California Prop 19 Calculator

The California Prop 19 Calculator estimates the new assessed value, and the property tax on it, for the two transfers Proposition 19 created: a parent-to-child (or grandparent-to-grandchild) inheritance of a primary residence, and a base-year value transfer by an eligible homeowner (55+, disabled, or a wildfire victim) to a replacement home anywhere in California. It shows the tax with the exclusion, the tax without it, and the annual and ten-year saving.

How It Works

For an inheritance, the protected amount is the home's factored base year value (its current assessed value) plus the exclusion cap stored in the calculator ($1,000,000 statutory, with an inflation-adjusted figure of$1,044,586 also provided). If the market value at transfer exceeds the protected amount, only the excess is added:

$\text{New assessed value}=\text{Assessed value}+\max\big(0,\ \text{Market value}-(\text{Assessed value}+\text{Cap})\big)$

For a replacement home, the base transfers in full if the replacement costs no more than the original home's market value; any excess of the replacement price over the original price is added to the transferred base. Tax is the new assessed value times your local rate (1.2% by default), and the calculator compares it against tax on full market value.

Parameters

| Input | Required | Meaning | |---|---|---| | Transfer type | Yes | Inheritance or replacement home | | Original assessed value | Yes | The factored base year value today | | Inherited / replacement market value | Yes | Market value at transfer or purchase | | Original market value | Replacement | What the original home sold for | | Tax rate % | No | Default 1.2% | | Exclusion cap | Inheritance | $1,000,000 or the adjusted figure |

Worked examples

Inheritance: a parent's home has an assessed value of $300,000 and a market value of$1,500,000 when a child inherits and moves in. The protected amount is $1,300,000; the excess is$200,000; the new assessed value is $500,000**. At 1.2$6,000 a year versus $18,000 on full market value: a saving of **$12,000 a year, $120,000 over ten years**. Had the market value been$1,100,000, under the $1,300,000 protected amount, the full$300,000 base would have transferred untouched.

Replacement: a homeowner sells a home with a $400,000 assessed value for$900,000 and buys a replacement for $1,100,000. The$200,000 excess over the original sale price is added to the base, giving a new assessed value of **$600,000**, tax of$7,200 versus $13,200 without the transfer, saving$6,000 a year. Buy at $900,000 or less and the whole$400,000 base transfers.

The conditions the arithmetic cannot check

The exclusion is not automatic on kinship alone. For inheritances, the child (or grandchild whose parent is deceased) must make the home their primary residence, the claim form must be filed with the county assessor within the deadline (generally one year), and the parent must have held it as a primary residence too; family farms have their own provisions. Rental and investment properties lost the parent-child exclusion entirely under Prop 19, which is the single most common planning surprise. For replacement transfers, eligibility turns on age 55+, disability, or wildfire/disaster victim status, the transfer must generally be claimed within two years of the sale, and while Prop 19 allows up to three transfers (unlimited for wildfire victims), timing and equal-or-lesser-value tests have detail the calculator does not model.

Why the cap adjustment matters

The $1,000,000 cap is adjusted for inflation in the statutory scheme (assessed on the California Consumer Price Index measure the calculator lists as the$1,044,586 alternative). On a home near the boundary the adjusted cap shelters an extra $44,586 of value, worth roughly$535 a year at a 1.2% rate, every year, compounding through the ten-year figure to about $5,350. Run both caps when a market value sits within about$50,000 of the protected amount; deeper inside or outside the boundary, the choice stops mattering.

Limitations

A simplified planning estimate of assessed value and tax at the single rate you enter. Real tax bills layer voter-approved bonds and direct assessments on top of the roughly 1% base levy, counties apply their own claim procedures and deadlines, and eligibility (residency, relationship, timing, prior transfers) is determined by the assessor, not by arithmetic. This is not tax or legal advice; confirm a real transfer with the county assessor or a California estate attorney before acting.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does the calculator decide whether I qualify?

No. It prices a qualifying transfer. Qualification depends on residency, relationship, filing deadlines, and property use, which are facts for the county assessor to confirm.

What happened to the old Prop 58 rules?

Prop 19 replaced them for transfers from February 2021: the unlimited parent-child exclusion for primary residences became the capped version modeled here, exclusions for rental and second properties were removed, and in exchange base-year transfers became portable statewide with up to three uses.

Can a grandchild inherit with the exclusion?

Yes, in the specific case where the grandchild's parent (the child of the grandparent) is deceased, and the grandchild then uses the home as a primary residence and files the claim. The calculator's inheritance maths is identical once eligibility holds.