How to Transfer Your Homestead Exemption in Florida

To transfer your homestead exemption in Florida, you file two forms with the property appraiser in the county where your new home sits: Form DR-501 to establish a new homestead exemption on that property, and Form DR-501T to move your accumulated Save Our Homes benefit from the old home to the new one. Both are due by March 1 of the tax year you want the benefit, and you must establish the new homestead within three tax years of the last year you held the exemption on your prior home.¹

What Actually Transfers

Two separate benefits are in play, and mixing them up is the most common mistake.

The homestead exemption itself does not follow you. It’s tied to a specific property. When you buy a new primary residence, you apply for a new homestead exemption on that property from scratch. The exemption gives Florida homeowners up to $25,000 off assessed value for all tax levies, plus an additional exemption of up to $25,000 on assessed value above $50,000 for non-school taxes.²

What does transfer is your Save Our Homes benefit. Florida caps annual increases in a homesteaded property’s assessed value at 3% or the change in the Consumer Price Index, whichever is lower.³ Over years, a gap opens between your home’s market value and its lower assessed value. That gap, up to $500,000, is what portability moves to your new home. The DR-501T is what actually moves it.

The Three-Year Window

You have three tax years to establish the new homestead. The clock starts on January 1 of the year you last held the exemption on your old home, not on the date you sold or moved.⁴

This catches sellers off guard. If you sold in December 2026, your last qualified homestead date was January 1, 2026, and you need a new homestead exemption in place by January 1, 2029. A late-year sale can compress your practical window to closer to two years.

Beyond that timing, you need two things: a valid Florida homestead exemption on the previous property, and a new Florida property that qualifies as your permanent primary residence. If either spouse held the exemption and both lived there permanently, both are treated as having held it.³

The Two Forms

You need both forms, filed together:

Form DR-501, the homestead exemption application for the new property.⁵
Form DR-501T, the transfer application that carries your Save Our Homes benefit forward.⁶

Both are available from your county property appraiser’s website or the Florida Department of Revenue site.

The application asks for Social Security numbers for all property owners and their spouses, including a spouse not on the deed.¹ If those numbers are missing, the property appraiser will contact you, and you have until April 1 to refile a complete application. Miss that, and the exemption is waived for the year.

Have the following ready as supporting documents:

Proof of permanent Florida residency at the new address, such as a Florida driver’s license or ID, vehicle registration, or voter registration.
Proof of ownership, such as the recorded deed or the property tax bill.
The address and parcel identification number of your previous homestead.

Where to File

File both forms with the property appraiser’s office in the county where your new home is located. Most counties accept filings online, by mail, or in person. The deadline is March 1 of the tax year you want the exemption to apply.¹

If your old home was in a different county, portability still works. File the DR-501T with the property appraiser where your previous homestead was located, along with a copy of the DR-501, and file the DR-501 itself with the property appraiser in your new county.⁶ The two offices coordinate to verify your prior Save Our Homes benefit.

When you submit, the property appraiser’s office must give you a receipt with the filing date. Keep it as proof of on-time filing.⁷ The office may follow up for more documents or schedule a property visit.

How Much Benefit You’ll Actually Move

The amount that transfers depends on whether your new home is worth more or less than your old one.

Buying a More Expensive Home

When the new home’s market value equals or exceeds the old home’s, the full dollar amount of your Save Our Homes benefit transfers, capped at $500,000.³ The new home’s assessed value is its market value minus the transferred benefit.

An example: if your old home had a market value of $400,000 and an assessed value of $280,000, your benefit is $120,000. Buy a new home worth $500,000, and its new assessed value is $380,000, before the homestead exemptions reduce that further.

Buying a Less Expensive Home

Downsizing transfers a proportional share, not the full dollar amount. Take the new home’s market value, divide it by the old home’s market value, and multiply by the old home’s assessed value. That result is the new assessed value.³

Say your old home was worth $300,000 with an assessed value of $180,000, a $120,000 benefit. You buy a new home worth $180,000. The math: $180,000 ÷ $300,000 × $180,000 = $108,000 assessed value. The benefit that carries over is $72,000, because the new home is worth 60% of the old one.

When Two Homestead Owners Combine Households

If two people who each held separate homestead exemptions buy a home together, only one Save Our Homes benefit transfers, and the statute uses whichever is higher, capped at $500,000.³ The two benefits do not stack. Compare them before you file and port the larger one.

If You Miss March 1

Missing the deadline waives the exemption for that tax year unless you qualify for a late-filing exception. You can file a late application with the property appraiser up until 25 days after the TRIM (Truth in Millage) notices are mailed, typically mid-September.¹ You’ll need to show the property appraiser you were unable to file on time or that extenuating circumstances justify granting the exemption anyway. Serious illness, military deployment, a death in the family, or a documented postal error are the kinds of situations that may qualify. Forgetting the deadline generally is not.

If the property appraiser rejects the late application, you can petition the county’s Value Adjustment Board within the same window. There’s a non-refundable $15 filing fee.¹ One exception is automatic: if a documented postal error caused the late filing, the board must grant the exemption.

If Your Application Is Denied

A denial from the property appraiser must come as a written notice explaining the grounds, served by July 1.¹ You have 30 days from that letter to petition your county’s Value Adjustment Board, which hears appeals on exemption denials, portability decisions, and value assessments.⁸

Bring your original application, proof of residency, proof of ownership, and any correspondence from the property appraiser to the hearing. The board’s decision is final at the administrative level, though further relief is available in circuit court.

1
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 196.011 – Annual Application Required for Exemption
2
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 196.031 – Exemption of Homesteads
3
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 193.155 – Homestead Assessments
4
Florida Department of Revenue. Save Our Homes Assessment Limitation
5
Florida Department of Revenue. Form DR-501 – Original Application for Homestead and Related Tax Exemptions
6
Florida Department of Revenue. Form DR-501T – Transfer of Homestead Assessment Difference
7
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 196.131 – Homestead Exemptions, Claims
8
Florida Department of Revenue. Value Adjustment Board