(a) Any owner of eligible property who files on or before the next property tax installment payment date, as defined in Section 194, a claim for reassessment pursuant to Section 170, or whose property is otherwise reassessed pursuant to Section 170, may, in conjunction with the claim for reassessment, apply to the county assessor to defer payment of that installment of property taxes on the regular secured roll for the current fiscal year with respect to that property which are due no later than that date which immediately follows the disaster which resulted in substantial disaster damage.
(b) If, pursuant to Section 170, a timely claim for deferral is filed, the payment shall be deferred without penalty or interest until one of the following occur:
(1) The assessor has reassessed the property and a corrected bill prepared pursuant to Section 170 has been sent to the property owner. Taxes on the corrected tax bill deferred pursuant to this paragraph are due and payable for the current year taxes on either December 10 for the first installment or April 10 for the second installment, or 30 days after the date that the bill is mailed or electronically transmitted to the owner, whichever is later. If the taxes on the corrected bill are unpaid thereafter, the taxes become delinquent as provided in Section 2610.5 and shall be subject to the penalty provided by law.
(2) The assessor has determined that the property is not eligible to be reassessed pursuant to Section 170, and the assessor has so notified the property owner. Taxes deferred pursuant to this paragraph are due and payable for the current year taxes on either December 10 for the first installment or April 10 for the second installment, or within 30 days of the latter of the date of mailing printed on the assessor’s notice or the postmark date on the assessor’s notice, whichever is later. If deferred taxes are unpaid thereafter, the taxes become delinquent as provided in Section 2610.5 and shall be subject to the penalty provided by law.
(c) If, following reassessment pursuant to subdivision (a), the assessor determines that an owner who applied and was granted a deferral of property taxes did not file the claim in good faith, the owner shall be assessed a delinquency penalty for the nonpayment of the deferred taxes.
(d) This section does not apply to property taxes paid through impound accounts.
(Amended by Stats. 2018, Ch. 149, Sec. 1. (AB 3122) Effective January 1, 2019.)