Application for Tax Clearance Certificate – Sacramento County, CA

The Application for Tax Clearance Certificate, titled Application for Mobile-Home Tax Clearance Certificate on the PDF, is the form used to ask the Sacramento County Tax Collector for the certificate that the state requires before a mobile home's title can change.

The county explains the purpose of the certificate: it verifies to HCD that, as of the date of issuance, all taxes then discovered have been paid. Before issuing it, the Tax Collector collects the outstanding taxes on the mobile home and, from January 1 to November 1, the estimated or known taxes for the following fiscal year. HCD then processes the certificate, changes its ownership records and notifies the Sacramento County Assessor's Office so the assessment roll can be updated. The county says that last step can take up to several months.

The form is built around the people and the home involved:

• the applicant or clearance requester, with optional escrow information;
• the current registered owner and the buyer or new owner on title;
• the mobile home's current registration (license or decal number, parcel number, location) and, if applicable, its new location;
• a block marked for departmental use only, where the county records the taxes due before clearance can be issued.

Mobile homes sold after July 1, 1980 fall under the Mobile home Property Tax Law, which county tax officials administer. A release of liability does not change ownership; this certificate, filed with HCD, is part of how ownership changes.

The main group is anyone selling a mobile home, or moving it out of Sacramento County, who needs a Tax Clearance Certificate so that HCD can change the title. The applicant may be the seller, the buyer, an escrow officer or another clearance requester: the form has a section for the applicant and an optional escrow section for the escrow officer, escrow number and special instructions.

Details from the county:

• HCD will not transfer title of a used manufactured home, mobile home or floating home that is subject to local property tax without a certificate issued by the tax collector of the county where the home is located.
• A former owner who still receives a secured tax bill and never filed a certificate with HCD remains responsible for the bills, because the change of ownership cannot be processed. That person must obtain the certificate from the Tax Collector and file it with HCD.
• If the certificate was filed with HCD less than six months ago, a former owner should forward the annual property tax bill to the new owner.

A release of liability does not change ownership, so it does not replace this application.

File the application when a mobile home is sold or will be moved out of Sacramento County, before the change of title can be made. HCD requires the certificate from the Tax Collector's Office first, and the certificate must then be filed with HCD.

Taxes must be settled before the certificate is issued. The county collects outstanding taxes plus estimated or known taxes for the following fiscal year, collected from January 1 to November 1. The departmental-use block on the form states the total due and the date by which it must be paid; the county fills it in after it reviews the application.

If you are no longer the owner and never filed a certificate with HCD, file as soon as you can: until then you continue to receive and owe the property tax bills. If a certificate was filed more than six months ago and the change is still not processed, the county tells you to contact HCD. The form prints no separate deadline.

You can send the completed application to Sacramento County Tax Collection by mail, e-mail, fax or in person.

• By mail: Sacramento County Tax Collection, ATTN: MOBILE-HOMES DESK, 700 H ST #1710, Sacramento, CA 95814.
• By e-mail: [email protected].
• By fax: 916-874-8909.
• In person: at the same address; the form says the office is open 8a-5p weekdays.

Questions go to the county at 916-874-7833. The Tax Collector's Office takes calls between 9:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding holidays, and can mail you an application. The county page gives the in-person location as Sacramento County Tax Collector, 700 H Street, Room 1710.

Once the Tax Collector issues the certificate, you must file it with HCD, 1800 Third Street, P.O. Box 2111, Sacramento, CA 95812-2111, phone (916) 445-4782 or 1-800-952-8356, website https://www.hcd.ca.gov. The form asks for an address to mail the certificate to. The county's pages do not list a fee for the application itself; the amounts to pay appear in the departmental-use block, or call the county. FillingPDF lets you fill out and download the PDF; submission follows the channels above.