How to Appeal Property Taxes in San Francisco County, California (2026 Guide)

For the 2026/2027 San Francisco assessment year, the regular property tax appeal window is July 2 through September 15, 2026. File with the San Francisco Assessment Appeals Board, not the Assessor: online at the AAB portal, or through the Clerk at 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, City Hall, Room 405, San Francisco, CA 94102; the published Board email is AAB@sfgov.org.

How assessments work in San Francisco County

San Francisco uses California’s Proposition 13 system. Your taxable value is usually your purchase price or reassessed base-year value, plus an annual inflation adjustment capped at 2%, unless there is a reassessable change in ownership, new construction, an escape assessment, or a temporary decline-in-value reduction. For the 2026/2027 roll, the value date is January 1, 2026 and the tax year runs July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027.

The Assessor-Recorder mails the Notice of Assessed Value around July. The key San Francisco rule for this year is simple: because San Francisco provides annual assessed-value notices, the regular appeal period is July 2 to September 15. The AAB’s current page states that the FY 2026/2027 filing period is open from Thursday, July 2, 2026, through Tuesday, September 15, 2026.

For a decline-in-value appeal, you are arguing that your market value on January 1, 2026 was lower than your factored Prop 13 value. San Francisco’s own 2026 informal-review form says comparable sales or an appraisal should be as close as possible to January 1, 2026, and no later than March 31, 2026. That same form explains an important local point: a Prop 8 reduction is temporary and applies only to the year appealed; it does not reset your Prop 13 base year.

Whether you should appeal

Appeal when the dollars justify the work. San Francisco’s secured property tax rate for FY 2025/2026 is 1.18268325%. The FY 2026/2027 rate may not be adopted until later, so use the current rate as a practical estimate and expect your final bill to include direct charges or special assessments that an appeal may not reduce.

Example: suppose your 2026 Notice of Assessed Value shows a net assessed value of $1,250,000, but three comparable condos in your building or immediate neighborhood support a January 1, 2026 value of $1,050,000. A successful $200,000 reduction would save about $2,365 for the year before any effect of direct charges: $200,000 × 0.0118268325 = $2,365.37. Against that, budget for the $120 nonrefundable administrative processing fee and your time gathering evidence.

The best San Francisco candidates are often recently purchased condos, live-work lofts, TIC-related buildings with complicated valuation issues, and homes that previously received a Prop 8 reduction and then saw a large restoration. If your assessed value is already far below market value because you bought years ago, an appeal usually will not help; the Assessor must enroll the lower of market value or the Prop 13 factored value.

Published official success rates or median homeowner reductions were not found in the county materials. San Francisco does publish useful context: the City’s bond disclosure reported 9,715 Proposition 8 reductions totaling $4.9 billion on the 2024 Assessment Roll, and also cautioned that not all assessment appeals receive hearings or reductions. Treat that as market context, not an odds chart.

Before appealing, also check exemptions. The Homeowners’ Exemption can reduce taxable value by up to $7,000 for an owner-occupied principal residence and is claimed with BOE-266 through the Assessor. Qualified 100% disabled veterans or eligible surviving spouses should review the Disabled Veterans’ Exemption, which is much larger and uses BOE-261-G.

Step-by-step how to file

1. Read your 2026 Notice of Assessed Value. Use the block/lot, roll year, land value, improvement value, and total assessed value exactly as shown.

2. Choose the right route. The free Assessor informal-review window for 2026/2027 residential properties ran January 2 through March 31, 2026 and is now closed. It was only for single-family dwellings, residential condos, townhouses, live-work units, and cooperatives; San Francisco says TICs are excluded from informal review because they do not have separate parcel numbers. The formal AAB appeal is available to all property types during the July 2–September 15 window.

