Prop 19 Filing Guide for San Bernardino County

To claim a Proposition 19 benefit on a San Bernardino County property, you file with the San Bernardino County Assessor-Recorder-County Clerk, known locally as the ARC. Use BOE-19-B to carry your tax base to a replacement home if you are 55 or older. Use BOE-19-P or BOE-19-G plus BOE-266 to claim an inherited family home. Reach assessor services at 909.387.8307, and start at the county’s own Proposition 19 page.

San Bernardino County is the largest county by land area in the United States, and the assessor’s network reflects that. Offices run from Ontario in the valley to Big Bear in the mountains and Joshua Tree in the desert. What the county does not offer is an online filing portal, so plan on email, fax, or mail.

Which Form Do You File?

Proposition 19 provides two separate benefits, and each has its own form.

You are moving to a new home. File BOE-19-B if you are 55 or older, BOE-19-D with BOE-19-DC if you are severely and permanently disabled, or BOE-19-V if a wildfire or Governor-declared disaster destroyed your home. The county’s Proposition 19 page lists all six Proposition 19 forms.

You inherited a home. File BOE-19-P for a parent-to-child transfer or BOE-19-G for a grandparent-to-grandchild transfer, plus BOE-266 for the homeowners’ exemption.

San Bernardino County routes its forms through the statewide California Assessors’ Association e-forms service, reachable from the ARC forms and fees page. The forms there are county-specific, so use the San Bernardino versions rather than a generic copy.

How to Get Documents to the Assessor

The county publishes three accepted channels for the homeowners’ exemption, and none of them is an upload:

• Email to PropInfo@arc.sbcounty.gov
• Fax to (909) 382-3297
• Mail to the Exemptions Unit at 222 W. Hospitality Lane, 4th Floor, San Bernardino, CA 92415-0311

Email is the fastest of the three, and it gives you a timestamp you can keep. Whatever you send, keep a copy and the confirmation.

Where to File in San Bernardino County

File with the assessor of the county where the property sits. An inherited San Bernardino County home is a San Bernardino County filing. A base year value transfer goes to the county of your replacement home, so a move from Riverside County to Rancho Cucamonga comes here, and a move out of the county does not.

The ARC keeps public offices in San Bernardino, Fontana, Ontario, Hesperia, Big Bear, Twin Peaks, and Joshua Tree. Confirm current hours on the locations page before you drive, because the mountain and desert offices keep lighter schedules than the valley offices.

The Deadlines That Decide the Outcome

One year, for an inherited home. Occupy the home as your principal residence and file BOE-266 within one year of the date of death. This is the requirement that ends most failed claims.

Three years, for the exclusion claim. File BOE-19-P or BOE-19-G within three years of the transfer, or before the home is sold outside the family, whichever comes first. File BOE-19-B within three years of buying or completing the replacement home.

Two years, for the move. Buy and sell within two years of each other, in either order.

Six months, if a supplemental notice arrives. A claim filed within six months of a supplemental or escape assessment notice still counts as timely.

The Annual Exemption Dates Are a Different Thing

San Bernardino County publishes a homeowners’ exemption deadline of 5:00 p.m. on February 15 following a change in ownership, with a reduced 80 percent exemption available for filings between February 16 and December 10.

Those dates control how much of the $7,000 exemption you receive in a tax year. They are not the Proposition 19 deadline. An heir’s deadline is one year from the date of death, and no February filing in a later year repairs a missed twelve-month window.

Finding Your Factored Base Year Value

Your factored base year value is the number the county taxes today, not the price your parents paid. It equals that price plus annual inflation adjustments capped at two percent, plus the assessed value of improvements.

Look it up through Assessor’s Parcel Access, or read it off your annual tax bill as the assessed value or net taxable value. The county also publishes property information tools on the ARC property information page. Bills and payments run through the Auditor-Controller/Treasurer/Tax Collector.

A Worked Example

A parent dies owning a home in Redlands. The factored base year value is $140,000. The market value on the date of death is $690,000. A son inherits it and moves in within five months.

The value limit is $140,000 plus $1,044,586, which is $1,184,586. The home sits far below that, so the county reassesses nothing.

• Taxable value with the exclusion: $140,000, or roughly $1,400 a year at one percent.
• Without it: $690,000, or roughly $6,900 a year.

The exclusion is worth about $5,500 every year to this family, and the gap grows as the alternative base climbs two percent annually.

Change one fact and it disappears. If the son lives in Ontario and rents the Redlands home out, no exclusion applies, the county reassesses to $690,000, and the higher bill becomes permanent.

Mistakes That Cost San Bernardino Families the Exclusion

Looking for an upload button. The county takes documents by email, fax, or mail.

Reading February 15 as the Proposition 19 deadline. The heir’s deadline is one year from the date of death.

Waiting for probate to close. The clock starts at death, not at distribution.

Driving to a mountain or desert office without checking hours. Schedules vary across the county’s seven locations.

Assuming a rental qualifies. Proposition 19 covers a family home the heir occupies, and a family farm. Nothing else.

Summary

• File Proposition 19 claims on San Bernardino County property with the ARC at 909.387.8307.
• Use BOE-19-B, BOE-19-D, or BOE-19-V to move a tax base, and BOE-19-P or BOE-19-G plus BOE-266 for an inherited home.
• The county accepts documents by email to PropInfo@arc.sbcounty.gov, by fax, or by mail. There is no online portal.
• Exemption filings go to the Exemptions Unit at 222 W. Hospitality Lane, 4th Floor, San Bernardino.
• An heir has one year from the date of death to move in and file the homeowners’ exemption.
• February 15 and December 10 are the ordinary exemption dates, not the Proposition 19 deadline.
• Seven public offices serve the county, and hours differ between valley, mountain, and desert locations.

Get Your San Bernardino County Filing Right

Talk to Bart. If you are inheriting a San Bernardino County home or planning a move that carries your tax base with you, Bart Hubbard can tell you what to file and when. Reach out at Prop19Hero.com.

Read the book. Prop 19 Hero covers the filing process, the deadlines, and the traps that void the exclusion before the arithmetic ever matters. Find it on Amazon.