Florida property tax

Florida Property Tax 2026: How Your Bill Is Calculated

By the YourHomeCosts editorial desk. Updated October 2026. General information, not legal, tax, or financial advice. Check with your county property appraiser.

Florida property tax is your parcel’s taxable value times the total local millage, divided by 1,000. In this page’s labeled estimate, a hypothetical $350,000 home at St. Petersburg’s 2025 rates owes $6,971.90 without a homestead exemption and $6,114.01 with one. It is an ad valorem tax, a tax based on value. Section 192.001, Florida Statutes, says “property tax” may be used interchangeably with “ad valorem tax.” Each taxing authority sets its own millage, and the tax collector applies those rates to the parcel’s taxable value. This guide covers that calculation, the TRIM notice, when the bill arrives, the early-payment discount, Save Our Homes, and one labeled estimate. Qualification for the homestead exemption is on the Florida homestead exemption page.

Educational information only. This is not financial, tax, legal, lending, insurance, or appraisal advice. Loan documents, state law, and your servicer or assessor control. Confirm every figure before you act.

Estimates only; your lender's numbers win.

How Florida property tax is calculated

A mill is one one-thousandth of a dollar. Millage may be one levy or the total of every levy. Section 192.001(6) and (10) define extending the tax as converting millage to that one-thousandth and multiplying by taxable value:

Tax = taxable value × millage ÷ 1,000.

The city, the county, the school board, and special districts each levy their own rate, so two houses with the same taxable value can have different totals. Section 200.069 is the notice of proposed property taxes, and it lists each authority. Final rates are the ones on the bill after the budget hearings. Non-ad valorem assessments are separate. The Pinellas County Property Appraiser’s 2026 TRIM guide says they follow a rate schedule and are not based on property value. They can sit on the same bill. The estimate below is ad valorem only.

Just value, assessed value, and taxable value

Section 192.001(2) defines assessed value as the just or fair market value, the value limited by Article VII of the Florida Constitution, or a classified-use value. The Pinellas TRIM guide describes 2026 market value as an estimate of the most probable selling price on January 1, 2026, and the assessed line as the value after a cap. Section 193.155(2) lowers assessed value to just value if the cap would exceed it.

Taxable value is what millage multiplies. Section 192.001(16) defines it as assessed value minus applicable exemptions. The Pinellas guide says county, school, and municipal taxable values can differ on one notice, because some exemptions and the non-homestead cap do not apply to school millage. If taxable value equals assessed value, that guide says the notice is showing no exemption.

The TRIM notice

TRIM means Truth in Millage. Section 200.069 requires a mailed notice of proposed property taxes and non-ad valorem assessments. Section 200.065(2)(b) sets the mailing deadline as the later of 55 days after certification of value, or 10 days after the roll is approved or interim-roll procedures begin. The Pinellas 2026 TRIM guide says the notice lets owners review proposed taxes before bills are mailed. Its columns show last year’s taxes, this year’s taxes if no budget change is made, and this year’s taxes if the proposed budget is adopted. The guide says the bill will not exceed the proposed total plus non-ad valorem assessments, and that a lower millage at the final hearing can reduce it. Value questions go to the property appraiser. Rate questions go to the taxing authority.

When the bill arrives, and the early-payment discount

Section 197.333 says taxes are due on November 1, or as soon after that as the tax collector receives the certified roll, and become delinquent on April 1 of the following year or 60 days after the original tax notice is mailed, whichever is later. Section 197.322 requires a newspaper notice when the roll opens and a tax notice to each taxpayer within 20 working days after the certified rolls arrive. The Pinellas TRIM guide says that county’s tax collector mails bills on or about November 1. The Department of Revenue’s tax collector calendar places the mailing, and the 4 percent November discount, in November.

Section 197.162 sets the early-payment discount: 4 percent in November, or within 30 days after the original notice is sent; 3 percent in December; 2 percent in January; 1 percent in February; and zero percent in March, or within 30 days before a delinquency date after April 1. Department of Revenue form DR-528 prints those four percentages and says the postmark controls. A discount ending on a weekend or legal holiday runs to the next working day if payment reaches the tax collector’s office. The dollar lines in the estimate apply those percentages to the ad valorem figure only.

Save Our Homes: the cap and portability

Save Our Homes limits the yearly change in a homestead’s assessed value. Section 193.155(1) carries out Article VII, section 4 of the Florida Constitution. Beginning the year after the exemption is received, the January 1 change shall not exceed the lower of 3 percent of the prior assessed value or the CPI-U change. The Department of Revenue’s January 2026 chart and the Pinellas TRIM guide both list a 2026 cap of 2.7 percent (as of Oct 20, 2026). Section 193.155(2) stops assessed value at just value. The Pinellas guide calls the result the recapture rule: the assessed value can still rise by the cap while market value is higher. Section 193.155(3) returns the property to just value on the January 1 after most ownership changes. The guide tells buyers the seller’s exemption ends on that date. Non-homestead property has its own cap. For most non-residential property, Section 193.1555 says a change from the annual reassessment may not exceed 10 percent of the prior year’s assessed value. For nonhomestead residential property, Section 193.1554 says a change from the annual reassessment may not exceed 10 percent of the assessed value of the property for the prior year.