3. Use the correct form. The official appeal form is BOE-305-AH, Assessment Appeal Application. San Francisco materials also still refer to an Application for Changed Assessment; the State Board of Equalization notes that BOE-305-AH was formerly named that, so do not be confused by both names. If an agent, tax consultant, attorney, or family member will handle the case, use San Francisco’s Agent Authorization Form as well.

4. State your opinion of value. Do not leave it blank. For a residential decline-in-value case, your opinion should be the fair market value as of January 1, 2026, supported by comparable closed sales, a lender appraisal, or a short appraisal analysis. San Francisco’s form says TIC owners can file through the AAB even though they cannot use the informal-review process.

5. File and pay by the deadline. The AAB online filing terms require the application and payment to be successfully received by 11:59 p.m. on September 15; if the date fell on a weekend or legal holiday, the next business day rule would apply, but in 2026 September 15 is a Tuesday. The regular fee is a $120 nonrefundable administrative processing fee per application. The fee may be waived for court-fee-waiver eligibility, very low assessed values, or a small $7,500-or-less value difference. San Francisco’s 2025 ordinance also lists later hearing fees if the case is not withdrawn at least 30 days before hearing; for properties assessed at $250,001–$2,000,000 the listed hearing fee is $100, but the hearing fee is waived if a residential applicant elects a hearing officer.

Filing options published by the Board include the SFAAB online portal and the Clerk’s office contact information: Assessment Appeals Board, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, City Hall, Room 405, San Francisco, CA 94102; phone 415-554-6778; fax 415-554-6775; email AAB@sfgov.org. If you file outside the portal, keep proof of delivery and confirm payment instructions with the Clerk.

What happens after

The Assessment Appeals Board is independent from the Assessor-Recorder. Its job is to equalize taxable property values in San Francisco. The Assessor’s staff will review your filing and may contact you before hearing; many cases resolve by withdrawal or by a stipulation signed before hearing.

If the case proceeds, it is a quasi-judicial hearing. San Francisco agendas state that the Board’s decisions must be based on properly admitted evidence, not general public comment or documents you once emailed but never present. Bring organized comparable sales, photos, MLS sheets, appraisal pages, and a one-page value explanation. The Assessor or an appraiser appears and presents the Assessor’s evidence. You may question the Assessor’s evidence, and the Board or hearing officer may question both sides.

San Francisco has three AAB panels. Board 1 may hear appeals regardless of value, type, or location; Board 3 is specifically authorized for residential property of four units or less and certain lower-value properties. The Board meets Monday through Friday, with sessions starting at 9:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. Remote or call-in details may appear on individual agendas, but do not assume your hearing is remote unless your notice says so.

State law generally requires the Board to hear and decide a timely appeal within two years unless you agree to extend time. Keep paying your property tax bills while the appeal is pending. Filing an appeal does not postpone taxes; if you win after paying, the county issues a proportionate refund.

Local tips

For San Francisco condos, the most persuasive evidence is often sales in the same building or very similar nearby buildings, closed near January 1, 2026. Adjust for parking, floor level, views, outdoor space, HOA dues, rent-control or occupancy restrictions, and condition. For single-family homes, stay tight on neighborhood and building style; Noe Valley, the Sunset, Bernal Heights, and Pacific Heights are not interchangeable markets.

Do not attach your entire evidence package to the initial application unless the Clerk asks. The official form warns applicants not to attach hearing evidence to the application. Instead, preserve your evidence and be ready to exchange or present it under the Board’s schedule.

If you missed the March 31 informal review, you can still file the formal AAB appeal by September 15. If you received a supplemental, escape, calamity, or roll-change notice, do not use the regular deadline without checking the notice: San Francisco’s Assessor fact sheet says supplemental and escape appeals usually have a 60-day deadline, and calamity appeals may have a different period.

Finally, remember what an appeal can and cannot do. It can lower the taxable value for the year at issue. It generally will not erase parcel taxes, direct levies, liens, or special assessments that are not based on assessed value, and a one-year Prop 8 reduction can be restored in a later year if market value rises back toward your Prop 13 value.