Owner's guide
The homestead exemption,
explained without the jargon.
If a Palm Beach County home is your permanent residence, Florida offers three connected property-tax benefits. Missing the filing window costs real money — claiming it takes minutes.
Three benefits, one filing — and a deadline that matters.
Florida's homestead exemption removes up to $50,000 from the taxable value of a home that is your permanent residence. Filing it also starts the Save Our Homes cap, which limits how fast your assessed value can rise each year no matter what the market does. And when you eventually move within Florida, portability lets you carry much of that accumulated savings to the next home.
The mechanics are handled by the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser, the filing is free, and for most owners it can be completed online in one sitting. What follows is the plain-language version of how each piece works — verify the specifics for your own property with the Property Appraiser or a tax professional, since individual situations differ.
The numbers every Florida homeowner should know.
Figures per the Florida Department of Revenue and the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser; confirm current-year details when you file.
Maximum homestead exemption
Reduces the taxable value of a qualifying primary residence
Save Our Homes annual cap
Assessed value rises no more than 3% or inflation, whichever is lower
Maximum portable benefit
Save Our Homes savings you may transfer to a new Florida homestead
Filing deadline
For the tax year after you own and occupy the home on January 1
How the $50,000 is structured
The exemption arrives in two parts. The first $25,000 applies to all property taxes, including school district taxes. The second part — up to another $25,000 — applies to the portion of assessed value between $50,000 and $75,000 and covers non-school taxes. Following a statewide amendment approved in 2024, that second portion now adjusts upward with inflation each year, so its value grows over time.
Because the second portion excludes school taxes, your bill does not simply drop by “$50,000 times the tax rate.” The Property Appraiser's calculators show the actual effect for a specific property.
Save Our Homes is usually worth more than the exemption.
Once a home is homesteaded, its assessed value can rise by no more than 3% per year — or the rate of inflation, whichever is lower — regardless of how quickly market values climb. In a county where values have risen substantially over the past decade, long-time owners often have an assessed value far below market value. That gap is the Save Our Homes benefit, and it compounds every year you stay.
This is also why two identical houses on the same street can carry very different tax bills, and why a newly purchased home is reassessed at market value in the year after sale. When you buy, budget from the property's market value and the current millage — not from the seller's old tax bill.
Buyer guidance →Portability lets your savings move with you.
If you sell a homesteaded Florida home and establish a new Florida homestead, you may transfer accumulated Save Our Homes savings.
The difference between your old home's market and assessed value, up to the cap.
Establish the new homestead within three tax years of leaving the old one.
Submit the portability form alongside the new homestead application — it is not automatic.
Why portability changes move-up math
Owners sometimes stay put because they fear resetting their tax bill. Portability substantially softens that reset: a long-time Palm Beach County owner moving to a larger home can bring years of accumulated assessment savings along. If the tax consequence is what has kept you from moving, it is worth running the actual numbers before deciding.
Own and occupy by January 1. File by March 1.
To qualify for a given tax year, the home must be your permanent residence as of January 1 of that year, and your application must reach the Palm Beach County Property Appraiser by March 1. Most owners file online at pbcpao.gov with proof of residency such as a Florida driver's license, voter registration, or vehicle registration showing the property address.
File once and the exemption renews automatically while the home remains your homestead. Two cautions: renting the property out or claiming a residency-based benefit elsewhere can jeopardize the exemption, and if you buy mid-year, the seller's exemption covers only the closing year — file for your own before the following March 1. Buyers closing late in the year should put the filing date on the calendar the week they move in.