California Homeowners' Exemption

It's a reduction of $7,000 in the taxable (assessed) value of an owner-occupied principal residence. Because property tax is charged on assessed value, removing $7,000 lowers your bill by $7,000 times your area's rate — about $70 to $90 a year in most of California. It's authorized by the California Constitution (Article XIII, §3(k)) and Revenue & Taxation Code §218.

The exemption removes $7,000 of assessed value, so the saving is $7,000 × your ad-valorem rate. At a typical 1.1% that's about $77 a year; at 1.25% about $88. It's modest but automatic once filed, and free — there's no reason not to claim it on a home you own and live in.

You must own and occupy the home as your principal residence as of the January 1 lien date. It applies to one residence per person. You can't also take the exemption on a second home or a rental, and it can't be combined with the Disabled Veterans' Exemption on the same property (you'd choose the more valuable one — the veterans' exemption is far larger).

File form BOE-266 (Claim for Homeowners' Property Tax Exemption) with your county assessor. Most counties mail it to you automatically after you buy and record a deed on a residence. You file once — it stays in place automatically until you move, sell, or the property stops being your principal residence, at which point you must notify the assessor.

To receive the full $7,000 exemption on a given year's roll, file by February 15. A late claim filed by December 10 gets 80% of the exemption ($5,600 of assessed-value reduction) for that year; a timely claim the following year restores the full amount. Because it renews automatically, most owners only file once.

No. Proposition 13 sets your assessed value (your purchase price, rising ≤2% a year) and caps the base rate at 1%. The Homeowners' Exemption is a separate, additional $7,000 reduction of that assessed value for owner-occupants. You get both: Prop 13 sets the value, the exemption shaves $7,000 off it.