Part of a series of posts from the San Francisco Office of Assessor Carmen Chu.

From the Office of Assessor Carmen Chu: Tax Savings for Families

Thinking about passing on property to your children? It is important to know that California tax laws allow parents to transfer ownership to their children (and vice versa) without reassessing the property to market value.

Prop 13 (1978), passed by California voters in 1978, caps yearly assessment increase on a property at 2% or the inflation rate of the California Consumer Price Index, whichever is less. However, if there is a change in ownership, property will be reassessed to market value.

However, if you submit a claim form for Prop 58 tax exclusion, your children will be able to keep your current assessed value on the property and continue to pay property taxes as you would have. This year, we have granted close to 2,000 Prop 58 exclusions for transfers between parent and children. 

Similar tax benefit is also available for transfer to grandchild. However, the requirements are different and property can only be transferred from grandparent to grandchild, not vice versa.

For more information regarding Prop 58 and Prop 193, please check out our Fact Sheet on http://sfassessor.org/about-us/fact-sheets.

Direct link to English PDF Fact Sheet “Property Tax Savings: Transfers in Family” https://sfassessor.org/sites/default/files/uploaded/ARS_Factsheet_Prop58_193.pdf

Links for Fact Sheet in other languages: https://sfassessor.org/about-us/fact-sheets (Page down to “Property Tax Savings: Transfers in Family”)

You can also contact the Office of Assessor Carmen Chu by calling (415) 554-5596 or emailing assessor@sfgov.org.