Friday, Feb. 29: Deadline to apply for homestead exemption and tax portability

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Feb. 26, 2008 – Only three days remain: Friday is the deadline for homeowners to apply for a homestead exemption, and, for 2007 homebuyers, the last day to apply for property tax portability – the right to take tax savings from a home protected by Florida’s Save Our Homes amendment and transfer it to a home purchased last year.

Homestead exemption

Floridians who live in their home are “homesteaded,” which grants them benefits.  However, homestead status is not automatic, and new homeowners must declare themselves to be homesteaders by March 1 of each year to their local property tax appraiser.

A major benefit of declaring a homestead is the homestead exemption, which generally deducts $25,000 from a home’s assessed value for tax purposes. Take a home’s assessed value, subtract $25,000, and apply the local millage rate to calculate the property taxes due.

New this year, however: An increased homestead exemption of an additional $25,000 will be applied to homes worth at least $75,000, though the second $25,000 exemption does not include school tax deductions. There is no separate application for this additional exemption, and new homeowners who apply for the traditional homestead exemption before March 1 will automatically receive the savings. The same is true for long-time homeowners. They will receive the additional homestead exemption automatically if their home has homestead status. No action is necessary.

Save Our Homes portability

Taxpayers who sold a homestead in 2007 and purchased a new home before Jan. 1, 2008 are also eligible to apply some, or all, of their Save Our Homes tax benefits to the new home. The Save Our Homes benefit is the difference between the old homestead’s assessed value and market value resulting from Florida’s annual limit on property tax increases in assessed value.

Portability is not automatic. Taxpayers who already applied for a homestead exemption on their new home must complete a separate application before March 1, 2008, to transfer the Save Our Homes benefit to the new homestead. Application forms for portability are available from a local property appraiser or the Florida Department of Revenue (http://dor.myflorida.com/dor) Web site.

Tangible personal property tax

Tangible personal property taxes apply only to certain taxpayers in Florida – typically businesses and certain owners of mobile homes. The tax does not apply to homesteaded property. In order to receive the $25,000 exemption for tangible personal property, taxpayers subject to the tax must file a tangible personal property return with their property appraiser by April 1, 2008. In 2009, however, filers with less than $25,000 in 2008 do not need to file or pay a tax unless they now surpass the $25,000 threshold.

Commercial property 10% tax cap

The 10 percent limit on annual assessment increases for non-homestead property does not apply until next year. No application necessary in 2008. If you have questions, contact Florida’s property appraisers, go to http://dor.myflorida.com/dor/property/appraisers.html 

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