Are You Affected by the State Responsibility Area Maps Update? Homeowners statewide will no longer receive refunds.

Back on May 28, we wrote that the Court ruled the $150 Fire Prevention Fee assessed by the California State Board of Equalization (BOE) against each structure in a “state responsibility area” is no longer deductible as a tax under IRC §164.

During the Board of Equalization (BOE) May 2013 meeting, BOE Deputy Director David Gau presented the latest information on CAL FIRE’s 2013 Focused State Responsibility Area Review, which resulted in some of the State Responsibility Area maps being changed to fix errors and inconsistencies in the boundaries. Statewide, homeowners whose properties were removed will not be receiving refunds for their 2011-12 fire fee bills and will still have to pay the 2012-13 fire fee when bills go out, most likely sometime this summer. The changes resulted in 4,659 acres being added and 17,502 acres removed. The Board of Forestry, which approved the new map lines, set the effective date as July 2013.

You can download a copy of the State Responsibility Area (SRA) information – by county.