As a Florida resident, I assume you enjoy having your property taxes capped at 3%, right? Have you ever thought about renting out your house and traveling? While enjoying your residency in Florida, have you considered buying another home and spending more time there? Are you familiar with Florida’s homestead exemption rules? If not, you should pay close attention while reading this article to avoid paying more taxes, which could cost you thousands of dollars. Hopefully, the following information will help you avoid making a very critical and costly mistake regarding the Florida Homestead Exemption.
If you lose your homestead exemption, you may have to pay higher taxes and also face penalties and interest charges. Keeping these 6 simple rules in mind can help you remain compliant and still benefit from your homestead exemption. Let’s get started…
1. Have you thought of renting out your home while you travel or exchanging your house with someone else to see the world?
What a great idea, huh? Let’s pause and think about this before committing. A homeowner is allowed to rent their home for 30 days a year for 2 consecutive years. Homestead will be revoked if you continue beyond two years. Airbnbs are not allowed! Besides this, there may be other tax implications as well, such as sales taxes.
2. Do you need to rent out part of your home to help pay the bills?
In most cases, you are okay as long as the tenant does not occupy more than 50% of the space. To determine whether the percentage of rented area is correct, you will need to submit a floor plan to the Property Appraisers Office.
3. Perhaps you have met the person of your dreams and you want to move in together and both of your homes have a homestead.
Do you have the option of living in the other house while you leave yours vacant, but still get homestead benefits? Tax benefits must be allocated to the home where you live, there may be no double-dipping, and you and your spouse must mutually agree which home receives the benefit.
4. Maybe you own two, three or four homes and one of them is enjoying the Florida Homestead Exemption.
Then your Florida home would be your permanent residence only. Regardless of whether you are married or if you place one property under the other spouse’s name, you can only claim one homestead exemption in the US. If you are currently in this category, you will need to cancel your out-of-state tax benefits. No double dipping!
5. Seasonal Resident?
In Florida, there are many seasonal residents, known as Snowbirds and Tourists, who generally spend November through May enjoying the best weather in both states they reside in. Would you like to drive to Florida or ship your car down for the season? It’s fine, but if you have homesteaded property, you must have a Florida driver’s license and register your car there even if you return to your other residence.
6. Registered to Vote elsewhere?
Nope, not happening! The state in which you are registered to vote must be Florida. You may submit a declaration of domicile instead of registering to vote if you decide not to vote.
This link will take you to the Martin County Property appraisers’ site, which will provide you with all the information you need about the Florida homestead exemption. Now that you know some basic things that can get you into trouble with your homestead exemption, let’s watch this video that will explain the Florida Homestead Exemption Benefit and what you need to do to qualify. I wish you all the best in your house hunting until we meet again next time!
