Florida homestead exemption

What it is

Section 196.031, Florida Statutes, exempts a qualifying residence and contiguous real property from taxation, except assessments for special benefits, up to an assessed valuation of $25,000. That exemption applies to all levies, including school-district levies. The Florida Department of Revenue’s homestead guide (PT-113) says the same thing: the first $25,000 applies to all property taxes, including school district taxes.

The same section adds a second exemption of up to $25,000 on the assessed valuation greater than $50,000, for all levies other than school-district levies. That second $25,000 is adjusted on January 1 of each year for inflation using the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers, if that percent change is positive. Because of that adjustment, a tax roll can use an additional amount other than $25,000. This page does not state a current adjusted figure.

The Department of Revenue’s exemptions page describes the combined result as a decrease in taxable value of as much as $50,000. That “as much as” follows from the two statutory pieces. It is not a promise that every homestead receives $50,000, and it does not include the inflation adjustment.

Who qualifies

Section 196.031 says a person qualifies when, on January 1, they have legal title or beneficial title in equity to real property in Florida and in good faith make it their permanent residence, or the permanent residence of another person legally or naturally dependent on them. Title may be held by the entireties, jointly, or in common, and the exemption may be apportioned among the owners who reside there. Before the exemption is granted, the deed or instrument must be recorded in the county. The exemption applies only to property classified and assessed as owner-occupied residential property, or to the portion so classified.

A person who is receiving or claiming a residency-based ad valorem exemption or tax credit in another state is not entitled to this homestead exemption. That bar does not apply when the Florida title holder maintains the permanent residence of a legal or natural dependent on the Florida property.

Section 196.061 says rental of all or substantially all of a dwelling previously claimed as homestead is an abandonment of the homestead, until the owner physically occupies it again. Abandonment after January 1 does not affect that year’s exemption unless the property is rented for more than 30 days per calendar year for two consecutive years. The section does not apply to members of the U.S. Armed Forces serving under the Selective Service Act or as volunteers, or to full-time federal diplomatic, intelligence, consular, or foreign service officers who are directed to reside, or required to be stationed or deployed, outside Florida.

The Department of Revenue says the property appraiser in the county where the property is located decides whether a parcel is entitled to an exemption.

Save Our Homes and portability

Section 193.155, Florida Statutes, is the Save Our Homes assessment limit. Property that receives the homestead exemption after January 1, 1994, is assessed at just value as of January 1 of the year it receives the exemption, unless the portability rules apply. Beginning the year after the exemption is received, any change from the annual reassessment shall not exceed the lower of 3 percent of the prior year’s assessed value, or the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers for the preceding calendar year. If the limited assessed value would exceed just value, it is lowered to just value.

A change of ownership generally returns the property to just value as of the following January 1. The exemption itself does not transfer. The Department of Revenue’s portability answer says you cannot transfer the homestead exemption when you move, and that you may be able to transfer all or part of the assessment difference.

Section 193.155(8) is that transfer. It applies when the person who establishes the new homestead received a homestead exemption as of January 1 of any of the three immediately preceding years. If the new homestead’s just value is greater than or equal to the prior homestead’s just value, the assessed value of the new homestead is just value minus the lesser of $500,000 or the difference between the prior homestead’s just value and assessed value. If the new homestead is worth less, the statute uses a ratio of the two just values, and it still caps the difference at $500,000. The owner files a Department of Revenue form with the homestead application, under the timeframes in chapter 196. The Department’s portability answer names that attachment Form DR-501T and says the due date, filed with Form DR-501, is March 1 of the first year after the move.

Deadline and where to apply

Section 196.011 says every person who on January 1 has legal title to property entitled to an exemption shall, on or before March 1 of each year, file an application with the county property appraiser. Failure to file by March 1 waives the exemption for that year, except for the late paths in subsections (8) and (9). March 1 is the usual deadline. It is not the only date the statute allows.

Subsection (8) requires the value adjustment board to grant the exemption if the applicant can clearly document that missing March 1 was a postal error. Subsection (9) lets a qualified applicant who missed March 1 file on or before the 25th day after the property appraiser mails the notice under section 194.011(1). The property appraiser may grant it on sufficient evidence of extenuating circumstances. If not, the applicant may petition the value adjustment board and must pay a nonrefundable $15 fee. Subsection (11) also lets a property appraiser accept an original homestead application for the succeeding year after March 1.

The application form is prescribed by the Department of Revenue. The current original application is Form DR-501. File it with the property appraiser in the county where the property is located. Many offices also take applications online; the department’s homestead guide says to use that county’s site. Once an original application is granted, section 196.011(7) says the property appraiser mails a renewal application on or before February 1 of each succeeding year.

Other Florida exemptions

These are separate from the homestead amounts in section 196.031. Each has its own test. The property appraiser decides eligibility.

