San Diego Property Tax Exemptions

How an exemption turns into savings

Your ad valorem tax is the assessed value times your tax rate area's rate: the 1% base set by Proposition 13 plus any voter-approved debt. An exemption comes off the assessed value before that rate is applied, so it saves the exemption amount times your rate. This guide shows each saving at the 1% base and at the 1.10% countywide estimate the report uses when it has no parcel rate. Your tax rate area's own rate decides where your bill lands; the property tax guide explains tax rate areas and the rest of the bill.

The homeowners' exemption

The State Board of Equalization describes it as a $7,000 reduction in taxable value, set by the California Constitution, for a home that was the owner's principal place of residence on the January 1 lien date. It saves $70 a year at the 1% base rate, or about $77 at 1.10%.

• File once. The claim (form BOE-266) goes to the San Diego County Assessor, costs nothing, and carries forward every year while you keep living in the home.
• File by February 15 for the full exemption that year, per the BOE.
• Check your bill. The Assessor says an approved exemption appears in the upper right of the tax bill, under Exemptions, as a $7,000 reduction for "Homeowners".
• Tell the Assessor when you move out. The BOE puts the duty to end the exemption on the owner, with December 10 as the last day to do it without penalty.

The disabled veterans' exemption

The disabled veterans' exemption applies to the principal residence of a veteran who, because of a service-connected injury or disease, is rated 100% disabled or is paid at the 100% rate for unemployability. The BOE's definition also covers a veteran who is blind in both eyes or has lost the use of two or more limbs. An unmarried surviving spouse of a qualified veteran may also claim it.

It comes in two tiers, and both are indexed for inflation each year. For 2026 the BOE's annual letter sets the basic exemption, open to every qualifying claimant whatever their income, at $180,671, a saving of about $1,807 a year at the 1% base rate, or $1,987 at 1.10%. The low-income tier is larger and goes to households whose annual income is under a limit the same letter publishes.

A property gets only one exemption. Because the disabled veterans' exemption replaces the homeowners' exemption rather than adding to it, a veteran who switches gains about $1,910 a year at 1.10%, not the full saving.

• What to send. The County Assessor asks for your DD-214 showing character of service and the VA rating decision letter with its effective date, with the basic or low-income application.
• How often. The basic exemption is a one-time filing. The low-income exemption has to be filed every year, by February 15.
• If you file late. The Assessor says a claim filed after the end of the calendar year still qualifies, but at 85% of the exemption for that first year and in full after that.
• After a purchase. The BOE says the exemption can also be applied against a supplemental assessment on a new purchase. See the supplemental tax bill for how that bill works.

Buying with a VA loan? The VA loan guide covers the funding fee. The VA does not charge it to a veteran receiving compensation for a service-connected disability.

In the report

A sounding report has a setting for a disabled veteran buyer. With it on, the report takes the basic exemption off the taxable value in the monthly cost and shows the yearly tax it saves at the tax rate the report uses for that parcel.