Florida commercial property taxes, explained: the discount, the cap, the reset and Amendment 3

By Renan Serretiello and Christopher Taddei, founding partners of The List, Orlando, Florida. Part 4 of the Florida CRE series. Checked against Florida Statutes.

The 60-second answers

• How is a Florida commercial tax bill calculated? Taxable value times millage. One mill is $1 per $1,000 of value. The statewide average in 2025 was about 16.4 mills, or roughly $16,400 a year per $1 million of taxable value.
• Is commercial property capped like homes are? Partly. Non-school taxes are capped at 10% annual assessment growth. School taxes, roughly a third of the bill, are never capped.
• What happens to taxes when you buy? The cap resets. On the January 1 after a sale, or after more than 50% of the owning entity changes hands, the property is reassessed at full just value.
• When should you pay? In November. The 4% discount works out to about a 13% annualized return compared with paying on March 31.
• What would Amendment 3 change for commercial owners? It would cut the non-school cap from 10% to 5% starting in 2027. No new exemption, no change to school taxes. It needs 60% of the vote on November 3.

Jump to the investor playbook · Get the free underwriting worksheet

There's a specific kind of silence that falls over a closing table when someone asks, "Did anyone underwrite the taxes at the new assessment?" If you've been in Florida commercial real estate long enough, you've heard it. If you haven't, this guide is how you avoid hearing it.

Property tax is one of the largest operating expenses a Florida commercial owner doesn't control. It's also the one most investors underwrite by copying the seller's last bill, which is the single most expensive shortcut in the business. In part one of our Florida CRE series we flagged property taxes as one of three policy shifts hiding in your NOI. This is the full manual, written for owners, buyers, tenants and anyone deciding how to vote on November 3.

How a Florida commercial tax bill is built

Short answer: taxable value times millage, calculated twice, on two different values.

Every January 1, your county property appraiser sets a just value for your property, which is Florida's term for market value. In practice, many appraisers apply a standard 15% "cost of sale" adjustment under Section 193.011(8) of the Florida Statutes to account for the fees and costs of a real-world sale, which is why a just value often lands below what a property would actually sell for. [1] [2]

Then the bill splits in two:

• School district levies are charged on full just value. No cap, ever.
• County, city and special district levies are charged on an assessed value that can rise no more than 10% a year for non-homestead property, which includes all commercial property. [3] [4]

Multiply each value by its millage, add them up, and add any non-ad valorem assessments (fire, stormwater, solid waste, community development districts), which are flat charges that don't depend on value at all. That's your bill.

What Florida commercial property pays, county by county

Millage varies far more than most investors realize. Here are Florida's major commercial counties, with the uncapped school share shown separately.

Figure 1. The same $1 million pays $9,800 in Collier and $21,600 in St. Lucie

Average total millage by county, 2025 tax roll, split into school and non-school levies. Statewide average: 16.4 mills.

County-wide averages blend cities and unincorporated areas; your parcel's actual rate depends on its city and special districts. Source: Florida Department of Revenue 2025 County Profiles, as compiled by Homestead Ledger. [5]

How to read this: multiply the mills by your taxable value in thousands. A property with $5 million of taxable value in Orange County at 17.4 mills pays about $87,000 a year, before the cap separates school and non-school bases.

Two other things jump out of Figure 1. First, school levies make up anywhere from 29% (St. Lucie) to 45% (St. Johns) of the total rate in these counties, and none of that is touched by any cap. [5] Second, some of the fastest-growing counties we covered in part two of the series sit below the statewide average: Polk, Osceola, Lee and St. Johns. Growth plus a lower tax rate is a quiet tailwind for net-leased assets in those counties.

The 10% cap, honestly

Short answer: it protects only the non-school part of your bill, and only in years when values rise more than 10%.

Florida voters added the non-homestead cap in 2008. [6] Under Section 193.1555, the assessed value of non-residential property for non-school levies can increase no more than 10% from the prior year. [3] It sounds like a big deal. It's smaller than it sounds, for two reasons.

