It’s pretty common for buyers to ask me about property taxes here and one of the things that comes up is the property tax exemption.
In Florida this is called the Homestead Exemption and is for a residential property that is your primary residence. If you are granted this exemption, the savings you will see on your annual property taxes will be about $700 to $800 a year.
In addition, there is a limit on how much the assessed value of your property can increase each year (i.e. the value that is used for determining the property tax). With the homestead exemption the maximum your assessed value can increase per year is 3%.
To qualify for the homestead exemption you have to own and occupy the property as of January 1st of the taxable year when you will get the homestead exemption and you need to file for the exemption by no later than March 1st of that year.
There are specific qualifications you need to meet to file for the homestead exemption and for other exemptions that are available.
Rather than try to explain this in detail I want to refer you to the Property Assessor office website where there is information on the exemption and assessed value cap by going to the menu on the left where it says Exemption/Save Our Homes:
Pinellas County Property Appraiser’s Office Website
If you have any questions on this, please let me know.
Appreciating the time and effort you put into your site and detailed information you offer. It’s good to come across a blog every once in a while that isn’t the same old rehashed information. Fantastic read! I’ve saved your site and I’m including your RSS feeds to my Google account.