Date-of-death value for stepped-up basis

IRS Step-Up Appraisals for Riverside Homes

When you sell an inherited house, the tax on your gain starts from its basis, and that is generally what the home was worth on the day the owner died. We appraise the Riverside home as of that past date and write the report for you, your executor or your CPA to keep on file.

Call 951-877-4884 Request a quote

For heirs, executors and the tax advisers who work with them.

What the report establishes

The tax law (26 U.S.C. section 1014) generally sets an heir's basis in inherited property at what it was worth on the day the owner died. IRS Publication 551 describes that value as the price a willing buyer and seller would settle on when neither is under pressure and both know the relevant facts, and it notes that sales of similar property around the same date can help establish it.

Basis matters when the heirs sell, because it is used to figure gain or loss. The adjustment can go either way: if the home lost value before the death, the new basis is lower than the old one. "Step-up" is a label, not a promised tax result. Our report gives a supported value as of the effective date; what the number does on a return is for your tax adviser.

Which date we value

The date of death, unless your tax adviser tells us the alternate date applies or a trust calls for another date. We need it in writing before the work starts, and the report states it as the effective date, along with the intended use and users.

A California home can get a new basis on both halves

California is a community property state. When one spouse dies, the surviving spouse's half of the couple's community property can take a new basis too, not just the half that belonged to the person who died. Publication 551 says the whole community property generally takes a new basis in that situation, even when no estate tax return is due.

Whether a given Riverside home counts as community property depends on how and when the couple bought it and on any agreements they signed. Have your tax adviser confirm the treatment before relying on a full adjustment. The appraisal supplies the value, not the classification.

If an estate tax return is filed

If an estate tax return is filed, it asks how each value was determined and for copies of any appraisals used, so the return and the heirs' records should rest on the same figure. If no return is filed, a date-of-death appraisal can still support the heirs' basis records. Your adviser decides which applies.

For your tax adviser

Alternate valuation: section 2032 lets an executor value the whole estate six months after death instead. The election is made on a federal estate tax return, is allowed only when it reduces both the gross estate and the tax, and cannot be revoked. Property sold or distributed within those six months is valued on the date it left the estate.
Community property: section 1014(b)(6) counts the survivor's half as if it came from the decedent, provided at least half of the couple's total community interest can be counted in the decedent's gross estate.
Filing threshold: the Form 706 instructions set the 2026 threshold for the estate of a U.S. citizen or resident at $15,000,000, measured as the gross estate together with adjusted taxable gifts and any specific exemption. Schedule A asks how each value was determined and for copies of any appraisals used.
Consistent basis: where a home's value has been finally determined for estate tax and its inclusion increased the tax, section 1014(f) says the heir's basis cannot exceed that value.

The home as it was, in the market as it was

The report must describe the house on the date being valued, not as it looks today. Riverside built more of its current housing in the 1970s than in any other decade, according to the City's 2022 Housing Element background report. If an heir has since replaced a roof, remodeled a kitchen or cleared the yard, photos, listings and invoices show what changed and when.

The market evidence has to fit the period too. For a death several years back, the comparable sales come from those years, and the appraiser explains how each one bears on the earlier date.

The September 2026 sold-listing figures on our service area page describe one recent month for the City of Riverside, combining houses with condominiums, townhouses and apartments. For a death in an earlier year they reflect a later market, and they cannot show one home's condition on that day.

What to gather

The date of death, and the date your adviser wants valued
Whether an estate tax return will be filed
The deed or trust documents
Photos, listings, inspection reports or earlier appraisals from around that date
A dated list of repairs and improvements since
Your adviser's instructions and your deadline
How to arrange entry

In Riverside County the recorder and the assessor are one office, the County of Riverside Assessor-County Clerk-Recorder, and it treats an owner's date of death as the date of transfer for property tax (change of ownership page). The recorded deed and the latest property tax bill identify the parcel; building permits and contractor invoices date the changes made since. Bring what you have.

How a retrospective assignment goes

Date and use confirmed. We agree the effective date, the intended use and users, and your deadline; the scope, fee and delivery estimate then come to you in writing.
Inspection with history. We visit the home and go through your records of its earlier condition.
Period research. The appraiser studies sales and market conditions from around the effective date.
Report. The report states the effective date, the use and any assumptions about the home's condition then.

Delivery depends on availability, access, complexity and research, so confirm a delivery estimate with us before a filing or sale date depends on it.

What it costs

As a price guide, the VA's published appraisal fee for a single-family home in Riverside County is $750 (VA fee schedule, effective May 1, 2026). A private date-of-death appraisal can cost more or less than that, depending on the property and the assignment. Research into an earlier market, the records available and your deadline can change both the fee and the schedule.

Call 951-877-4884 or send the details, and you'll get a written, property-specific scope and fee before any work begins.

Next step

Call us, or send the address, the date of death, the date your adviser wants valued and your deadline. For an inherited home outside probate, our estate appraisals page has more; if the estate is in probate, start with probate appraisals.