The first is the school levy. As Figure 1 shows, roughly a third of the rate isn't capped at all. The second reason is the one almost nobody says out loud.

Don't take our word for it. Here's what actually happened to commercial property in Miami-Dade, Florida's largest tax roll, over the last five years.

Real data. County-wide totals for the commercial property class, including new construction and post-sale resets, which is why taxable growth can exceed 10% in a single year. Source: Miami-Dade Property Appraiser, preliminary assessment roll change by property type, 2022 through 2026. [7] [8] [9] [10] [11]

Only one year out of five, 2023, saw market values jump far enough past 10% for the cap to matter: values rose 17.1%, taxable values 10.9%. [8] In the other four years, the cap was mostly a spectator.

The reset: why the seller's tax bill is a trap

Short answer: when a commercial property changes ownership or control, it's reassessed at full just value on the next January 1. Any cap savings the seller built up disappear.

A "change of ownership or control" is broader than a deed. It includes a sale, a foreclosure, a transfer of legal or beneficial title, and a cumulative transfer of control or of more than 50% of the ownership of the entity that owned the property when it was last assessed at just value. [3] Buying the LLC instead of the building doesn't dodge the reset.

And here's the part with teeth. When entity interests change hands and no deed is recorded, the owner must notify the property appraiser on Form DR-430. Owners who keep a capped assessment they weren't entitled to face the taxes avoided, plus 15% interest each year, plus a penalty of 50% of the taxes avoided, and the property appraiser must record a tax lien on the property. [12] That's the state's polite way of saying "we'll find out." If you're buying entity interests, make the seller's DR-430 compliance part of your diligence and your indemnity.

We put real numbers on the reset in the investor section below. Spoiler: it's a 29% tax increase in year one.

Amendment 3, in plain English, for commercial owners

Short answer: for commercial property, Amendment 3 does one thing. It lowers the annual cap on non-school assessment growth from 10% to 5%, starting January 1, 2027. School taxes are unchanged, and commercial property gets no new exemption. [13] [4]

The Legislature placed it on the November 3, 2026 ballot as CS/HJR 1F after a June special session, and it needs at least 60% of the vote to pass. [13] [14] The headline changes are for homeowners: the homestead exemption for non-school taxes would rise to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028. It would also limit what counties and cities may spend property tax revenue on to specified core services. [14]

Our analysis. Hypothetical example assuming 7% annual market appreciation, no improvements, no change of ownership and constant millage. By 2036 the building is worth about $18.4 million, and today's 10% cap never binds, so the non-school assessment tracks it. Under a 5% cap it would reach about $15.5 million: the gap is taxes avoided. At Orange County's 2025 average non-school rate of 10.961 mills, the 5% cap would save about $2,200 in year two, rising to about $31,500 in year ten, roughly $136,000 over the decade. Under today's 10% cap, savings in this scenario are zero. Millage source: Homestead Ledger, from Florida Department of Revenue data. [5]

What supporters and opponents argue

Supporters, led by Florida Realtors, which had put $18 million into the Vote Yes on 3 committee through September, argue the amendment delivers meaningful relief and that the 5% cap gives owners and their tenants more predictable tax bills. [15] [14] The Legislature passed it 75 to 27 in the House and 30 to 8 in the Senate. [16]

Opponents include the Florida Association of Counties, the Florida League of Cities, Florida TaxWatch, the Florida Professional Firefighters, the Florida Fire Chiefs Association and the Florida State Fraternal Order of Police. [15] They point to an estimated $12 billion a year in lost local revenue [17] and warn that counties and cities may make up the gap through cuts to services or other fees and taxes, which the amendment does not prohibit. [18] Our own part-two analysis of how growth counties pay for roads shows why that matters for development.