Portability moves the Save Our Homes difference, just value minus assessed value, to a new Florida homestead. Section 193.155(8) applies when the owner received a homestead exemption as of January 1 of any of the three preceding years. If the new home’s just value is at least the old home’s, the new assessed value is just value minus the lesser of $500,000 or the old difference. If the new just value is lower, the statute uses a proportional formula and still stops the difference at $500,000. The Department of Revenue’s portability brochure says Form DR-501T is filed with the homestead application, Form DR-501, by March 1. Section 193.155(8)(j) allows a later value-adjustment-board petition, with a nonrefundable $15 fee, if that deadline is missed. Filing steps are on the homestead page.

The homestead exemption, in short

Section 196.031 exempts up to $25,000 of assessed value from all taxation except assessments for special benefits, when on January 1 the owner makes the property their permanent residence, or the permanent residence of a dependent. Someone who qualifies also receives an additional exemption of up to $25,000 on assessed value above $50,000, for levies other than school-district levies. The statute adjusts that additional amount on January 1 when the CPI change is positive. School taxes receive the first exemption. Non-school taxes can receive both.

For 2026 the Pinellas TRIM guide prints that second amount as $26,411 (as of Oct 20, 2026), and the Revenue Estimating Conference impact for CS/HJR 1F (July 10, 2026) lists 26,411 and a band maximum of $76,411. School taxes receive the first $25,000. The example below uses $51,411 on non-school levies. Section 196.011 sets a March 1 application with the county property appraiser. Missing that date waives the exemption for the year except as subsections (8) and (9) provide. Who qualifies, and the other exemptions, are on /florida-homestead-exemption.

Worked example: one home’s bill with and without homestead

Estimate. The assessed value is a hypothetical example value. It is not a St. Petersburg parcel and not a bill. Non-ad valorem assessments, other exemptions, and any Save Our Homes gap are left out. The millage is from 2025 and the exemption amount is from 2026, so this is an illustration, not a forecast of a 2026 bill. The millage is the Pinellas County Tax Collector sheet levied for 2025 taxes, district SP (St. Petersburg), real-estate total 19.9197 mills.

Hypothetical assessed value: $350,000.
City of St. Petersburg: 6.4525 mills.
Countywide, the sheet’s real-estate county total: 4.6136 mills.
School: 6.2930 mills. The sheet’s footnote splits that into 3.0450 mills state and 3.2480 mills local.
Transit: 0.7300 mills.
Emergency medical services: 0.8050 mills.
Other districts: 1.0256 mills. The sheet lists the Pinellas County Planning Council at 0.0175, the Juvenile Welfare Board at 0.8250, and the Southwest Florida Water Management District at 0.1831.
Published real-estate total: 19.9197 mills.
Non-school portion of that total, total minus school: 13.6267 mills.

With no homestead exemption, taxable value for both school and non-school levies is the full $350,000.

School: $350,000 × 6.2930 ÷ 1,000 = $2,202.55.
Non-school: $350,000 × 13.6267 ÷ 1,000 = $4,769.35.
Total at the published rate: $350,000 × 19.9197 ÷ 1,000 = $6,971.90.

With homestead, school taxable value subtracts the $25,000 that applies to every levy. Non-school taxable value subtracts that amount plus the 2026 additional $26,411, or $51,411 combined. The hypothetical value is above the conference’s $76,411 band, so the full additional amount is used. The Pinellas guide prorates the second exemption inside that band.

School taxable value: $325,000.
School tax: $325,000 × 6.2930 ÷ 1,000 = $2,045.23.
Non-school taxable value: $298,589.
Non-school tax: $298,589 × 13.6267 ÷ 1,000 = $4,068.78.
Combined ad valorem estimate: $6,114.01.
Difference between the no-exemption total and the with-exemption total: $857.89.

Estimate. Lines are rounded to the cent. The discount lines apply section 197.162 to the with-exemption ad valorem estimate of $6,114.01.

November, 4 percent: discount $244.56, due $5,869.45.
December, 3 percent: discount $183.42, due $5,930.59.
January, 2 percent: discount $122.28, due $5,991.73.
February, 1 percent: discount $61.14, due $6,052.87.

Estimate. Your county’s millage, your exemptions, and your tax notice control.

Florida property tax calculator: estimate your bill

Use the roll’s formula on your own notice. Take each taxable value, multiply by that group’s millage, and divide by 1,000. Add non-ad valorem assessments from the notice if you want a figure closer to the bill. School and non-school taxable values often differ once a homestead exemption is on the roll. When a servicer pays the bill from escrow, the escrow analysis page shows how that disbursement is spread into the monthly deposit, and the payment explainer lines the new tax up against the mortgage payment.

