Florida homestead exemption in 2026: amounts, March 1 deadline, Save Our Homes and death of the owner

A person who holds legal or beneficial title to Florida real property on January 1 and makes it a permanent residence, or the permanent residence of a legal or natural dependent, is entitled to a homestead exemption from property tax (§ 196.031(1)(a), Fla. Stat. (2026); Art. VII, § 6(a), Fla. Const.). For 2026 the exemption is up to $25,000 of assessed value on all levies plus a second exemption of $26,411 on non-school levies, which applies to assessed value above $50,000 (Table 1). The application is filed with the county property appraiser on or before March 1 (§ 196.011(1)(a)).

This page covers the property-tax exemption. The separate constitutional protections of Florida homestead, which limit forced sale and who can receive the home at death, are in what a homestead really protects. Every figure and deadline below links to its source. The Sources section lists each one, last checked October 17, 2026.

Amount of the exemption in 2026

The second exemption is indexed to inflation. Section 196.031(1)(b) and Art. VII, § 6(a)(2), Fla. Const. adjust it each January 1 by the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers for the preceding calendar year, if the change is positive. The indexing took effect January 1, 2025 (Art. XII, § 42, Fla. Const.). The $25,000 exemption that applies to school taxes is not indexed.

The exemptions apply before other homestead exemptions, which are then applied in the order that results in the lowest taxable value (§ 196.031(8)). Not more than one exemption is allowed any individual or family unit or any residential unit (Art. VII, § 6(b), Fla. Const.). The exemption does not cover assessments for special benefits (§ 196.031(1)(a)).

Who qualifies and how to apply

• Title on January 1. Legal title or beneficial title in equity, held individually, by the entireties, jointly or in common. If only one of two owners holding by the entireties or jointly with survivorship lives there, that owner gets up to $25,000 of exemption (§ 196.031(1)(a)). The deed or instrument must be recorded in the official records of the county, and the property appraiser may ask for additional ownership documents.
• Permanent residence in good faith. Intent to establish permanent residence is a factual determination made first by the property appraiser, who may consider a recorded declaration of domicile, a valid Florida driver license with evidence of giving up other states' licenses, Florida voter registration at the address, Florida tag on an owned vehicle, the address on federal tax returns, bank statement addresses, utility payments, employment, school registration of dependent children, and the date non-Florida residency ended (§ 196.015(1)). No one factor is conclusive.
• Military and federal service. Valid military orders transferring a member of the Armed Forces are sufficient to maintain permanent residence for the member and spouse. Documents from the U.S. Government giving the terms of appointment or employment that require residing or being stationed outside Florida are sufficient for that person and spouse (§ 196.015(2), as amended by ch. 2026-239, § 14, Laws of Fla., operating retroactively to January 1, 2026).
• No homestead benefit elsewhere. A person receiving or claiming an ad valorem tax exemption or credit in another state that requires permanent residency is not entitled to the Florida exemption (§ 196.031(6)).
• Rental ends it. Renting all or substantially all of the dwelling is 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 more than 30 days per calendar year for 2 consecutive years (§ 196.061(1)).

The Department of Revenue lists the items a first-time applicant should be ready to answer: whose names were on the title on January 1, the Social Security numbers of the applicant and spouse, whether the owner or dependents lived in the dwelling on January 1, and whether the applicant claims residency in another county or state (DOR PT-113).

Steps to file

• 1. Confirm January 1 facts. Title held and the home occupied as the permanent residence on January 1 of the tax year. A home bought after January 1 qualifies for the following year's roll, since the statute tests title on January 1 (§ 196.031(1)(a)).
• 2. Complete Form DR-501. The application for homestead and related tax exemptions is on property appraiser websites and the Department of Revenue forms page, and many appraisers accept it online (DOR PT-113). Find the county office through the Department of Revenue directory.
• 3. Include Social Security numbers. The form for § 196.031 must list the applicant's and spouse's numbers. If a timely application omits them, the property appraiser contacts the applicant, who may refile a complete application by April 1; otherwise the exemption is waived for the year (§ 196.011(1)(b)).
• 4. File by March 1. Failure to apply by March 1 waives the exemption for that year, with two exceptions (§ 196.011(1)(a)).
• 5. Add Form DR-501T if porting a Save Our Homes benefit. File it with the DR-501 by March 1 (§ 193.155(8)(h); DOR PT-112).
• 6. If a denial arrives. The property appraiser serves a notice of denial stating the grounds, and the applicant may petition the value adjustment board under § 194.011(3) (§ 196.011(7)(a)).

If March 1 was missed. An applicant who qualifies but did not file by March 1 may file with the property appraiser on or before the 25th day after the property appraiser mails the notices required by § 194.011(1). On sufficient evidence of inability to apply on time or extenuating circumstances, the property appraiser may grant the exemption. Otherwise the applicant may petition the value adjustment board in the same window, with a nonrefundable $15 fee, and the board may grant the exemption for the current year (§ 196.011(9)). The board must also grant the exemption if the applicant clearly documents that a missed March 1 filing was a postal error (§ 196.011(8)).

Renewal, changes and penalties

Once an original application is granted, the property appraiser mails a renewal application on or before February 1 each year, and the completed renewal is accepted as evidence of exemption unless the appraiser denies it (§ 196.011(7)(a)). A county may waive the annual application at the property appraiser's request by majority vote of its governing body. In a waiver county the owner must still refile when the property is sold or the ownership changes, when the owner stops using the property as homestead, or when the owner's status changes, and must notify the property appraiser promptly (§ 196.011(10)(a)).