• Section 196.202 exempts property to the value of $5,000 of every widow, widower, blind person, or totally and permanently disabled person who is a bona fide Florida resident. The statute defines the disability certification it accepts.
• Section 196.081 exempts from taxation real estate owned and used as a homestead by certain honorably discharged veterans with a service-connected total and permanent disability, and it sets homestead exemptions for some surviving spouses of veterans who died from service-connected causes while on active duty and of first responders who died in the line of duty. Section 196.081(3) says that exemption carries over to a surviving spouse who holds legal or beneficial title to the homestead and keeps living there, until the spouse remarries or sells or otherwise disposes of the property. The Department of Revenue’s exemptions page points to section 196.081(6) for the first-responder surviving-spouse exemption.
• Section 196.075 lets a county or a municipality adopt an ordinance for an additional homestead exemption for a permanent resident who is 65 or older. One option is up to $50,000 when household income does not exceed $20,000. That $20,000 income limit is adjusted every January 1 by the change in the average cost-of-living index, so a local limit can differ from $20,000. A second option can exempt the assessed value of a long-time homestead with a just value under $250,000, under the conditions in the statute. Neither applies unless that county or city has adopted it, and it applies only to the taxes of the government that granted it.

The Department of Revenue exemptions page also points to guides for active-duty military and veterans, persons 65 or older, and other benefits. This page does not restate a dollar amount from a guide it has not quoted above.

Amendment 3

Amendment 3 is on the November 3, 2026 ballot. It would change homestead taxes. This page does not say whether to vote yes or no. The official ballot summary, from the Division of Elections booklet, is:

This amendment increases the homestead exemption, for all non-school taxes, to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, and adjusts for inflation thereafter. It requires the Legislature to prescribe a uniform procedure for counties and municipalities, for their respective levies, to increase the homestead exemption up to full assessed value, and allows special districts, subject to referendum approval, to do the same.

Persons who are not Florida residents on December 31, 2026, will receive the existing homestead exemption upon qualifying for a homestead exemption, with the increased homestead exemption beginning with the fifth year of exemption, to the extent permitted by the U.S. Constitution.

This amendment reduces the annual cap on assessment increases for non-homestead properties from 10% to 5%.

This amendment requires counties and municipalities to use property taxes solely for public safety, education and schools, infrastructure, natural resources, bond debt service, retirement benefits for employees, and operations and administration. Other expenditures may be approved by county officers or county or municipal governing bodies unless prohibited by general law, notwithstanding Article VII, Section 9(a) of the Florida Constitution, which allows counties and municipalities to levy property taxes for their respective purposes.

This amendment takes effect January 1, 2027.

Estimate

Estimate. This is one set of inputs, not a bill and not a promised change in what anyone pays. It uses the statutory base exemptions, not a CPI-adjusted additional exemption. It does not apply Save Our Homes, a senior exemption, a widow or disability exemption, or a veteran exemption. Assessments for special benefits are outside the exemption in section 196.031.

• Assessed value used here: $300,000.
• Non-school millage used here: 10 mills. Article VII, section 9, of the Florida Constitution caps county purposes at ten mills and municipal purposes at ten mills. Ten mills is an input in this estimate, not a statement of any county’s rate.
• School millage used here: 10 mills. The same section caps school purposes at ten mills. Ten mills is an input in this estimate, not a statement of any school district’s rate.
• All-levies exemption used here: $25,000, the amount in section 196.031(1)(a). It is applied to both the non-school line and the school line.
• Additional non-school exemption used here: $25,000, the statutory base in section 196.031(1)(b), applied only to the non-school line. The additional amount on a real roll may differ because of the CPI adjustment.
• Non-school taxable value in this estimate, with no exemption: $300,000.
• Non-school taxable value in this estimate, with the statutory exemptions: $250,000.
• Non-school tax in this estimate, with no exemption: $3,000.
• Non-school tax in this estimate, with the statutory exemptions: $2,500.
• Difference between those two non-school lines: $500.
• School taxable value in this estimate, with no exemption: $300,000.
• School taxable value in this estimate, with the all-levies exemption: $275,000.
• School tax in this estimate, with no exemption: $3,000.
• School tax in this estimate, with the all-levies exemption: $2,750.
• Difference between those two school lines: $250.

Estimate. The differences are the arithmetic of the inputs above. They are not a forecast and they are not an offer of savings.

Questions people ask

Sources

• Section 196.031, Florida Statutes (2026)
• Section 196.011, Florida Statutes (2026)
• Section 196.061, Florida Statutes (2026). Subsection (2), the rental exceptions, is at section 196.061(2).
• Section 193.155, Florida Statutes (2026)
• Section 196.202, Florida Statutes (2026)
• Section 196.081, Florida Statutes (2026)
• Section 196.075, Florida Statutes (2026)
• Florida Constitution, Article VII, section 9
• Florida Department of Revenue, property tax exemptions
• Florida Department of Revenue, PT-113 homestead guide
• Florida Department of Revenue, Form DR-501
• Florida Department of Revenue, portability answer
• Florida Division of Elections, 2026 constitutional amendments booklet