How you vote is your call, and we're not making it for you. What we'd point out to any commercial owner is a trade-off that gets very little airtime either way: if it passes, the cap gets more valuable the longer you hold, and the gap between a long-time owner's tax bill and a new buyer's tax bill widens. That can make owners slower to sell and buyers more careful about pricing, a dynamic California investors know well from Proposition 13. If it fails, nothing changes for commercial owners, and the 10% cap keeps doing what it does today, which in most years is not very much.

The best risk-free return in Florida real estate is on your tax bill

Short answer: pay in November. Florida law gives a 4% discount for November payment, then 3% in December, 2% in January and 1% in February. The full amount is due March 31, and taxes become delinquent April 1, when interest and advertising costs are added. [19] [20]

Our calculation: the discount earned divided by the discounted amount paid, compounded over the months paid early relative to March 31. Paying on November 1 instead of November 30 works out to about 10.3% annualized, because the money leaves five months early. Sources: Section 197.162, Florida Statutes; [19] SBA 504 rate from Florida First Capital Finance; [21] 10-year Treasury par yield. [22]

On a $150,000 commercial tax bill, November payment saves $6,000. More important, it beats almost anything you can do with that cash for four months. Even if you draw on a credit line at 7% or 8% to pay in November, you come out ahead. The tax collector is offering you a better return than the bond market for paying a bill you have to pay anyway. It's the only time a government agency will pay you for being early. Take the deal.

Two practical notes. The discount depends on when your payment is received or postmarked, and counties differ: Miami-Dade, for example, uses the postmark date for mailed payments, [23] but rules vary, so pay online or in person if you're cutting it close. And if you prefer to spread payments, Florida tax collectors offer a quarterly installment plan you apply for by April 30, with its own discount schedule on the early installments. [24]

The Florida property tax calendar that costs money

The only thing in Florida more reliable than afternoon thunderstorms in July is the TRIM notice in August. Here's the full cycle, with the dates that cost money flagged.

• January 1: the status date. Ownership, use and condition on this date set your value and exemptions for the whole year. A sale closed on December 31 resets on this January 1.
• March 1: exemption applications. Deadline for most exemption applications with the property appraiser. [24]
• April 1: tangible personal property returns (costs money). Business equipment returns (Form DR-405) are due. Miss it and you lose the $25,000 exemption and pay penalties. [25]
• April 30: installment plan sign-up. Apply with the tax collector if you want to pay the next year's taxes in quarterly installments. [24]
• Mid-August: TRIM notice. The Notice of Proposed Property Taxes shows your just value, assessed value and proposed millage from every taxing authority.
• 25 days after the TRIM mailing: appeal deadline (costs money). Last day to file a Value Adjustment Board petition on value. Usually mid-September. [26]
• November 1: bills mailed. Tax collectors send bills on or about November 1. [24]
• November 30: last day for 4% (costs money). The best return on your calendar. Then 3% in December, 2% in January, 1% in February.
• March 31: last day to pay (costs money). Full amount due. Taxes become delinquent April 1, with 3% interest plus advertising costs. [20]
• On or before June 1: tax certificate sale. The county sells a lien on delinquent property to investors. More on that in the investor section. [27]

How to appeal a commercial assessment in Florida

Short answer: file a Value Adjustment Board petition within 25 days after the TRIM notice is mailed, and keep paying at least 75% of your taxes while you wait.

The Value Adjustment Board, or VAB, is the county-level panel that hears assessment disputes, usually through special magistrates who are appraisers or attorneys. The window is short: 25 days after the property appraiser mails your TRIM notice for a value petition. [26] Miss it and you wait a year.

The rule that trips people up is the partial payment. If your petition is still pending on the delinquency date, you must pay all non-ad valorem assessments plus at least 75% of the ad valorem taxes, less any discount, before the taxes become delinquent. If you don't, the VAB must deny your petition by April 20, even if a magistrate already recommended a reduction. [28] Translation: appeal and pay in November. You keep the 4% discount on what you pay, and your petition stays alive.

