Journal ·
When is the deadline to appeal a property tax assessment in Los Angeles County?
Short answer: for regular assessments on the Los Angeles County roll, the filing window runs July 2 through November 30 each year. The application goes to the Assessment Appeals Board, not to the Assessor, and it carries a $46 non-refundable filing fee. Miss the window and the value on the roll stands for that tax year, with narrow exceptions written into the Revenue and Taxation Code.
What is the filing window for regular assessments?
The county's Assessment Appeals Information page states the regular filing period as July 2 to November 30 of each year for all real and personal property assessments. Three other windows run on different clocks entirely:
| Assessment type | Filing window |
|---|---|
| Regular annual roll | July 2 to November 30 |
| Supplemental | 60 days from the mailing date printed on the notice or bill, or the postmark, whichever is later |
| Roll change, adjusted, escape | 60 days from the mailing date or postmark, whichever is later |
| Misfortune and calamity | Six months after the mailing date of the proposed reassessment notice |
The county's own filing portal states the current cutoff precisely: filing for the 2026 regular assessment ends November 30, 2026 at 12 midnight PST. The paper form is numbered AAB-100.
The supplemental window is the one people lose. A supplemental notice arrives months after closing, looks like junk mail, and starts a 60-day clock that has nothing to do with November 30. How that bill is generated is covered in the supplemental property tax bill explained.
Why does Los Angeles County get November 30 and not September 15?
This is the part almost no one explains. Revenue and Taxation Code section 1603(b)(1) sets the statewide filing period as July 2 through September 15. Section 1603(b)(3) then extends the last day to November 30 in any county where the assessor does not send every assessee of real property on the local secured roll a notice of assessed value by August 1.
The later deadline is a consequence of not mailing annual value notices. The statute builds a paper trail around it: under 1603(b)(3)(A) the assessor must tell the clerk of the county board and the tax collector by April 1 each year whether the notice will go out by August 1, under (b)(3)(B) the clerk certifies the filing deadline and notifies the State Board of Equalization, and under (b)(3)(C) the Board maintains a statewide list of which counties end on September 15 and which end on November 30.
Practical effect: never carry a filing deadline across a county line. The same property type in a neighboring county can be four weeks past due.
What if the notice arrived too late to file?
Section 1603(b)(2) covers it. If the taxpayer does not receive the section 619 notice of assessment at least 15 calendar days before the deadline, the application may be filed within 60 days of receiving the notice or within 60 days of the mailing of the tax bill, whichever is earlier, together with an affidavit declaring under penalty of perjury that the notice was not timely received.
Section 1603(b)(4) adds a second cushion. If the final filing date falls on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, an application mailed and postmarked the next business day is timely. It also treats a day when county offices close before 5 p.m., or for the whole day, as a legal holiday for this purpose. November 30, 2026 falls on a Monday, so the ordinary rule applies unless offices close.
What does an appeal cost?
The Board of Supervisors amended County Code Title 2 on August 31, 2021 to establish a $46 non-refundable filing fee, effective October 1, 2021. The county publishes a hardship waiver form for owners for whom the fee is a burden.
The larger number is easier to miss. Written findings of fact carry a fee of at least $492.00 per parcel and per issue, effective February 21, 2019, under Assessment Appeals Board Rule 8(E). Under Revenue and Taxation Code section 1603(e), the application form contains a notice that written findings are available on request at the requester's expense, and that the right to those findings is waived if not requested.
Findings of fact are what a court reviews if the board's decision is challenged. Skipping them saves $492 and removes the record.
Does the appeal application also ask for the money back?
Only if you say so. Revenue and Taxation Code section 1604(b)(1) provides that an application filed under section 1603 also constitutes a sufficient claim for refund under section 5097, but only if the applicant states in the application that it is also intended as a refund claim.
One unchecked box, and a reduction may not reach back to the taxes already paid.
What happens if the board never hears the case?
Section 1604(c) sets a hard limit. If the county board fails to hear evidence and fails to make a final determination within two years of the timely filing, the applicant's own opinion of value stated on the application becomes the value on which taxes are levied for the years the application covers.
Two conditions cancel that outcome: the applicant and the board agree in writing or on the record to extend the hearing date, or the application is consolidated with another application by the same applicant that already has an extension. The statute also excludes applications where the applicant failed to provide full and complete information as required by law, or where litigation is pending on the same issues.
Section 1604(e) requires the board to notify the applicant in writing when it decides not to hold a hearing inside the two-year period, and to explain in that notice that the applicant's stated opinion of value will become the taxed value.
The opinion of value written on the form is therefore not a bargaining position. It is a number that can become binding through inaction.
Informal review or formal appeal?
Two different routes, and they are not interchangeable.
- A request for reassessment to the Assessor under Revenue and Taxation Code section 51 asks the Assessor to lower the value administratively. It is free and it does not preserve any deadline.
- An application for changed assessment to the Assessment Appeals Board is the filing that preserves rights, starts the two-year clock and can double as a refund claim.
Section 1603(d) lets the Board of Supervisors adopt a resolution allowing a 60-day filing window after the Assessor responds to a reassessment request, but only when six conditions are all met, including that the request was submitted on the State Board of Equalization form on or before the preceding March 15, that the Assessor's response was mailed on or after September 1 of the same calendar year, and that the appeal application is filed on or before December 31 of that year.
Never let an informal review run past the statutory deadline on the assumption it substitutes for the appeal.
What to do before November 30
- Pull the current secured tax bill and identify the assessed value, not the estimated market value from a listing site.
- Assemble sale comparables as of January 1 of the assessment year.
- Decide the opinion of value you can defend, since section 1604(c) can make it binding.
- State on the application that it is also a claim for refund under section 5097.
- Decide whether written findings are worth $492 before the hearing, not after.
- Pay the $46 fee or file the waiver request with the application.
Owners planning an intra-family transfer should handle the appeal and the base year value question separately, since the second one runs on the rules described in the Proposition 19 parent-child exclusion in Los Angeles.
Q: Where do I file the application?
Online through the county's Assessment Appeals Board portal, or on paper. The Assessment Appeals Division sits at the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration, 500 West Temple Street, Room 383.
Q: Do I have to pay the tax bill while the appeal is pending?
Yes. Filing an appeal does not suspend the bill, and unpaid amounts accrue penalties independent of the outcome.
Q: Can an application be rejected before a hearing?
Yes. Effective July 1, 2014 the county sends a Notification of Invalid Filing for any application determined to be invalid, and the applicant must request a Validity Hearing. Failure to request one on time waives the right to that hearing.
Q: Does a lower assessment stay lower?
Not automatically. A reduction based on a decline in market value is reviewed each lien date, and the value can rise again as the market recovers, up to the factored base year value.
Q: Can somebody file on my behalf?
Yes, with authorization on the application, and paid tax agents must complete tax agent registration with the county. The certification on the form is signed under penalty of perjury.
Q: Where are the county's own answers published?
The Assessment Appeals Division maintains an appeals FAQ and a video library on its resources page.
This article explains public filing rules and is not tax or legal advice. Deadlines and fees were checked against county and statutory sources on August 28, 2026. Call Alla at (818) 699-5367 or use the enquiry form.
More on this community in the Burbank area guide.