An owner in a waiver county who fails to give that notice owes the taxes exempted for any year within the prior 10 years, plus 15 percent interest per annum and a penalty of 50 percent of the taxes exempted, and must be given 30 days to pay before a lien is filed (§ 196.011(10)(a)). For a homestead exemption granted to a person not entitled to it, the owner is subject to the taxes exempted for any year within the prior 10 years, a penalty of 50 percent of the unpaid taxes for each year and 15 percent interest per annum, and the property appraiser must give 30 days to pay before recording a lien (§ 196.161(1)(b)1.). If the exemption was granted by the property appraiser's clerical mistake, no penalty or interest applies, and back taxes depend on whether the owner disclosed the mistake first (§ 196.161(1)(b)2.).

Save Our Homes assessment cap

After the first year a home receives the exemption, its assessed value is reassessed each January 1, and any change “shall not exceed the lower of” 3 percent of the prior year's assessed value or the percentage change in the Consumer Price Index (§ 193.155(1); Art. VII, § 4(d), Fla. Const.). The assessed value never exceeds just value (§ 193.155(2)). The Martin County Property Appraiser lists the 2026 change at 2.7 percent (Martin County Property Appraiser, Save Our Homes and Portability, accessed October 17, 2026). The cap limits the growth of assessed value, not the tax bill.

Improvements are assessed at just value as of the first January 1 after substantial completion, with rules for repairs after calamity (§ 193.155(4)). After a change of ownership, the home is assessed at just value as of January 1 of the following year, and the cap restarts for the new owner (§ 193.155(3)(a); DOR PT-112).

Portability: moving the Save Our Homes benefit

A person who establishes a new homestead and received a homestead exemption as of January 1 of any of the 3 immediately preceding years can have the new home assessed below just value (§ 193.155(8); Art. VII, § 4(d)(8), Fla. Const.). The Department of Revenue states the time limit as establishing the new homestead within three years of January 1 of the year the old homestead was abandoned, not three years after the sale (DOR PT-112).

• New home worth the same or more: assessed value equals the new home's just value minus the lesser of $500,000 or the old home's just value minus its assessed value (§ 193.155(8)(a)).
• New home worth less: assessed value equals the new just value divided by the old just value, times the old assessed value, with the difference between just and assessed value capped at $500,000 (§ 193.155(8)(b)).
• Spouses: a husband and wife who owned and lived on a previous homestead are each treated as having received the exemption even if one applied (§ 193.155(8)). Ownership shares for jointly titled property are set by the form in § 193.155(8)(f).
• Forms: Form DR-501T, filed with the DR-501 by March 1 (DOR PT-112; § 193.155(8)(h)).
• Ch. 2026-239: section 3 of ch. 2026-239, Laws of Fla. amended § 193.155(8)(a) and (b) and, under section 4, the amendments first apply to the 2027 tax roll. The Act's title describes the change as conforming the statute to the Constitution.

Other property tax exemptions

What happens to the exemption when the owner dies

Death raises three separate questions: who may claim the exemption, whether the assessment cap carries over, and who receives the home. The first two are tax questions answered below. The third is a constitutional and probate question.

• Who may claim the exemption. The statute tests title and permanent residence on January 1 (§ 196.031(1)(a)). A devise vests at the testator's death unless the will says otherwise (§ 732.514). A person who then holds legal or beneficial title and makes the home a permanent residence, or the permanent residence of a dependent, can apply on Form DR-501 by March 1. A home that no one lives in as a permanent residence does not qualify. Ask the county property appraiser how it treats a death after January 1.
• Cap carries over, no reassessment. These transfers are not a change of ownership: a transfer between husband and wife, including to a surviving spouse; a transfer by operation of law to the surviving spouse or minor child under § 732.401; a transfer on the owner's death to a permanent resident who is legally or naturally dependent on the owner; and a transfer among joint tenants with survivorship where a surviving owner who already had the exemption keeps it (§ 193.155(3)(a)2.-5.).
• Cap resets for other heirs. Any other sale, foreclosure or transfer of legal or beneficial title is a change of ownership, so the home is assessed at just value as of January 1 of the following year (§ 193.155(3)(a)).
• Widow or widower. A surviving spouse who is a bona fide Florida resident may claim the $5,000 exemption in § 196.202.
• Estate probated in another state. If the decedent's estate is probated elsewhere on the allegation that the decedent lived there and the Florida home had received the exemption in the prior 10 years, the property appraiser records a lien for the exempted taxes, a 50 percent penalty for each year and 15 percent interest unless a Florida court determines the decedent was a permanent Florida resident (§ 196.161(1)(a)).
• Who receives the home. If the owner is survived by a spouse or minor child, the homestead cannot be devised, except to the spouse when there is no minor child (Art. X, § 4(c), Fla. Const.; § 732.4015(1)). If not devised as authorized, it descends as intestate property, but with a spouse and descendants the spouse takes a life estate with a vested remainder to the descendants. The surviving spouse may elect instead an undivided one-half interest as a tenant in common, within 6 months after death by recorded notice of election (§ 732.401(1), (2)). The exemptions from forced sale “inure to the surviving spouse or heirs of the owner” (Art. X, § 4(b)).
• Court determination. An interested person may petition to determine the protected homestead status of the decedent's real property, including property held in a revocable trust (Fla. Prob. R. 5.405(a)). See determination of homestead, the Lady Bird deed and selling an inherited Florida home.

Ballot measure on November 3, 2026

The Legislature placed a joint resolution on the 2026 general election ballot (CS/HJR 1-F, with companion CS/SJR 2-F). The Senate summary states it takes effect January 1, 2027 if 60 percent of electors voting on it approve. A companion bill, CS/SB 4-F, became ch. 2026-240 (Florida Senate, CS/HJR 1-F summary; Senate Bill 2-F history).