California’s Notice of Assessed Value

Texas and Florida both mail an annual value notice to owners on a statutory timetable. California does not. The assessor tells the county by April 1 whether notices will be sent to all assessees by August 2 — and that single decision is what produces the two different filing deadlines that confuse owners every summer.

The rule, as the state publishes it

By April 1 the county assessor notifies the clerk of the county appeals board and the tax collector whether the notice of assessed value will be sent to all assessees by August 2. California does not send a value notice to every owner every year — your county's answer to that question is what sets the filing deadline, so ask your assessor for your assessed value if you did not receive a notice.

Anchor: the county assessor's April 1 determination · Basis: rule tied to an event

In practice this means the two following facts travel together, and both are published by the state:

Filing an application for changed assessment opens July 2. The last day is September 15 in counties where the assessor sent value notices by August 1 to all assessees of real property on the secured roll; in all other counties the filing period runs through November 30 (the state calendar lists December 1 for 2026 where that applies). The filing period is also extended in certain circumstances when a taxpayer does not receive timely notice of assessment — the date your clerk of the board publishes for your county is the operative one.

What this means for an owner

• No notice is not the same as no change. If your assessment changed and you did not receive a notice, ask your county assessor for your assessed value and your base year value before the filing window closes. The state calendar notes that the filing period is extended in certain circumstances when a taxpayer does not receive timely notice of assessment — but do not rely on that instead of checking.
• Your county’s date is the operative one. The statute’s two endpoints (September 15 / November 30) are the state rule; your clerk of the board publishes the date that applies to your county and your parcel, and that is the one that counts.
• The notice is not a bill. The tax bill is mailed separately by the tax collector and arrives in two installments — and paying on time is required even if you have appealed.
• A notice showing the same value is still information. In decline-in-value status the assessor reviews the property every year, so an unchanged figure means the reduction was reviewed and kept.

Worked example (illustrative)

Illustrative dates only — the dates that control are the ones your county publishes and the ones on your own documents.

1. Scenario A — county sent notices. Your assessor provided value notices to all secured-roll assessees by August 1, so the filing window for the regular assessment runs July 2 to September 15.
2. Scenario B — county did not. The value notices were not provided by August 1, so the window runs through November 30 (the state calendar lists December 1 for 2026 where that applies).
3. Same property, different date. Nothing about the property changed — only the county’s mailing practice. This is the single most common source of missed California appeal deadlines.

What this tells you: confirm three things from your own county before you plan anything — your assessed value, your base year value, and the clerk of the board’s filing deadline.

What it does not tell you: whether your value is correct, or whether an appeal is worth filing — that turns on the evidence rules and on the value itself.

Where to go next

• Filing an application for changed assessment — the process and what the board can decide.
• California deadlines — the filing window, the payment calendar, and exemption dates.
• Compare: Florida’s TRIM notice — a statutorily standardized notice sent to every owner.