In late October, Florida County Tax Collectors generally start mailing their Real Estate Tax Bills. These are issued in arrears from the January 1st assessment date. These tax bills are mailed to property owners of record and are due and payable in full by March 31 of the following year. A 4% discount is applied if paid in full in November, a 3% discount in December, a 2% discount in January and a 1% discount if paid in February. In addition, there may be non-ad valorem assessments (garbage & trash, street lighting districts, CDD, etc..) included in your total real estate tax bill. If unpaid after March 31 the following year, tax bills become delinquent.
Your total tax bill calculation is based on your assessment (less exemptions) and the levy of various taxing authority’s millage rates applied to this valuation.
So, whether you pay your real estate tax bill directly or through your mortgage company, as a property owner your real estate tax bill can be a large annual expense. Consequently, it’s prudent to review your property’s valuation, physical data on record, applicable exemptions and assessment benefits for accuracy.
There are several types of errors that may exist.
- “Errors-in-fact” are typically the result of clerical, computational type errors or incorrect factual data. An example would be a survey indicating a size different than the County Property Appraiser’s Office records.
- Material mistakes-of-fact are errors are valuations based on the County Property Appraiser’s Office not being aware of or having access to relevant information; such as damage, fires or environmental based issues that have an effect on value on or around the January 1st assessment date.
- Judgment type errors are subjective and need to be bolstered by solid based market evidence.
Property owners are encouraged to conduct annual assessment reviews to ensure they are not paying more real estate taxes than necessary.
Champions Commercial Consulting, LLC has years of experience with the Real Estate Tax assessment process. If you have any questions or concerns about your property assessment or taxes, please do not hesitate to contact us.
