If you own a home in Florida and live in it, the homestead exemption and the Save Our Homes cap are probably the two best tax benefits you have. If you are moving within Florida, there is a third benefit that most people do not learn about until they are already packing boxes: portability.

This guide explains what the exemption covers in 2026, who qualifies, how the March 1 deadline works, and how portability moves an assessment benefit from one home to the next. It closes with the one item on the November 2026 ballot that could change the math, labeled clearly as a proposal.

What the Florida homestead exemption actually does

Florida’s homestead exemption does not make your property tax bill disappear. It reduces the assessed value that your tax rate is applied to. There are two pieces, and they do not apply to the same taxes.

First $25,000. Applies to all property taxes, including school district taxes.
Second piece, up to $26,411 for the 2026 tax year. Applies only to non-school taxes, which covers county, city, and most other local levies. It applies to assessed value above $50,000.

For 2026, that works out to a maximum homestead exemption of about $51,411 on a property assessed high enough to capture all of it. The second piece is adjusted each January 1 by the Consumer Price Index, so the number changes year to year. It was $25,000 in the 2024 base year, $25,722 for 2025, and $26,411 for 2026.

That CPI adjustment is worth understanding, because a lot of older articles still describe a flat “$50,000 exemption.” The structure is the same, but the exact dollar figure moves.

Who qualifies for homestead in Florida

The test is specific, and it is applied as of January 1 of the tax year:

You hold legal title or beneficial title in equity to the property on January 1.
The property is your permanent residence, not a rental, a second home, or an occasional stay.
You are a Florida resident and have established residency, which usually means a Florida driver license, voter registration, and filing Florida returns.
You file an application with the county property appraiser by March 1.

You cannot claim homestead on two properties. If you rent out the home, or stop living in it as your permanent residence, the exemption no longer applies and you are expected to notify the property appraiser. The penalty side is real: a property appraiser who finds an improper exemption can place a lien, and Florida law provides for a 50 percent penalty on the unpaid taxes plus 15 percent interest per year in cases that are not the appraiser’s own clerical error.

The March 1 deadline, and why a mid-year purchase waits

Homestead applications are due March 1 of the tax year you want the exemption for, using Form DR-501 through your county property appraiser. In Palm Beach County, that is the Property Appraiser’s office in West Palm Beach, and the application can be filed online, by mail, or in person.

The timing trips up a lot of buyers. Eligibility is measured on January 1. If you close on a home in June, you were not the owner on January 1 of that year, so the first tax year you can claim is the following one, and your application is due March 1 of that following year. That is not a lost benefit, just a delayed one.

Once granted, the exemption generally continues year to year while you still own and occupy the home and still qualify. You do not refile annually. You do need to update the property appraiser when your situation changes, including a move, a change in ownership, or a change in how the property is used.

If you miss March 1, call the property appraiser’s office immediately and ask what options exist. Do not assume a late filing will be accepted, and do not assume the exemption is automatic because the prior owner had one. A homestead exemption belongs to the owner, not to the house. When a homesteaded property sells, the exemption comes off the roll.

Save Our Homes: the cap that creates the benefit

Once a property has homestead, Florida limits how fast its assessed value can rise. Beginning the year after the exemption is granted, the assessed value cannot increase more than 3 percent per year or the change in the Consumer Price Index, whichever is lower. The assessed value can never exceed just value, which is the county’s estimate of market value.

In a market where values climb faster than 3 percent, that cap creates a gap between just value and assessed value. The gap is the Save Our Homes benefit. It is not a credit and it does not show up as a line item, but it is the reason a long-time owner’s tax bill can look nothing like a new neighbor’s bill on a similar house.

That gap resets when the property changes ownership. Under Florida law, a homestead property is reassessed at just value as of January 1 of the year following a change of ownership, and the Save Our Homes benefit is lost for that property. The new owner starts fresh, which is exactly why a buyer’s first full tax bill can jump well above what the seller was paying.

Portability: what actually moves when you move

Here is the part most homeowners get wrong. The homestead exemption itself is not transferable. You cannot carry your $51,411 to a new house as an exemption. What can move is the Save Our Homes assessment difference, the gap between just value and assessed value on your old home.

The mechanics:

Form DR-501T, Transfer of Homestead Assessment Difference, filed together with the homestead application on the new home.
Up to $500,000 of accumulated assessment difference can transfer.
Three-year window. You must establish homestead on the new Florida home within three years of January 1 of the year you abandoned the old homestead. The clock runs from abandonment, not from the closing date, and not from the date the sale recorded.
Any Florida county. The old homestead does not have to be in Palm Beach County. Portability works from any Florida homestead to any other.
March 1 deadline applies here too. The transfer is filed by March 1 of the year you want it to take effect.

Note the trap in the three-year rule. If you move out in July but do not sell until February of the following year, the abandonment date controls, so part of your window is already gone before the closing. Selling late in a calendar year can compress the practical window to close to two years.

Upsizing: buying a home of equal or greater value

If the new home’s just value is equal to or greater than the old home’s just value, the full assessment difference transfers, up to the $500,000 cap.

