California Code of Regulations › Title 18 - Public Revenues › Division 1 - State Board of Equalization-Property Tax (California Department of Tax and Fee Administration - Timber Yield Tax, See Chapter 11) › Chapter 3 - Local Equalization › Article 1 - Hearing by County Board › Section 313 - Hearing Procedure

Current through Register 2024 Notice Reg. No. 28, July 12, 2024
Hearings on applications shall proceed as follows:
(a) The chair or the clerk shall announce the
				  number of the application and the name of the applicant. The chair shall then
				  determine if the applicant or the applicant's agent is present. If neither is
				  present, the chair shall ascertain whether the clerk has notified the applicant
				  of the time and place of the hearing. If the notice has been given and neither
				  the applicant nor the applicant's agent is present, the application shall be
				  denied for lack of appearance, or, for good cause of which the board is timely
				  informed prior to the hearing date, the board may postpone the hearing. If the
				  notice has not been given, the hearing shall be postponed to a later date and
				  the clerk directed to give proper notice thereof to the applicant. The denial
				  of an application for lack of appearance by the applicant, or the applicant's
				  agent, is not a decision on the merits of the application and is not subject to
				  the provisions of regulation 326 of this subchapter.
The board of supervisors may adopt a procedure which
					 authorizes reconsideration of the denial where the applicant furnishes evidence
					 of good cause for the failure to appear or to make a timely request for
					 postponement and files a written request for reconsideration within a period
					 set by the board, not to exceed 60 days from the date of mailing of the
					 notification of denial due to lack of appearance. Applicants who fail to
					 request reconsideration within the period set, or whose requests for
					 reconsideration are denied, may refile an appeal of the base year value during
					 the next regular filing period in accordance with Revenue and Taxation Code
					 section
					 80.
(b) If the applicant or the applicant's agent
				  is present, the chair or the clerk shall announce the nature of the
				  application, the assessed value as it appears on the local roll and the
				  applicant's opinion of the value of the property. The chair may request that
				  either or both parties briefly describe the subject property, the issues the
				  board will be requested to determine, and any agreements or stipulations agreed
				  to by the parties.
(c) In
				  applications where the applicant has the burden of proof, the board shall
				  require the applicant or the applicant's agent to present his or her evidence
				  first, and then the board shall determine whether the applicant has presented
				  proper evidence supporting his or her position. This is sometimes referred to
				  as the burden of production. In the event the applicant has met the burden of
				  production, the board shall then require the assessor to present his or her
				  evidence. The board shall not require the applicant to present evidence first
				  when the hearing involves:
(1) A penalty
				  portion of an assessment.
(2) The
				  assessment of an owner-occupied single-family dwelling or the appeal of an
				  escape assessment, and the applicant has filed an application that provides all
				  of the information required in regulation 305(c) of this subchapter and has
				  supplied all information as required by law to the assessor. An owner-occupied
				  single-family dwelling means a single-family dwelling that is the owner's
				  principal place of residence and qualifies for a homeowners' property tax
				  exemption pursuant to Revenue and Taxation Code section
				  218.
				  "Property that qualifies for a homeowners' property tax exemption" also
				  includes property that is the principal place of residence of its owner and
				  qualifies for the disabled veterans' exemption provided by Revenue and Taxation
				  Code section
				  205.5.
				  In those instances, the chair shall require the assessor to present his or her
				  case to the board first. With respect to escape assessments, the presumption in
				  favor of the applicant provided in regulation 321(d) of this subchapter does
				  not apply to appeals resulting from situations where an applicant failed to
				  file a change in ownership statement, a business property statement, or to
				  obtain a permit for new construction.
(3) A change in ownership and the assessor
				  has not enrolled the purchase price, and the applicant has provided the change
				  of ownership statement required by law. The assessor bears the burden of
				  proving by a preponderance of the evidence that the purchase price, whether
				  paid in money or otherwise, is not the full cash value of the
				  property.