Laws, Regulations & Annotations

A

180.0000 ASSESSMENT APPEALS

Annotation 180.0071.020

180.0071.020 Evidence. Revenue and Taxation Code section 441 permits an assessor to request information from the assessee in addition to the property statement, and section 1606 provides for the formal exchange of information prior to an assessment appeal hearing. The Court of Appeal in State Bd. of Equalization v. Ceniceros (1998) 63 Cal.App.4th 122 determined that the Legislature's inclusion of subdivision (h) of section 441, which grants continuances of AAB hearings for failure to respond to 441(d) requests, clearly shows that the Legislature anticipated assessors would use section 441(d) requests as a means of prehearing discovery. Thus, an assessor may request evidence of the assessee's opinion of value pursuant to section 441(d). Section 1606 is not the exclusive means by which assessors may request information in preparation for an appeals hearing. If an assessee does not comply with the section 441(d) request and introduces the requested information at the hearing, the assessor is entitled to a continuance. Granting a continuance to allow the assessor time in which to evaluate and attempt to rebut previously undisclosed evidence introduced at an appeals hearing by the taxpayer does not deprive assessees of their due process rights. C 11/17/2016.