation letter.
- Does buying a house reset the base-year value?
- A purchase is the usual change in ownership that establishes a new base-year value at current market. Later years factor from that new start. A property tax appeal still targets whatever number is printed after that reset and any later factoring.