The homestead exemption and your Brevard tax bill.

You qualify when you own the home and make it your permanent residence by January 1. Then you file with the Brevard County Property Appraiser by March 1 of that year. You can file any time during the year, but March 1 is the cutoff. Miss it and the exemption is waived for that year.

So the closing date matters. Close in June and you didn't own the home on January 1, which makes next year your first exemption year, with a March 1 deadline that year.

Once it's approved, the exemption renews every year on its own, as long as the ownership and your residence stay the same. It covers one home. If you own property in another Florida county or another state, the Property Appraiser asks for a letter showing you don't get a residency-based tax benefit there. Getting one there disqualifies you here.

Have these ready when you file:

• A Florida driver license, or a Florida ID card if you don't drive
• Florida registrations for your vehicles
• Your Brevard voter card, if you're registered
• Social Security numbers for every applicant, and for a spouse even if the spouse isn't on the title
• A green card if you aren't a U.S. citizen, and the trust papers if the home is held in a trust
• The deed or a tax bill for the home

For the 2026 tax year the exemption is worth up to $51,411, in two parts. The first $25,000 comes off your home's taxable value for every tax on the bill, school taxes included. The second part, up to $26,411 for 2026, comes off for the non-school taxes only.

The second part only counts assessed value above $50,000, so a lower-value home gets less than the full amount. It's adjusted for inflation every year, which is why it's $26,411 and not a round number. You don't apply for it separately. It's added automatically once the first $25,000 is approved.

Older articles still say 'up to $50,000.' For 2026 the Property Appraiser's figure is $51,411.

On the January 1 after a sale, the seller's homestead exemption and Save Our Homes cap come off. If the assessed value was below market value, it goes up to market value that same day. Florida law counts any sale, foreclosure or transfer of title as a change of ownership. A transfer between spouses, including to a surviving spouse, is the exception.

So the seller's bill is a poor guide to yours. It reflects their exemption and however many years of capped increases they built up. Yours starts from market value, then your own exemption once you apply, and your own cap starts the year after the exemption is first granted.

For a rough number, look the home up in the Property Appraiser's Property Search and open its property tax estimator. The Property Appraiser warns not to rely on the estimate for critical decisions, and we'd say the same.

How the bill is figured: taxable value, after caps and exemptions, times the millage rates, plus non-ad valorem charges such as solid waste and stormwater. One mill is $1 for every $1,000 of value. The County Commission, the School Board, the cities and other taxing bodies each set their own rate.

Values are set as of January 1, nearly a year before the bill. Usually in August, the Property Appraiser mails a TRIM notice with your proposed taxes. It isn't a bill, but it's the first look at the new number.

Once you own it, tell the Property Appraiser if you rent the home out, move out for good, or the deed changes. Keeping an exemption you no longer qualify for can mean a lien, up to 10 years of back taxes, a 50% penalty and 15% interest a year.

The Property Appraiser lists more exemptions on its exemptions page at bcpao.us. Each has its own rules and paperwork, so ask the office before you count on one. The main ones:

• Widow or widower: up to $5,000 off taxable value on one property. You must have been widowed before January 1 and not remarried, and you bring a copy of the death certificate. A homestead is not required.
• Blind persons: up to $5,000 off taxable value on one property.
• Disability: up to $5,000 on one property, with a physician's certificate or Social Security documentation. A total and permanent disability can mean a full exemption on the homestead, with an income limit and two physician certificates.
• Veterans: $5,000 for a service-connected disability rated 10% to 100%, and a 100% exemption on the homestead for a service-connected total and permanent disability. Veterans 65 or older with a combat-related disability can ask about an added discount on Form DR-501DV.
• First responders totally and permanently disabled in the line of duty: a 100% exemption on the homestead. The surviving spouse of a veteran who died on active duty from service-connected causes, or of a first responder who died in the line of duty, can get 100% relief.
• Deployed military: a reduction matching the share of the prior year spent deployed outside the continental U.S., Alaska or Hawaii. Apply by March 1 of the following year.
• Quarters built for a parent or grandparent 62 or older: the added value can come off, up to 20% of the home's assessed value, if the work was permitted.

Florida property taxes are paid in arrears. The tax year runs January 1 to December 31, and the Brevard County Tax Collector mails bills on or about November 1. Pay early and you get a discount:

• 4% in the first 30 days after the bill is mailed (the Tax Collector's calendar says by November 30)
• 3% in December
• 2% in January
• 1% in February
• No discount in March, when the full amount is due by March 31

Discounts go by postmark. Taxes still unpaid on April 1 are delinquent, with a 3% minimum charge added. If your mortgage has an escrow account, the lender requests and pays the bill, in November for the 4%. If no bill shows up, the owner still has to ask for it and pay on time.

You can also pay in four installments, in June, September, December and March, when the estimated tax is over $100. Apply to the Tax Collector on Form DR-534 before May 1.