Form DR-405 Florida TPP Return: Filing, Deadlines, and Penalties

To file Florida Form DR-405, list every piece of business tangible personal property you owned on January 1 — its description, acquisition year, and original installed cost — enter those costs in the correct asset group on the form, sign it, and deliver it to the property appraiser in the county where the property is located by April 1. The appraiser handles depreciation from there. Miss the deadline without an approved extension and a 5 percent monthly penalty starts running; skip filing entirely and it jumps to 25 percent of the tax due.¹

Do You Need to File

If you owned tangible personal property on January 1 and use it in a business or income-producing activity, you file. That covers sole proprietors, partnerships, and corporations, along with self-employed agents, contractors, and anyone who leases, lends, or rents property to others.² What you owned on January 1 is what gets reported, no matter what you buy or sell later that year.³

Equipment you own but that someone else uses still belongs on your return; report it in the Leased, Loaned, or Rented Equipment section (Group 22). If your business has property at more than one address in the same county, file a separate return for each site.²

The $25,000 Exemption

Each return qualifies for an exemption of up to $25,000 in assessed value, but you have to file an initial return to claim it. Once you have filed and your assessed value stays at or below $25,000, you don’t have to file again in later years. If your property value later rises above the exemption, filing resumes. You re-qualify for the waiver by submitting a return that shows value back at or below $25,000.⁴

What Counts as Tangible Personal Property

Florida law treats tangible personal property as physical goods of value whose worth comes from the item itself rather than from what it represents. Vehicles listed in the state constitution — cars, trucks, and trailers registered with the state — are excluded, and so are inventory held for resale and household goods used for personal comfort.⁵

In practice, this is the equipment that keeps a business running: desks and filing cabinets, computers and printers, restaurant ovens and coolers, medical or dental instruments, construction tools, hotel furnishings, commercial signs, and supplies you keep on hand but don’t sell to customers. Mobile home attachments like carports and utility buildings also count.

Records to Gather Before You Start

For every item, you need three pieces of information: a description, the year you acquired it, and the original installed cost. That cost is broader than the sticker price. It includes sales tax, freight, handling charges, and installation.³

A few rules catch people out. If you traded in old equipment and the dealer knocked money off the invoice, report the full invoice price before the trade-in. If you took a federal investment tax credit and reduced the asset’s cost basis for federal purposes, add it back for this return. Fully depreciated items still in use get reported at original cost, not zero. The appraiser applies their own depreciation tables; your job is to report what you actually paid.³

Your accounting ledgers and federal depreciation schedules are the best starting point. Remove anything you sold, scrapped, or traded during the previous year so you’re not taxed on property you no longer own.

Filling in the Form

Form DR-405 sorts assets into numbered groups by type. Enter each item’s unadjusted original installed cost in the column matching the year you acquired it, within the group that fits the asset. The form covers multiple acquisition years, so a desk bought in 2022 and a printer bought in 2025 each go in their own year column within the correct group.³

Group 10 — Office furniture, office machines, library items
Group 11 — Computers, data processing equipment, word processors
Group 12 — Store, bar, lounge, and restaurant furniture and equipment
Group 13 — Machinery and manufacturing equipment
Group 14 — Farm, grove, and dairy equipment
Group 15 — Professional, medical, dental, and laboratory equipment
Group 16 — Hotel, motel, and apartment complex property
Group 16a — Rental unit appliances and furnishings
Group 17 — Mobile home attachments (carports, utility buildings, porches)
Group 18 — Service station and bulk plant equipment
Group 19 — Signs (billboard, pole, wall, portable)
Group 20 — Leasehold improvements, grouped by type and year installed
Group 21 — Pollution control equipment
Group 22 — Equipment you own but others rent, lease, or hold
Group 23 — Supplies not held for resale
Group 24 — Renewable energy source devices
Group 25 — Other property not covered above

Most businesses only touch a few groups. A law office might fill in 10, 11, and 23. A restaurant leans on 11 and 12. Match each asset to its group, enter the cost in the correct year column, sign, and date.

Where and When to Submit It

Send the signed original to the property appraiser in the county where the property physically sits, which is not necessarily where the business is incorporated or where you live.³ The deadline is April 1 every year.⁶ Most counties accept returns by mail, in person, or through an online portal. Electronic filing gives you immediate confirmation of receipt, which is useful if a penalty dispute ever comes up.

Requesting an Extension

The property appraiser must grant a 30-day extension on request. Beyond that, the appraiser has discretion to grant up to 15 more days. Your request has to reach the appraiser early enough for them to act on it before the April 1 deadline, though they cannot require you to submit it more than 10 days ahead of the due date. The appraiser may ask for your business name, tax ID, and a reason for the discretionary portion.⁷

Penalties for Missing the Deadline

Florida applies two separate penalties, both based on the tax due (not the assessed value):¹

Late filing: 5 percent of the total tax on that return, per month or partial month late, capped at 25 percent.
Failure to file: 25 percent of the total tax levied for each year no return is filed.

One day late without an approved extension triggers the 5 percent monthly charge, and four months late reaches the same 25 percent ceiling as never filing at all.

What Happens After You File

The appraiser processes your return, applies depreciation, and mails a Truth in Millage (TRIM) notice by late August with the proposed assessed value and the tax rates set by local authorities. The TRIM notice is a preview, not a bill.⁸

The tax bill itself arrives in November, and paying early earns a discount:⁹

November — 4 percent off
December — 3 percent off
January — 2 percent off
February — 1 percent off
March — full amount due

Taxes become delinquent on April 1 of the following year, at which point interest and collection remedies attach under Chapter 197.¹⁰

If the Assessed Value Looks Wrong

You can challenge the value on your TRIM notice through the county Value Adjustment Board. The VAB hears petitions on property value, denied exemptions, and portability decisions.¹¹ You have 25 days from the date the TRIM notice is mailed to file a petition with the VAB clerk. The petition must be received by that deadline, not just postmarked.¹² File on Form DR-486 and include the filing fee; the petition is not complete without it.¹³ Bring evidence a hearing officer can weigh: comparable sales, independent appraisals, photos, and documentation of anything that reduces what the equipment is worth.

1
Florida Legislature. Florida Code 193.072 – Penalties
2
Florida Department of Revenue. Tangible Personal Property
3
Florida Department of Revenue. Tangible Personal Property Tax Return
4
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 196.183 – Exemption for Tangible Personal Property
5
Florida Senate. Florida Code 192.001 – Definitions
6
Florida Legislature. Florida Code 193.062 – Dates for Filing Returns
7
Florida Legislature. Florida Code 193.063 – Extension of Date for Filing Tangible Personal Property Tax Returns
8
Florida Department of Revenue. Florida Property Tax Calendar
9
Florida Senate. Florida Code 197.162 – Tax Discount Payment Periods
10
Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes Chapter 197 – Tax Collections, Sales, and Liens
11
Florida Department of Revenue. Value Adjustment Board
12
Highlands County Clerk. Value Adjustment Board
13
Florida Department of Revenue. Petition to the Value Adjustment Board