LawWiki
HomeCodesSearchGlossaryAPIAbout
LawWiki

Plain English summaries of California law with zero-hallucination AI. Every summary is verified against official source text.

Product

  • Search
  • Codes
  • About

Legal

  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Service
  • Disclaimer

© 2026 LawWiki. All rights reserved.

HomeEducation CodeCh. 4Art. 1§ 15736 School Tax Refund Adjustments

§ 15736 School Tax Refund Adjustments

Education Code·California
AI Summary·Official Text·Key Terms·Related Statutes·References
AI SummaryVerified

§ 15736 School Tax Refund Adjustments

This law says that if a school district gets a tax refund because some property was later found to be tax‑exempt and that exempt property is at least 1% of the district’s total assessed value, the state will lower the district’s next‑year repayment to the State School Fund by the amount the repayment would have been lower if the exempt property had never been counted.

Key Takeaways

  • •If a tax refund is due because property is exempt and that property is at least 1% of the district’s total value, the repayment to the State School Fund gets cut.
  • •The cut is calculated by removing the exempt property's share from the original repayment amount.
  • •The reduced repayment applies to the fiscal year right after the refund or judgment.

Example

A school district collected $500,000 in taxes last year. This year a court decides that a piece of land worth $200,000 was actually exempt, and that land makes up 2% of the district’s total assessed value.

Because the exempt land is more than 1% of the total, the state will cut the district’s repayment for the next fiscal year by the amount it would have saved if the $200,000 had never been included in the tax base.

How to Calculate

Reduction = Annual Repayment × (Exempt Valuation ÷ Total Assessed Valuation)

  1. Find the total assessed valuation that was used to calculate the district’s repayment.
  2. Find the assessed value of the property that was later declared exempt.
  3. Divide the exempt value by the total assessed value to get the percentage that should be removed.
  4. Multiply that percentage by the original annual repayment amount – that gives the reduction amount.
  5. Subtract the reduction from the original repayment to get the new repayment for the next fiscal year.

Total assessed valuation = $10,000,000; Exempt property valuation = $200,000; Original annual repayment = $500,000.

Result: Reduction = 500,000 × (200,000 ÷ 10,000,000) = 500,000 × 0.02 = $10,000. New repayment = $500,000 – $10,000 = $490,000.

AI-generated — May contain errors. Not legal advice. Always verify source.

Official Source
View on CA.gov

§ 15736 School Tax Refund Adjustments

Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, whenever in any fiscal year, pursuant to Chapter 5, Part 9, Division 1 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, a refund is made or a judgment rendered, as the case may be, for the return of an amount collected as school district taxes levied during a previous year upon secured or unsecured personal property, because it was determined that the property was exempt from taxation, and the property so determined to be exempt equals 1 percent, or more, of the assessed valuation in the school district upon which school district taxes for the previous year were levied, the Controller shall reduce the annual repayment of the district and the amount deducted from the State School Fund apportionment of the district for the fiscal year next succeeding that in which the refund was made or judgment rendered, by that amount by which the annual repayment and deduction of the district would have been reduced for the fiscal year next succeeding that in which the taxes were levied had the assessed valuation upon which the annual repayment was computed not included an amount of assessed valuation equal to the amount of assessed valuation of the property so determined to be exempt. The amount of annual repayment and deduction, reduced as required by this section, shall be the amount deducted by the Controller for the purposes of Sections 15735, 15741, and 15742 for the fiscal year in which the reduction is made. (Repealed and added by Stats. 1996, Ch. 277, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 1997. Operative January 1, 1998.)

Last verified: January 10, 2026

Key Terms

refundexempt from taxationassessed valuationannual repaymentState School Fund apportionment

Related Statutes

  • § 15737 District Tax Revenue Adjustment
  • § 16081 School Tax Refund Adjustments
  • § 15735 School Loan Repayment Deductions
  • § 35709 School District Territory Transfer
  • § 16085 School District Tax Calculation

References

  • Official text at leginfo.legislature.ca.gov
  • California Legislature. Education Code. Section 15736.
View Official Source