State Guide

How to Appeal Your Property Taxes in Florida (2026 Guide)

Published July 10, 2026

If you own a home in Florida, your county property appraiser mails a TRIM notice — a "Notice of Proposed Property Taxes" — every August showing what the county says your property is worth and what your tax bill would be. That notice starts a short, strict clock to challenge the value before it's locked in for the year.

The Florida deadline: 25 days after your TRIM notice

Florida does not have one statewide appeal date. Instead, you file a petition with your county Value Adjustment Board (VAB) within 25 days after the property appraiser mails your TRIM notice — the deadline is printed right on the notice itself (Fla. Stat. §194.011(3)(d)).

Because TRIM notices go out in mid-to-late August, most county deadlines fall in early-to-mid September, but the exact date shifts by county and by the day your notice was mailed. Don't rely on a calendar date you saw last year: the only date that counts is the one on this year's TRIM notice, and missing it by even a day generally forfeits your VAB appeal for the year. Most counties charge a small VAB petition filing fee — capped by statute at $15 per parcel (Fla. Stat. §194.013) — unlike states where board filings are free.

How Florida assesses your home

Your just value is 100% of market value — Fla. Const. Art. VII §4 and Fla. Stat. §193.011. But Florida layers a cap on top of that for homesteaded properties, which changes how an appeal actually helps you.

Category	Florida
Assessment basis	Just value = 100% of market value (§193.011)
Appeal deadline	25 days after your TRIM notice (§194.011(3)(d)) — rolling, ~early-to-mid September
Where you file	County Value Adjustment Board (VAB)
Assessment cap	Save Our Homes: homestead capped at lesser of 3% or CPI/yr; non-homestead 10%
Can the board raise your value?	No — the VAB can't raise you above the appraiser's value on your own petition

Under Save Our Homes (Fla. Const. Art. VII §4(d), Fla. Stat. §193.155), a homestead's assessed value can rise by only the lesser of 3% or CPI each year, so after a few years it usually sits well below just value. A "recapture" rule (Fla. Admin. Code 12D-8.0062) even lets that assessed value keep creeping up toward market in a year prices fell. A comparable-sales appeal lowers your just value — but for a capped homestead, that only cuts this year's bill if the proven just value drops below your current capped assessed value. If a large Save Our Homes gap remains, the appeal mostly protects your future baseline (still worth doing, just not an instant cut).

Non-homestead property (rentals, second homes) is capped at 10% a year (§193.1554/§193.1555) — but that cap excludes school-district levies, so a lower just value on a non-homestead parcel always trims the school-tax portion of the bill right away.

Can the board raise your value? No — that's the Florida advantage

On your own reduction petition, the VAB cannot raise your assessment above the property appraiser's number: the appraiser's value carries a statutory presumption of correctness (Fla. Stat. §194.301; magistrate procedure at Fla. Admin. Code 12D-9.027). The worst realistic VAB outcome is that your value simply stays the same. The riskier, adversarial step is a separate de novo appeal to circuit court (§194.036) — a deliberate choice you make later, not something the board does to you at the first stage.

Building your case

Because just value is full market value, the winning evidence is the same as anywhere: recent, nearby comparable sales — homes like yours that actually closed, similar in size, age, and condition — not listing prices or online "Zestimate"-style guesses. A petition backed by three or four solid comps, with clear adjustments, is far harder for a VAB special magistrate to wave off than a complaint that the number "feels high."

Filing at the county level

Florida's appeals run through your county Value Adjustment Board, and the mechanics — your exact TRIM deadline, the petition form, the filing fee, and whether your county accepts online petitions — vary across all 67 counties. We're building out county-specific guides with the exact filing office and local notes for each. In the meantime, use PROppeal to pull licensed comparable sales for your address, check them against your assessed value the way a Florida VAB case is actually judged, and get a straight answer on whether your assessment is out of line — before your TRIM deadline arrives.

Property tax rules and deadlines vary by jurisdiction and can change — verify with your county before relying on this.