How to File San Francisco Business Personal Property Tax

To handle San Francisco business personal property tax filing, you report the original cost of every piece of equipment, furniture, and fixtures your business owned in the city on January 1 using Form 571-L, submit it to the Assessor-Recorder by May 7, and then pay the bill the Treasurer and Tax Collector mails in July by August 31. The current tax rate is 1.18268325% of assessed value for fiscal year 2025–26.¹ Missing the filing deadline adds a 10% penalty to the assessed value of your property, and missing the payment deadline adds a separate 10% penalty to the bill.²

Who Has to File

California Revenue and Taxation Code Section 441 requires any person or entity owning taxable business personal property with a total original cost of $100,000 or more to file a property statement with the county Assessor each year.³ That threshold is based on aggregate acquisition cost, not current market value, so equipment you bought years ago and have fully depreciated still counts at its purchase price.

Even below $100,000, you must file if the Assessor sends you a notice requesting a statement. San Francisco’s Assessor-Recorder encourages all businesses to file regardless of the threshold.² Home-based businesses and solo professionals are not exempt. A consultant working from a spare bedroom with a laptop and a desk owns taxable business personal property on paper, even if the dollar value is modest.

Skipping the filing does not make the tax go away. The Assessor will estimate the value of your property and add the 10% penalty on top of that estimate, and estimates typically run higher than what a business would have reported itself.²

What You Report on Form 571-L

The Business Property Statement asks for the original cost and year of acquisition of every taxable item, broken down by category on Schedule A.⁴ The main categories are:

Machinery and equipment, such as manufacturing tools, shop equipment, and specialized fixtures
Office furniture, including desks, chairs, conference tables, and shelving
Computers and network equipment, including servers, personal computers, and LAN hardware
Leasehold improvements you paid for in rented space
Supplies on hand at the lien date

Report original cost including sales tax, freight, and installation. Include items you have fully depreciated and items you expensed for federal income tax purposes. Purchases made in different years get listed separately by year. The signed declaration on the form is made under penalty of perjury.

Only property physically located in San Francisco at 12:01 a.m. on January 1, the lien date, counts for that year’s tax. Equipment that arrived on January 2 is off the roll; equipment that left on January 2 is still on it.⁵

Inventory held for sale or lease in the regular course of business is exempt under Revenue and Taxation Code Section 219.⁶ In a retail store, the merchandise on the shelves is not taxable, but the shelving, registers, and office computers are. Licensed vehicles already paying California registration fees are also excluded.

Leased equipment is a common point of confusion. California law lets the Assessor assess leased property to either the lessor or the lessee no matter what the lease contract says about who pays tax.⁵ If you lease copiers, vehicles, or heavy equipment, confirm with the Assessor’s office which party is reporting each item before you file.

When and How to File

The statutory deadline for Form 571-L is April 1.⁴ San Francisco extends a grace period that runs through May 7. File by May 7 and you avoid the late-filing penalty. File any later and the Assessor adds 10% to the assessed value of your unreported property.⁷

The Assessor-Recorder accepts filings through its online e-file portal, by email, by mail, or in person.⁸ The e-file portal is the fastest option and produces an immediate confirmation record. If you mail a paper form, use delivery tracking so you have proof the statement arrived in time.

San Francisco’s Assessor-Recorder publishes a supplemental instruction manual that walks through each section of the form and explains how to classify unusual assets.⁹ It is worth a read if you have complex property like medical or restaurant equipment.

If You Missed the Deadline

The 10% late-filing penalty is not automatically permanent. Under Section 463(c), you can apply to the Assessment Appeals Board for abatement, but you must prove the late filing resulted from reasonable cause and circumstances beyond your control despite exercising ordinary care.⁷ Forgetting or being busy will not meet that standard. A serious medical emergency, a disaster, or documented reliance on a professional who failed to file might. The abatement application has to be filed within the regular assessment appeals window.

Paying the Bill

The Office of the Treasurer and Tax Collector mails unsecured property tax bills in July once the Assessor finalizes values. The fiscal year 2025–26 rate is 1.18268325%, which includes the base 1% rate under Proposition 13 plus voter-approved additions.¹ On $200,000 of assessed value, that comes to roughly $2,365.

Payment is due by August 31, and goes to the Treasurer and Tax Collector, not the Assessor-Recorder. Miss August 31 and the bill picks up a 10% penalty plus applicable fees. Under Revenue and Taxation Code Section 2922, additional monthly penalties of 1.5% begin accruing a few months after the delinquency date and keep running until the bill is paid in full.² The Treasurer accepts online penalty waiver requests when a late payment had a legitimate reason, though approval is not guaranteed.

The filing penalty and the payment penalty are separate. File Form 571-L late and pay the resulting bill late, and you owe both.

Appealing the Assessed Value

The Assessor does not simply accept your reported costs as taxable value. The office converts historical cost to current value using inflation index factors and “percent good” depreciation schedules drawn from Assessors’ Handbook Section 581.¹⁰ You can challenge the result.

Appeals go to the San Francisco Assessment Appeals Board.¹¹ The regular filing window in San Francisco opens July 2 and closes September 16.¹² Miss that window and you lose the right to appeal for the year.

Common grounds include an assessed market value that is too high, incorrect percent good factors or useful life assumptions, and factual errors in the property description. Specialized machinery that has become technologically obsolete may qualify for additional obsolescence adjustments beyond standard depreciation. Bring purchase records, comparable used-equipment sale or auction data, and documentation of any abnormal loss in value. You do not need an attorney, but the burden is on you to show the Assessor’s value is wrong.

Closing or Moving the Business

Because the tax turns on what you owned in San Francisco on January 1, closing the business or relocating later in the year does not reduce that year’s tax. There is no mid-year proration. If the equipment was in the city at 12:01 a.m. on the lien date, you owe the full year.

If you sold or disposed of all your business property before January 1, you have no filing obligation for that year. Notify the Assessor-Recorder that the business has closed so future property statement requests stop. Ignoring those requests leads to estimated assessments on property you no longer own, and unwinding those estimates takes time.

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Treasurer & Tax Collector. Secured Property Taxes
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Treasurer & Tax Collector. Unsecured Property Taxes
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California Legislative Information. California Revenue and Taxation Code 441
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California State Board of Equalization. BOE-571-L – Business Property Statement
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California Department of Tax and Fee Administration. Personal Property – Frequently Asked Questions
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California State Board of Equalization. Property Tax Annotations – 205.0000
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California Legislative Information. California Revenue and Taxation Code 463
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SF.gov. File Your Business Property Statement
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San Francisco Office of the Assessor-Recorder. Business Property Statement Manual
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California State Board of Equalization. Valuation of Personal Property and Fixtures – Lesson 3
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SF.gov. About Assessment Appeals Board
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California State Board of Equalization. County Assessment Appeals Filing Period