For commercial property, the strongest appeals usually rest on the income approach: actual rents, actual vacancy, real operating expenses and a supportable cap rate. A property appraiser's mass-appraisal model doesn't know your anchor tenant left in October. You do. And because the appraiser is supposed to account for the costs of sale, it's worth checking whether that adjustment was actually applied to your parcel. [1] Our Cap Rate Index is a useful starting point for what the market is actually paying.

Do appeals actually work? Depends on your county.

Florida's Department of Revenue tracks every Value Adjustment Board outcome. The statewide numbers look encouraging. The county numbers tell a very different story.

Real data. All property types, not commercial only. Petitions that never reach a hearing include those withdrawn and those resolved with the property appraiser before a hearing. Source: Florida Department of Revenue, 2024 County Profiles (2023 Value Adjustment Board results). [29]

Statewide, 31,864 of the 72,189 parcels heard in 2023 got relief, about 44%, which cut taxable value by roughly $4.5 billion. [29] But the statewide average is driven by a handful of very large counties. In Broward, about 1 in 5 heard petitions was granted. In Hillsborough, it was 35 out of 3,485, about 1%. [29] And nearly half of all petitions statewide never reached a hearing at all.

The lesson isn't "don't appeal." It's that a strong commercial appeal is built on evidence, usually income and comparable sales, not hope, and that the best result often comes from talking to the property appraiser's commercial staff before the hearing. Know your county's track record before you budget for a reduction.

The second tax bill business owners forget

Florida also taxes tangible personal property: the furniture, fixtures, equipment and machinery a business uses. Hotels, restaurants, medical practices, self-storage operators, owner-users and anyone who leases out equipment should care.

• File Form DR-405 by April 1 to receive an exemption of up to $25,000 of assessed value. Filing on time is the application; skip it and you lose the exemption. [25]
• Penalties: 5% of the tax for each month or part of a month a return is late, up to 25%; 25% for each year no return is filed; and 15% of the tax on property you leave off the return. [25]
• If your equipment stays at $25,000 or less, the appraiser can waive future filings, but once you go over, you must file again. [25]

For hotel buyers in particular, furniture, fixtures and equipment can add a meaningful second bill that never shows up in the real estate tax line of an offering memo. Ask for the last three DR-405 filings in diligence.

For investors: the property tax playbook

Everything above, turned into decisions. If you only read one section, read this one.

1. Underwrite the reset, not the seller's bill

Here's a hypothetical Orlando retail center bought for $10 million in late 2026. The seller has owned it for years, so the non-school assessment is capped well below market. The property appraiser's just value is $8.5 million, about 85% of the price after the cost-of-sale adjustment.

Illustrative. Orange County 2025 average millage from Florida Department of Revenue data; [5] actual rates vary by city and district. Excludes non-ad valorem assessments.

At a 6% cap rate, that $32,883 of extra expense is about $548,000 of value. If you priced the deal off the seller's tax bill, you overpaid by roughly half a million dollars on the day you closed. In a net lease, your tenants absorb the increase instead, which is its own risk: a 29% jump in the tax line can push a marginal tenant's occupancy cost over the edge at renewal.

2. Treat entity deals like deed deals

Buying more than 50% of an LLC that owns Florida real estate triggers the same reset as buying the deed. [3] Require proof that prior entity-level transfers were reported on DR-430, and get an indemnity for any back taxes, interest and the 50% penalty if they weren't. [12]

3. Model the school levy separately

School taxes ride full just value every year, cap or no cap, and they're roughly 29% to 45% of the rate in Florida's major counties. [5] A pro forma that grows the whole tax line at 3% a year is wrong in a rising market.

4. Price county differences into your bid

As golden nugget #1 showed, millage differences can be worth millions on a large asset. When you compare a deal in St. Lucie with one in Collier, compare after-tax NOI, not rent rolls.

