skills/ca-property-tax-appeal/templates/customer-preparation-checklist.md

# Customer preparation checklist

Translate this checklist into the user's selected language and keep the labels simple. Preserve exact English agency/form names and field labels as required by `references/multilingual-support.md`. Show the short overview first; provide the complete checklist only when the user asks or wants to prepare before starting.

Treat this as a comprehensive planning list, not a universal filing requirement. The exact required fields and documents depend on the county, notice type, appeal basis, and current official form. Mark those county-specific requirements only after verification.

## Contents

- Reassurance
- Language
- Complete customer journey
- Start with these
- Helpful later
- What the plugin researches
- Privacy exclusions
- Customer deliverables
- Start choice

## Reassurance

> You do not need everything on this list. You can start with the property address. We will find what we can and tell you exactly what is still missing.

## Language

Show the selected language at the top and state that it can be changed at any time without restarting. In bilingual mode, show the selected non-English language first and concise English second.

## The complete customer journey

### Step 1 — Identify the property

- **We do:** locate the county, Assessor, appeals office, and matching public property record.
- **You may provide:** full street address; unit number when applicable; parcel number only if available.
- **You receive:** confirmed property and correct government offices.

### Step 2 — Protect the deadline

- **We do:** identify the notice type, appeal type, filing period, form or portal, and formal deadline.
- **You may provide:** assessment notice, supplemental notice, escape notice, or tax bill as a photo/PDF; notice date; any printed deadline.
- **If upload is unavailable:** we locate the official county property-search page, guide you one field at a time, and clearly mark any notice-only facts that still need confirmation.
- **You receive:** deadline alert and the safest next filing action.

### Step 3 — Understand the valuation

- **We do:** explain the official total, land, improvement, prior-year, and relevant base-year values.
- **You may provide:** the value shown on the notice or tax bill and any official property-record page you already have.
- **You receive:** a plain-language valuation snapshot and identified record conflicts.

### Step 4 — Identify why the value may be too high

- **We do:** classify the strongest appeal theory.
- **You may provide:** incorrect square footage, room count, pool or other amenities; purchase or construction details; damage, condition, noise, access, view, or neighborhood influences.
- **You receive:** a clear explanation of which issues matter for valuation and which issues do not belong in this appeal.

### Step 5 — Collect evidence for this house

- **We do:** build a property-specific evidence gap list.
- **You may provide:** dated photos, inspection, appraisal, closing statement, repair estimates, permits, plans, measurements, disclosures, or correspondence.
- **You receive:** a prioritized list showing what is ready, missing, optional, or conflicting.

### Step 6 — Compare similar sold homes

- **We do:** research and verify the strongest comparable sales near the correct valuation date.
- **You may provide:** sales you know about and facts public records may miss, such as interior condition, renovation quality, or view.
- **You receive:** comparable-sale analysis with similarities, differences, and source strength.

### Step 7 — Decide whether the appeal is supported

- **We do:** estimate a supported market-value range, requested value when justified, evidence confidence, possible variable-tax effect, verified county filing fees, and a first-year cost-benefit screen.
- **You may provide:** corrections to the collected facts and any missing high-priority proof.
- **You receive:** a plain answer—strong, moderate, weak, or insufficient support—with reasons and risks, plus whether the current numbers appear financially favorable, unfavorable, close, or still unknown.

### Step 8 — Prepare filing and follow-through

- **We do:** prepare the form-ready data sheet, supporting statement, exhibit index, filing steps, and hearing checklist.
- **You may provide:** legal owner/applicant name and mailing/contact information as required by the form; preferred filing method; opinion of value; final fact confirmation; representative/agent information and authorization only when applicable; the authorized person's signature or certification at filing time.
- **If you prefer online filing:** we verify whether the county currently accepts it for this appeal, link the official portal, guide you one section at a time, and tell you what filing confirmation to save.
- **You receive:** an action plan from filing through acknowledgment, hearing, decision, and possible refund or corrected bill.

## Start with these

- Full property address, including unit number when applicable.
- Any assessment-related notice or tax bill you have; a clear photo is acceptable.
- Any deadline printed on a notice, especially if it is within 30 days.

Only the address is required to begin. When a deadline is already known, treat it as urgent.

## Helpful later

- Purchase/change-of-ownership date and price.
- Actual living area, lot size, year built, beds/baths, and major amenities.
- Renovations, additions, permits, damage, deferred maintenance, or adverse location facts.
- Closing statement, appraisal, inspection, repair estimates, dated photos, plans, measurements, permits, and disclosures.
- Nearby closed sales the customer believes are similar.
- Legal owner/applicant and representative details needed by the verified county form.

Ask only for items relevant to the selected appeal theory. Do not require the customer to assemble an irrelevant full file.

## The plugin usually researches

- County and correct Assessor and Assessment Appeals Board/Clerk offices.
- Publicly accessible assessment and property characteristics.
- Current official deadline guidance, form or portal, filing methods, and local procedural rules.
- Current filing/processing fees, refundability, payment-service charges, and official waiver or free-review options.
- Candidate comparable sales from official or primary sources when accessible.
- Official tax-rate information needed for an estimate when accessible.

Mark inaccessible, login-only, ambiguous, or unverified information clearly. Never imply that the plugin obtained a record it could not access.

## Do not provide unless specifically required

- Social Security number.
- Bank or payment information.
- Passwords or account login codes.
- Unredacted unrelated financial or medical information.

Tell the customer to cover unrelated sensitive details in uploaded documents.

## What the customer receives

- Verified deadline and appeal type.
- Official valuation snapshot.
- Explanation of why an appeal is or is not supported.
- Property-specific missing-evidence checklist.
- Verified comparable-sale analysis.
- Supported value range and requested value when justified.
- Estimated value-based tax effect with assumptions.
- Pre-filing fee and break-even comparison before the customer chooses whether to proceed.
- County-specific filing steps and form-ready information.
- Supporting statement, exhibit index, hearing checklist, and next-event explanation.

## Start choice

End the preparation screen with one question:

> How would you like to continue: 1) start now with the address, 2) review the detailed checklist, or 3) upload the notice first?