[orangeena]

Someone told me recently that residents that only live in FL part of the year pay significantly more property tax than full-time residents pay. Is this true? I've been trying to find more information on this I can't find much..and what I do find is legal jargon.

Does anyone know anything about this? How much more do part-time residents pay over full-time?

If someone could explain a little bit or point to some websites that have more info, I'd appreciate it.

[chopchop0]

Originally Posted by orangeena

Someone told me recently that residents that only live in FL part of the year pay significantly more property tax than full-time residents pay. Is this true? I've been trying to find more information on this I can't find much..and what I do find is legal jargon.

Does anyone know anything about this? How much more do part-time residents pay over full-time?

If someone could explain a little bit or point to some websites that have more info, I'd appreciate it.

It is true, because of something called the homestead exemption

Qualifying for a Florida Homestead Exemption « Property Tax in Florida

[Gatornation]

That's only if the full time Florida resident has lived here for a long time. If you bought within the last ten years and are a full time resident you likely aren't going to have much of an exemption. If you still do you probably won't for long as the tax values continue to go down.

[Jeffwltrs]

I thought a full-time resident with a homestead exemption gets a $25,000 reduction on the assessed valuation and if the assessed value is high enough you may get a second $25,000 reduction for a total of $50,000 in exemptions for all levies except school tax rates.

[bbronston]

Actually, all of the above answers work together to answer the question. First, a full time resident who lives in their property can qualify for an homestead exemption which reduces the taxable value of the property for each taxing authority listed on the tax bill. Typically, the exempt amount is $25,000 for school related taxing authorities and $50,000 on non-school related taxing authorities. However, there are some circumstances where the exemption is higher (widow, disabled, blind, etc.) and you can find info on the exemptions here: FL Dept Rev - Property Tax Exemptions and Discounts

In addition to the exemptions that reduce the taxable value of the property, there is also a law (Save Our Homes) that limits the increase in taxable value (in an increasing market) to 3% (usually) but only for homesteaded properties. Non-homesteaded properties don't have that limiting factor so those properties can go at just about any rate.

So, over time, one owner (the non-homesteaded owner) may see their taxable value go up directly (4% one year, 5% the next, 3.5% the next, etc.) with an up market with no exemptions to reduce the taxable amount while another owner (perhaps a neighbor with an identical property both purchased on the same day for the same price) sees their taxable value go up no more than 3% each year plus they get a further break because the exemptions reduce the taxable value even further.

I believe non-homesteaded property can't go up more than 10% in taxable value and I seem to recall that they are trying to change that to 5% so that should help non-homesteaded owners. There are also laws that allow owners who have Save Our Home tax savings on their current property to port or carry over their savings on new properties. That came about as a result of people being stuck in their homes because a change would cause their tax savings to reset and their new tax bill would be significantly higher.

I guess you can look at it either way but I think of it as a tax break for homesteaded property owners and a normal tax bill for those properties that are not homesteaded.