5. Make appeals and November payment standard operating procedure

Calendar the TRIM notice, review every parcel within a week, petition when the assessment is out of line with income, and pay every bill in November. For a portfolio, those two habits alone can add a meaningful amount to NOI every year without a single new lease.

6. Watch tax delinquency as a distress signal

Unpaid property taxes are public record in Florida and often show up before a loan default. In part three of our series, the lender on two downtown Miami office towers cited $1.2 million of unpaid property taxes alongside a maturity default. If you hunt for distressed assets, the delinquent tax roll is a free lead list.

7. Know what tax certificates are, and what they aren't

When taxes go unpaid, the county sells a tax certificate on or before June 1. Bidding starts at 18% interest and is bid down, sometimes to zero; redeemed certificates earn at least 5% unless they were bid at 0%. [27] [30] After two years, the holder can apply for a tax deed. [31] It's a legitimate yield niche for patient investors, but competition pushes rates low, and it is lien investing, not a shortcut to buying beachfront for back taxes. That's a YouTube fantasy, not a business plan.

Stress-test the tax line with our deal calculators, and see the transfer tax table in part three for the costs you pay once, at closing.

The Florida CRE series

1. Florida commercial real estate, fall 2026: what the numbers actually say
2. Follow the rooftops: Florida's inland markets
3. Florida's CRE debt reckoning: where the distress is, and isn't
4. Florida commercial property taxes, explained (you're here)

Frequently asked questions

How are commercial property taxes calculated in Florida?

Taxable value multiplied by the millage rate, where one mill is $1 of tax per $1,000 of taxable value. Commercial property has two tax bases: school levies are charged on full just value, while county, city and special district levies are charged on an assessed value that can rise no more than 10% a year until the property changes ownership or control.

Does Florida's 10% non-homestead cap apply to school taxes?

No. The 10% cap applies only to non-school levies. School district taxes are charged on full just value, and in Florida's large counties they make up roughly 29% to 45% of total millage.

What is the discount for paying Florida property taxes early?

4% if paid in November, 3% in December, 2% in January and 1% in February, under Section 197.162, Florida Statutes. Taxes are due by March 31 and become delinquent April 1. Paying at the end of November instead of March 31 works out to roughly a 13% annualized return.

What would Amendment 3 change for Florida commercial property?

If approved by at least 60% of voters on November 3, 2026, it would lower the annual cap on assessment increases for non-homestead property, including commercial property, from 10% to 5% for non-school levies starting in 2027. It gives commercial property no new exemption and does not change school taxes.

Does buying a Florida commercial property reset its taxes?

Yes. A change of ownership or control, including a cumulative transfer of more than 50% of the entity that owns the property, resets the assessment to just value on the following January 1. Owners must report entity-level changes on Form DR-430 or face back taxes, a 50% penalty and 15% annual interest.

How do I appeal a commercial property assessment in Florida?

File a petition with your county Value Adjustment Board within 25 days after the TRIM notice is mailed, usually mid-August. While the petition is pending, you must pay all non-ad valorem assessments and at least 75% of the ad valorem taxes before they become delinquent, or the petition is denied.

Do Florida businesses pay tax on equipment and furniture?

Yes. Businesses file Form DR-405 by April 1 to receive an exemption of up to $25,000 of assessed value. Late filing costs 5% per month up to 25%, and not filing costs 25% of the tax.

How do Florida tax certificates work?

Unpaid taxes become delinquent April 1, and county tax collectors sell tax certificates on or before June 1. Bidding starts at 18% interest and is bid down; redeemed certificates earn at least 5% unless bid at 0%. After two years, a certificate holder can apply for a tax deed.

This guide is for general information and education. It is not tax, legal or investment advice, and The List is not acting as your tax advisor or attorney. Tax rules, rates and deadlines change, and your county's procedures may differ. Confirm figures with your county property appraiser and tax collector, and talk to qualified professionals about your situation.