New Florida Property Tax Laws

Amendment 1

Changes in Florida Property Tax

The passage of Amendment 1 to modify the Florida Constitution was passed in January of 2008 to be effective with property tax for 2008 paid in 2009.  The homestead exemption was doubled from $25,000 to $50,000 and the difference between the homestead valuation and the current valuation was made “portable.”  Florida Homestead Laws only allow the assessed value of a homesteaded home to rise a maximum of three percent a year.  Prior to portability, homeowners were "trapped" in there homes because of the spectre of huge tax increases even if they downsized.  Here are some examples of how this will benefit homesteaded properties.

Moving Up

If you bought a house for $95,000 in 1995 and its current market value now is $300,000 and the assessed value is only $150,000-- you could transfer the full $150,000 difference to buy a more expensive home.  If the purchase of your new home costs $400,000, you would be paying about $6,300 in taxes without portability. But with the tax savings from Amendment 1 including the Save our Homes portability and the double homestead exemption, the new annual taxes would be about half or $3,600.

Moving Down

Under the new tax plan, portability also will apply if you want to move to a less

Expensive property. Instead of transferring the difference, your transfer will be your existing Save our Home percentage.  For example, if you live in a $300,000 house with an assessed value of $150,000, you pay taxes on $125,000 or about $2,100. If you wanted to move to a $200,000 condo the savings will be significant.  In this case, you would bring 50% or $100,000 in savings that reduces your assessed value to $100,000 on the new property. With the newly increased $50,000 homestead exemption from Amendment 1, the taxable value for all local government taxes other than school taxes would fall to $50,000. The new total annual tax bill would be about $1,000 or about half of the old tax bill."