Legislative Update

• Proposed 2026 Florida Property Tax Amendment (CS/HJR 1F)
• Save Our Homes and Existing Exemptions
• Non-Homestead Property
  Property Taxes and Local Government Funding
  Questions We Cannot Yet Answer
• Additional Information
• 
  Effective for June 2025 – Changes to Assessment Limitations after Calamity
• Filed for 2025 – Disclosure of Ad Valorem Taxes (Tax Estimator Bill)

  Issue: Over eleven years of positive value growth in the Florida real estate market has resulted in the largest Save-Our-Homes cap benefits since the start of Save-Our-Homes in 1995. This has resulted in the largest cap resets (capped Assessed Value resetting to Just/Market Value) ever experienced by buyers of Florida residential real estate when the prior owner received the benefit of homestead exemption and the Save-Our-Homes cap for many years. As a result, new buyers are facing dramatically increased property taxes in comparison to the previous owner. However, online listing platforms typically show or use the seller’s property taxes when estimating the monthly carrying cost of the property, which is very misleading. This results in many shocked and upset buyers when they were uninformed at time of sale and can jeopardize their ability to maintain ownership of the property after enduring the cap reset in the year after purchase. This is the Number One constituent complaint to Property Appraisers across the state for several years running. Solution/Key Elements of Legislation:  Online listing platforms have become the predominant first source of information for new purchasers searching for a Florida home, making them the logical location to display a prospective purchaser’s estimated property taxes. Public-facing listing platforms can comply with the proposed legislation as follows: Platforms showing any form of tax estimator or buyer payment calculator must populate their own online tax estimator tool or buyer payment calculator using the data and methodology provided by the Department of Revenue on its website. The Listing Price will be used as the Taxable Value of the property for the tax estimate. Use of this data and methodology will constitute a reasonable estimate of ad valorem taxes as of January 1 of the tax year after the property is purchased. For platforms that allow the price field to be changed in their calculator, a buyer may enter a figure lower or higher than the listing price to arrive at an estimate based on their anticipated offering or contract price. For platforms not using a tax estimator or buyer payment calculator, the listing platform shall not display the seller’s taxes and will instead include a link to the property appraiser’s tax estimator for the county in which the property is located. Brokers and sales agents producing and distributing printed listing materials may comply by not displaying the seller’s taxes. Florida Property Appraisers annually provide the Department of Revenue (DOR) the data necessary to estimate ad valorem taxes at both the tax district and parcel level. As a supportive partner of this legislation, the Property Tax Oversight division of the DOR has agreed to annually publish and update the necessary statewide data table(s) and ad valorem tax estimate formula on their publicly accessible website. They will also maintain the table of links to the respective property appraiser office tax estimators and websites. HB 1037;  Requires certain listings to include estimated ad valorem taxes; prohibits current owner's ad valorem taxes from being displayed or used for certain purposes; provides requirements for listing platforms, DOR, & property appraisers; provides protection from liability for specified parties who take certain actions; prohibits certain materials from including specified information; requires, beginning on specified date, department to annually publish formula & certain information on its website. SB 708;  Defining the terms “listing platform” and “property”; requiring that certain property listings include estimated ad valorem taxes; providing requirements for listing platforms, the Department of Revenue, and property appraisers; providing protection from liability for specified parties who take certain actions, etc.

• Effective for 2025 - Amendment 5: Annual Adjustment to Homestead Exemption Value
• Effective for 2024 – Changes to T&P Disabled Veteran (or surviving spouse) Exemption Requirement
• Effective for 2024 – Revision to the Definition of First Responder
• Effective for 2024 - Affordable Housing Exemption
• Effective for 2023 – Increase to the Widows, Widowers, Blind Persons, or Persons Totally and Permanently Disabled Exemption (Increased from $500 to $5,000)
• Nov. 2022 - Amendment 1: Limitation on Assessment of Real Property Used for Residential Purposes (Property Assessments for Elevated Properties)
• July 2022 – Abatement of Taxes for Residential Dwellings Rendered Uninhabitable by Catastrophic Event
• May 2022 – Condo Safety Legislation
• Nov. 2020 – Amendment 5: Extend "Save Our Homes" Portability Period
• Nov. 2020 – Amendment 6: Homestead Property Tax Discount for Spouses of Deceased Combat Veterans

Legislative Update

Questions and Answers

This is your resource for up-to-date information on what’s happening in the Florida Legislature as well as local municipalities relating to ad valorem taxation and exemptions and how it may impact property owners in Hillsborough County.