How does the Florida homestead exemption work?

You qualify when you own the home and occupy it as your permanent primary residence as of January 1 of the tax year. Florida requires proof such as a driver's license or voter registration at the property address.

The exemption applies to one home: your primary residence, not a second home or an investment property.

The first $25,000 of assessed value is exempt from all property taxes, including school taxes. A second $25,000 is exempt from county and municipal taxes for homes assessed between $50,000 and $75,000.

For a typical Miami-Dade homeowner, the exemption saves several hundred dollars a year, and it stacks with other benefits such as the senior exemption for homeowners 65 and older who qualify by income.

Save Our Homes caps the annual increase in your home's assessed value at 3 percent, so longtime owners often pay taxes on far less than the market value. That benefit grows the longer you own the home.

Portability lets you transfer your unused Save Our Homes benefit to a new Florida home when you move, as long as you apply within a few years of leaving the old homestead. For families moving up in South Florida, portability can be a real part of the tax math on the next home.

You apply once with the county property appraiser, using the form for your county, and the exemption renews automatically each year. The filing deadline is early in the year, so it is worth applying right after you close if you close late in the year.

The property appraiser's office for the county where you buy will have the exact form and deadline. In Miami-Dade, that is the Miami-Dade County Property Appraiser.

Applying for the homestead exemption is one of the first things we do after you close. I remind you of the deadline, point you to the right office, and factor the likely savings into the real monthly cost of owning.

This is general information, not tax advice. The property appraiser and a tax professional can confirm your exact benefit.