Illustration: old home just value $450,000, assessed value $300,000, so the benefit is $150,000. New home just value $600,000. The new assessed value becomes $600,000 minus $150,000, or $450,000, before exemptions are applied.

Downsizing: buying a home of lower value

If the new home is worth less, you transfer a proportional share of the benefit, based on the ratio of new just value to old just value.

Illustration: same old home, benefit of $150,000. New home just value $300,000, which is 66.67 percent of $450,000. The transferable benefit is about $100,000, and the new assessed value becomes $200,000 before exemptions.

What that is worth in dollars depends on your millage. As a rough illustration only, if your combined non-school millage were 15 mills, $100,000 of protected value would be about $1,500 a year. Your actual millage is printed on your TRIM notice, and school levies are not affected by this part of the calculation.

Each county property appraiser publishes a portability estimator. Palm Beach County has one, and it is worth running your actual numbers through it before you commit to a purchase price.

How this affects your mortgage, not just your taxes

Three practical points for borrowers:

Your escrow estimate may start low. Lenders generally estimate property taxes from the current tax bill, and if the seller was homesteaded with a large Save Our Homes benefit, that bill can be far below what you will owe once the property resets to just value. A first-year escrow shortage is common in that situation.
Plan for the reset, not the current bill. Ask what the property would be assessed at without the seller’s benefit, and budget from that number. It is better to qualify on the realistic figure than to be surprised by a payment increase 14 months after closing.
File early after you close. A homestead application does not change your mortgage terms, but it does change your tax bill, and getting it filed and confirmed removes one variable from your escrow analysis.

Portability also matters on the financing side when you buy before you sell. You can own two homes for a while, but you can only homestead one, and the portability filing depends on establishing homestead on the new home within the window. Sequence the purchase, the sale, and the filing with your timeline in writing before you make an offer.

What is on the November 3, 2026 ballot

One item on the statewide ballot would change the exemption itself, and it is important to label it correctly: as of this writing it is a proposed constitutional amendment, not current law.

Amendment 3, whose ballot summary is titled “Increased Homestead Exemption; Lower Cap on Increases in Non-Homestead Property Assessments,” would raise the non-school homestead exemption to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, indexed to inflation after that. It would leave school district levies on the existing $25,000 exemption, so school taxes would not drop. It would also lower the annual assessment cap for non-homestead property, such as rentals and second homes, from 10 percent to 5 percent. It would phase in the larger exemption for people who establish Florida residency after December 31, 2026, who would receive the existing exemption until their fifth year. It requires at least 60 percent voter approval and would take effect January 1, 2027 if it passes.

What that means for planning: do not build a 2027 budget on the $150,000 figure. If you are buying now, underwrite the current structure. If it passes, the exemption is applied by the property appraiser to properties that already carry homestead, so there would be nothing to opt into. This article will need a refresh after the vote either way.

Common mistakes to avoid

Assuming the exemption transfers with the house. It does not. The prior owner’s exemption comes off the roll.
Assuming portability is automatic. It requires Form DR-501T, filed with the homestead application, by March 1.
Counting the three-year window from the closing date instead of from January 1 of the year of abandonment.
Filing homestead on a home you intend to rent out, or keeping homestead on a home you have moved out of.
Budgeting taxes on the seller’s bill instead of on a post-reset assessment.

Frequently asked questions

Does my homestead exemption move to my new Florida home?

No. The exemption is tied to the property and the owner’s occupancy. What can move is the Save Our Homes assessment difference, up to $500,000, if you file Form DR-501T with a new homestead application within the three-year window.

Can I get portability from an out-of-state home?

No. Portability applies only to a previous Florida homestead.

Can I claim homestead on two homes in Florida?

No. One permanent residence, one homestead exemption. Claiming it on a property you do not occupy as your permanent residence can lead to back taxes, penalties, and interest.

What if I miss the March 1 deadline?

Contact the county property appraiser right away. Options depend on the county and the circumstances, and a missed deadline can mean waiting until the following tax year.

Do I have to reapply every year?

Generally no. The exemption continues while you still own and occupy the home and still qualify. You must notify the property appraiser when your situation changes.

Will the 2026 ballot amendment lower my school taxes?

No. As written, the expanded exemption would apply to non-school levies only. The $25,000 exemption against school district taxes would stay in place.

Next step

If you are buying in Boca Raton or anywhere in Palm Beach County, the tax side of the purchase deserves the same attention as the rate. We can walk through what a property’s taxes are likely to look like after closing, how homestead timing lines up with your closing date, and what that does to your monthly payment.

Start a pre-approval with MJS Financial, or run your payment scenarios in the mortgage calculator and then compare them against current Florida mortgage rates. If you are weighing a move within the state, conventional loan options are usually the starting point for a straightforward primary residence purchase.

This article is general information about Florida property tax rules, not tax or legal advice. County property appraisers make the final determination on exemptions and portability. Confirm your specific situation with the property appraiser and your tax advisor.