Published February 10, 2020
Why Filing for Homestead Exemption Is a Must
Homestead exemption is something I highly recommend filing for as a homeowner. Here’s why.
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The homestead exemption is an important tax exemption in the state of Florida for several reasons, and filing for it is an absolute must as a homeowner.
First, to qualify for a homestead exemption, you must have bought your home by December 31 of 2019 and occupied it by January 1 of 2020. Also, the deadline to file for homestead exemption is March 1, but since that falls on a Sunday, you’ll be given until March 2. You can file online here.
Now, by filing for this exemption, you’ll get a $50,000 exemption from your home’s assessed value before it even gets taxed. Taxes for primary residences are capped at 3% per year in terms of how much they can increase, which means a homestead exemption will keep your taxes low for a long time regardless of how much property values rise in your area.
Perhaps most importantly, homestead exemptions also make your home judgment proof. For example, if you and your spouse have joint ownership of your property and a judgment is obtained against one of you, filing for homestead exemption means you can’t be forced to sell your home.
Find out what other tax exemptions you may qualify for here.
Homestead exemptions can also make your home judgment proof.
Portability goes hand in hand with homestead exemption. When you sell a home, portability allows you to carry the tax savings into your next home. Your portability benefit amount is essentially the difference between your home’s market/just value and assessed value. You can take this additional portability with you whether you upsize or downsize.
There are some other details to keep in mind regarding both of these things. You can only go without a homestead exemption on a property for one year, and the maximum portability transfer amount is $500,000. These are two separate forms, but they need to be filed at the same time. Portability can be used as many times as you want, for any property you want, as long as it’s in the state of Florida. It doesn’t matter whether you’ve used it before or how many times you’ve moved.
For more information on portability, take a look at this handy graphic.
If you have any questions about this topic or need help filing your forms, don’t hesitate to reach out to me. I’m happy to help!
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