Amendment 3 on the November 3 ballot

Amendment 3 is on the November 3, 2026 ballot. This section quotes the official summary and attributes arguments. It does not say how to vote. More is on Florida Amendment 3. Florida Today reported on October 19, 2026, that early voting began that day in some counties and that dates vary (as of Oct 20, 2026). The Division of Elections early-voting reports list each county’s period; some begin October 19, 2026, and others begin later.

The title in the Division of Elections booklet, 2026 Constitutional Amendments for the General Election, from the publications page, is: INCREASED HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION; LOWER CAP ON INCREASES IN NON-HOMESTEAD PROPERTY ASSESSMENTS.— The same text is on the initiative record for ballot number 3.

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.

Ballot number 3 has no Financial Impact Estimating Conference date on the Division of Elections record. That conference writes statements for citizen initiatives. The Legislature placed this measure on the ballot as CS/HJR 1F. The Revenue Estimating Conference impact of July 10, 2026, adopted a zero/negative indeterminate impact because the amendment still needs voter approval, and zero if it fails. If approved, the conference adopted non-school cash impacts of $4,929.5 million in fiscal year 2027–28 and $8,714.5 million in fiscal year 2028–29, with school cash of zero, and a recurring non-school figure of $11,834.7 million.

Supporters and opponents describe the effects differently. Rep. Toby Overdorf, the House sponsor, told WFLA the measure is “basically giving local government a haircut and bringing them back to 2023 levels of where they were previously.” Opponents, including the Palm Beach County League of Cities in an August 28, 2026 statement and the Florida Association of Counties in a September 2026 handout, say local governments would lose revenue with no state replacement and would have to cut services or raise other taxes and fees. This page does not adopt either side’s figures and does not say how to vote.

How to appeal an assessment

An appeal is about the value or the exemption, which the property appraiser handles, or about the millage, which the taxing authority adopts at its budget hearing. The Pinellas TRIM guide lists three value paths for that county: an informal conference with the appraiser, a petition to the value adjustment board by the deadline printed on the TRIM notice (under section 194.011(3)(d), a valuation petition is due on or before the 25th day after the property appraiser mails the notice), and a circuit court complaint under section 194.171. The guide says to read the statute or contact an attorney for the court deadline. Other counties print their own deadlines. The property-tax appeal page is a self-help organizer for an assessed value, a market estimate, and comparable sales. It is not legal representation, and it promises no outcome.

Questions people ask

What is Amendment 3 Florida?

It is a constitutional amendment the Legislature placed on the November 3, 2026 ballot. The Division of Elections title is “INCREASED HOMESTEAD EXEMPTION; LOWER CAP ON INCREASES IN NON-HOMESTEAD PROPERTY ASSESSMENTS.” According to the official summary, it would raise the homestead exemption for non-school taxes to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, then adjust it for inflation; lower the yearly cap on assessment increases for non-homestead property from 10% to 5%; and limit what counties and municipalities may use property taxes for. It would take effect January 1, 2027. This page does not say how to vote. See /florida-amendment-3.

How much is property tax on a house in Florida?

It depends on your county and city millage. In this page’s estimate, a hypothetical $350,000 home at the 2025 St. Petersburg rate (19.9197 mills) owes $6,971.90 without homestead and $6,114.01 with it. The formula is taxable value times millage, divided by 1,000. This page’s estimate uses a hypothetical $350,000 assessed value and the Pinellas County Tax Collector’s 19.9197-mill St. Petersburg real-estate total levied for 2025 taxes: $6,971.90 with no homestead exemption and $6,114.01 with the exemptions in the example. Non-ad valorem assessments are left out.

What is the difference between assessed and market value?

Section 192.001 uses just or fair market value as one assessed-value measure, and also the value after the Article VII assessment limit. The Pinellas 2026 TRIM guide calls market value an estimate of the most probable selling price on January 1, and assessed value the capped figure. Taxable value is assessed value minus exemptions.

How do I get a $50,000 homestead exemption in Florida?

Section 196.031 gives up to $25,000 off all levies and up to $25,000 more, on assessed value above $50,000, for non-school levies. The second amount is adjusted when the CPI change is positive. For 2026 the Pinellas TRIM guide prints $26,411. File with the county property appraiser by the March 1 rule in section 196.011. The Florida homestead exemption page has the details.

Does homestead exemption save money?

It lowers taxable value. In this estimate the same hypothetical home and 2025 St. Petersburg millage are $6,971.90 without the exemption and $6,114.01 with it, a difference of $857.89. School millage gets only the $25,000 exemption. The 2026 additional $26,411 applies to non-school millage.

Who is exempt from paying property taxes?

Florida residency alone does not remove the bill. Section 196.031 lowers taxable value for a qualifying homestead. Other statutes exempt some property entirely. The county property appraiser decides. The Florida homestead exemption page has the details.