The homestead exemption and Save Our Homes, in plain English

Every Florida tax bill is shaped by three things: the value the county puts on your home, the cap that slows how fast that value can be taxed, and the exemptions that come off the top. This page explains all three — and when correcting the county's number actually lowers what you pay.

The homestead exemption, in one minute

If a Florida home is your permanent residence on January 1, you can claim a homestead exemption on it. It has two parts:

• $25,000 comes off your assessed value for all property taxes, including school taxes.
• A second exemption applies to the portion of assessed value between $50,000 and $75,000, and does not apply to school taxes. Since 2025 it adjusts each year for inflation: for 2026 it is $26,411.

You apply once with your county property appraiser, and it renews automatically for as long as the home stays your permanent residence.

Apply by March 1 of the tax year

Missed March 1? Counties can accept late applications in limited circumstances — ask your property appraiser's office rather than assuming the year is lost.

A further increase to the non-school exemption is on the November 2026 statewide ballot. Nothing changes unless voters approve it.

Save Our Homes: the cap that does the quiet work

The exemption gets the attention, but the cap usually saves homesteaded owners more. Once your homestead exemption is in place, your assessed value can rise no more than 3% a year — or the change in the Consumer Price Index, whichever is lower — no matter how fast the market climbs. Over a decade of rising prices, the gap between what the county says your home is worth and what you are actually taxed on can grow enormous. That gap is yours; it is often called the Save Our Homes benefit.

The three values on your notice

Every August, your TRIM notice (the "Notice of Proposed Property Taxes") shows three different numbers for the same house. They are easy to conflate and mean very different things:

Appeals contest the just value. Whether a lower just value changes your bill depends on how far your capped assessed value sits below it — which is exactly what our free check works out for you.

The recapture rule: why bills rise in a down market

Here is the part almost nobody knows. If your assessed value sits below your just value, Florida requires the property appraiser to keep raising your assessed value by the cap each year — even in a year when your market value falls — until the two meet. An inflated just value is not harmless while the cap protects you: it is the ceiling your bill keeps climbing toward, a few percent every year. Correcting it lowers the ceiling.

Just bought? Your cap started over

The seller's cap does not come with the house. On the January 1 after a purchase, the home is reassessed at full just value and the clock restarts. That first roll year is when an inflated value costs you the most — there is no accumulated cap to absorb it, and every future capped year compounds from that starting number. If you bought recently, that is the single best moment to check the county's math.

Portability: take your savings with you

Moving within Florida does not have to mean giving up the benefit. You can transfer up to $500,000 of your Save Our Homes benefit — the gap between your old home's just value and its capped assessed value — to a new Florida homestead, as long as you establish it within three tax years. You apply for portability with the property appraiser when you file for the new homestead exemption.

Exemption vs. appeal: two different levers

The exemption subtracts a fixed amount. An appeal corrects the county's opinion of what your home is worth. They are independent, and they fail in different ways: plenty of owners have the exemption and still carry a just value the county's own comparable records do not support — and plenty of owners with a scary-looking just value are, thanks to the cap, paying a fair bill an appeal cannot lower.

That second group is why we turn people away. Our free check compares your home against the county's own records for comparable properties, does the cap math, and gives one of two honest answers: the dollar amount an appeal is worth to you per year, or "your assessment looks fair — keep your money."

Dates that matter

• January 1 — the home must be your permanent residence to claim the exemption for the year, and the date each year's value is set.
• March 1 — homestead exemption (and portability) application deadline.
• August — TRIM notices mail; your petition deadline to the county's Value Adjustment Board falls about 25 days later. The exact date is printed on your notice — confirm it with your county.