Prop 19 · Estimator
What the tax bill becomes, both ways
The single number most families want and can’t easily get: what the property tax on an inherited home becomes if an eligible child moves in within one year — and what it becomes if nobody does. Enter two figures off the tax bill. Nothing is saved, and no email is required.
How the estimate is calculated
California property tax runs roughly 1% of taxable value, plus local voter-approved add-ons that typically bring the effective rate to about 1.05%–1.25%. Under Prop 13, taxable value climbs at most 2% a year while ownership doesn’t change, which is how a home bought decades ago can be worth $1.8 million and taxed on $120,000.
When a parent’s home passes to a child, Prop 19 protects the parent’s low taxable value only if an eligible child makes the home their principal residence within one year of the date of death and files the parent-child exclusion claim (form BOE-19-P), generally along with a Homeowners’ Exemption. Occupancy cannot be done late.
Protection is also capped. Add the exclusion cap to the parent’s taxable value: that sum is the threshold. If market value at the date of death is under it, the parent’s taxable value carries over unchanged. If market value is above it, the amount above the threshold is added to the taxable value. The cap began at $1,000,000 in 2021 and adjusts every two years, so the field is editable — the county assessor has the current figure.
If nobody moves in, the county reassesses at market value as of the date of death, and the estimate simply multiplies that value by the rate. In much of coastal Orange County the cap is the rule rather than the exception, so both paths are worth seeing side by side.
What this estimate is not
It is an illustration, not a tax opinion, an assessment, or advice. It ignores fixed charges and special assessments such as Mello-Roos, it assumes a straightforward parent-to-child transfer, and it can’t judge eligibility — which depends on how title was held, who is inheriting, and what gets filed. Getting real numbers for a specific property takes about a day.