General

The Tax Collector collects all property taxes pursuant to California Revenue and Taxation Code Section 2602. This represents approximately $5.5 billion for the County, Schools, Cities and Special Districts.

By law, the tax bill is issued to the owner of the property as of lien date January 1st each year. If you purchased the property on or after January 1st, the prior owner's name and value will appear until the following year. You may receive a Supplemental tax bill with your name, reflecting the change in value if the purchase price is greater than the previously assessed value. Prior to the mailing of the supplemental tax bill, the Office of the Assessor will mail a supplemental notice indicating the value change from the previous owner's assessed value or the change in value from new construction. This can take up to a year from the purchase date.

By law, the tax bill is issued to the owner of the property as of lien date January 1st each year. If you sold the property on or after January 1st, you may still receive the tax bill in your name. If you no longer own the property and the taxes were paid through escrow, then you can disregard the bill. If you know the new owner of the property you may forward the bill to them. The new owner should contact our office and request a duplicate bill or retrieve a copy of the bill from our website. The ownership information will be updated by the Assessor's office through their normal business updates.

If you purchased the property after the January 1 lien date, your property tax bill may reflect the previous owner’s name and assessed property value. This is still a valid property tax bill for this year. Once the Assessor’s Office processes the Supplemental Tax Roll, the ownership and adjusted assessment value will be reflected. You will receive a supplemental tax bill (if your purchase price is higher than the assessed value on the bill) or a supplemental tax refund (if your purchase price is lower than the assessed value on the bill ). This process may take up to a year following your purchase. For further information regarding the supplemental valuations, please contact the Office of the Assessor at (714)834-2727.

Direct levies are direct charges against property which are included in the total amount of your tax bill but which are not ad valorem taxes based on the Assessor's valuation. Direct levies are levied on the tax bill on behalf of the District and are not levied by the Assessor's or Tax Collector's Office. To dispute a special assessment levied against your property, you will need to contact the levying district directly. The contact names and telephone numbers of the Districts are listed on your secured property tax bill. You may have a Mello-Roos special tax, a 1915 Improvement Bond Act special assessment or a direct special assessment designated as "SPL ASMNT USER FEES" on your tax bill. If direct special assessments have been included on your tax bill, the name of the assessment and the dollar amount of the assessment will be shown on the face of your tax bill. Some special assessments are subject to the accelerated judicial foreclosure process.

For detailed information regarding the Mello Roos bond assessment on your tax bill, you can contact the number provided on the tax bill next to the assessment. In addition, the California Debt and Investment Advisory Commission (“CDIAC”) of the State Treasurer’s Office publishes a list of all Community Facilities Districts (“CFD”) in the state that includes detailed information about each bond issue, including the maturity date. If the bond information on your tax bill does not match the description in the report, you can contact the number on your tax bill, and they can provide you with the issue name that is included in the CDIAC report.

Please keep in mind that the bonds could remain outstanding after the maturity date on the schedule under certain circumstances. If a district has not yet issued up to the maximum authorized amount of bonds, they could issue more bonds if there is a need in the community, and the Mello-Roos assessments will remain on your property tax bill until all authorized bonds are issued and paid off.

Annual property tax bills and a minimal number of supplemental and addenda tax bills include special assessments that are bonded debt that subjects properties to accelerated judicial foreclosure by the district that placed the assessment on the tax bill. When a tax bill that includes a foreclosable assessment is unpaid on the last business day of June, the district that initiated the assessment may record a notice of intent to foreclose on the property.

If you purchased the property after the January 1 lien date, your property tax bill may reflect the previous owner’s name and assessed property value. This is still a valid property tax bill for this year. Once the Assessor’s Office processes the Supplemental Tax Roll, the ownership and adjusted assessment value will be reflected. You will receive a supplemental tax refund if your purchase price is lower than the assessed value on the bill. This process may take up to a year following your purchase. For further information regarding the supplemental valuations, please contact the Office of the Assessor at (714)834-2727.

The “homeowner claimant” listed on the property tax bill refers to the owner or co-owner on record or a purchaser named in a contract of sale whom originally filed the paperwork for the Homeowner’s Exemption on this property.

The “TR” indicates that the ownership is in the name of a trust. The TR stands for “Trustee”.

No. If you do not own and occupy your home as your principal place of residence, you must cancel your Homeowners' Exemption. You can cancel the exemption by completing the bottom section of the property tax bill insert that came with your property tax bill or complete the fill-in form on the Assessor’s website by clicking here.

Property owners can update their mailing address by sending a completed Change of Mailing Address Form to the Office of the Assessor.

Click here for a Change of Mailing Address Form 

If you have any questions about your current mailing address, please call the appropriate number in the Assessor’s office listed below:

If you purchased a home in a new development and cannot locate your tax bill with the parcel number provided, it is possible that the process of segregating the larger development into individually owned parcels has not yet been completed by the Office of the Assessor.  Once this process is completed, a property tax bill will be mailed to you and you will be provided with additional time to pay the bill.  To verify whether this is the case with your parcel, please call the Assessor at (714) 834-2727.

There are a couple of reasons this may occur.  Our office does not mail property tax bills or collect taxes for amounts due that are less than $20.  It is also possible that if you purchased a home in a new development and your new parcel number has not been created, then the process of segregating the development into individually owned parcels may not be completed yet.  If you have further questions about this, please call our Taxpayer Services unit at (714) 834-3411.

The normal process is for refund checks to be mailed within 4-6 weeks of completion of a revised assessment.  Refund checks are normally sent to the entity who paid the property taxes unless written authorization is provided to issue the refund to someone else.  If you believe you are due a refund and have not received it within this time frame, contact our office at (714) 834-3411 or email us at AskTaxCollector@octreasurer.gov.

If you own and occupy your principal place of residence on January 1, you may apply for a Homeowners' Exemption that will exempt $7,000 of your home's assessed value from taxation.  For further information on Homeowner’s Exemptions, please visit the Assessor’s website at https://www.ocassessor.gov/tax-saving-programs/homeowners-exemptions or contact their Exemptions Unit at (714) 834-3821.

Homeowners' Exemption applications are not available on-line.  This form is automatically mailed to new owners of single-family residential property by the Office of the Assessor.  If you did not receive an application within 90 days of recording your deed, please call the Assessor’s Exemptions Unit at (714) 834-3821.

The Auditor-Controller compiles all of the tax rates for Orange County’s tax rate areas.  A listing of all of the tax rates are available on the Auditor-Controller’s website at Tax Rate Book – Orange County Auditor-Controller; or you can contact their staff at (714) 834-2455 and request a copy between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m.

The State Controller’s Property Tax Postponement Program allows homeowners who are seniors, are blind, or have a disability to defer current-year property taxes on their principal residence if they meet certain criteria. Please visit the State Controller's Postponement page for more information.

The State Controller’s team accepts PTP Applications from October 1 to February 10 each year, and processes them in the order they are received. Please call (800) 952-5661 or email postponement@sco.ca.gov to join their mailing list, or for more detailed information, please refer to the Fact Sheet or Frequently Asked Questions.

Contact the Office of the Assessor at (714) 834-2727 or (714) 834-2788

Go to taxbill.octreasurer.gov and under Unsecured Property Tax Bills & Related Information, enter the business name and click on “Find”, or call the Office of the Assessor at (714) 834-2727 or (714) 834-2788

Our office has received numerous questions asking if taxpayers can prepay property taxes. We are not able to accept any payments for property taxes that have not yet been billed and, at this time, can only accept payments for property taxes already billed.