Calculators: Florida Homestead Portability Calculator

Florida’s Save Our Homes cap holds down the taxable value of a homestead for as long as you own it. After a decade or two, the gap between what the home is worth and what it’s taxed on can be large. Portability lets you take that gap with you when you move to a new Florida homestead, up to $500,000. That can cut the property tax on the new home by thousands of dollars a year. This calculator works it out using the formulas in state law.

Florida Homestead Portability Calculator

Moving from one Florida homestead to another? See how much of your Save Our Homes savings carries over to the new home, and what it does to your property tax.

Your current homestead

Can be anywhere in Florida, in any county.

As of January 1 of the year you sell or move out.
Both are on your TRIM notice and the property appraiser’s website.
Your new homestead
Portability works anywhere in Florida. The county only sets the tax rate used for the estimate below.
Usually close to the purchase price.
The county’s 2025 unincorporated rate. Inside a city, use your city’s rate.
Calculated under F.S. 193.155(8)
Your Save Our Homes benefit now$0
Type of move–
Worked out automatically: a new home worth as much as the old one or more is upsizing, a cheaper one is downsizing.
Amount that carries over$0
New home assessed value$0
Estimated first-year property tax, with homestead
Without portability$0
With portability$0
Yearly savings$0

How this works: Florida’s Save Our Homes cap keeps a homestead’s assessed value from rising more than 3% a year (or inflation, if lower), so it falls below market value over time. Portability lets you carry that gap to a new Florida homestead, up to $500,000. If the new home costs at least as much as the old one (upsizing), the whole gap comes off the new home’s market value. If it costs less (downsizing), the new home keeps the same ratio of assessed to market value that the old home had. To qualify, you must have had a homestead exemption on the old home as of January 1 of any of the three years before the new one, and you file Form DR-501T with your new homestead application by March 1.

The tax figures are estimates. They use each county’s 2025 unincorporated millage and both standard homestead exemptions, and leave out city rates, special districts, and non-ad valorem assessments. Amendment 3 on the November 3, 2026 ballot would raise the homestead exemption for existing residents but doesn’t change portability. For the full rules, see the homestead exemption guide.

How to use the calculator

Start with your current homestead. You need two numbers from the county property appraiser’s website or your TRIM notice: the market value (also called just value) and the assessed value. Use the values as of January 1 of the year you sell or move out. The difference between them is your Save Our Homes benefit, and it’s what portability carries over. If you and a co-owner are moving to separate homes, for example after a divorce, choose “No, owners splitting up” and enter how many owners had the exemption. Each of you gets a share of the benefit.

Then enter the new home’s county and market value. The purchase price is usually close to the market value. The calculator decides whether you’re upsizing or downsizing, because Florida law handles the two differently. When upsizing, your whole benefit, up to $500,000, comes off the new home’s value. When downsizing, the new home gets the same percentage discount the old one had. In both cases, the new home’s assessed value is protected by the 3% cap from then on.

As an example, take a homestead worth $450,000 that’s assessed at $250,000. Moving to a $400,000 home in unincorporated Orange County is a downsize. The new home’s assessed value would be $222,222, and the first-year property tax would drop from about $5,791 to about $2,932, saving about $2,860 a year. Buying a $600,000 home instead is an upsize: the full $200,000 carries over and saves about $3,217 a year. To claim portability, file Form DR-501T with your new homestead application by March 1. The homestead exemption guide walks through the application.

Frequently Asked Questions

It lets a homeowner move the Save Our Homes benefit, the gap between a homestead’s market value and its capped assessed value, from one Florida homestead to a new one. Up to $500,000 of that gap can be transferred, which lowers the new home’s taxable value.

Yes to both. Portability works whether you upsize or downsize, and between any two Florida counties. Moving to a more expensive home carries over your full benefit, up to $500,000, while moving to a cheaper one carries over a proportional share. The calculator works out which applies from the two market values.

Up to $500,000. When upsizing to a home of equal or greater value, the full benefit transfers up to that cap. When downsizing, the new home keeps the same ratio of assessed to market value as the old home, so the amount transferred is smaller.

You must qualify for the new homestead exemption by January 1 of the third year after your last year of homestead on the old home. For example, if your last homestead year was 2025, you must qualify on the new home by January 1, 2028.

File Form DR-501T, Transfer of Homestead Assessment Difference, with your homestead exemption application at the property appraiser in the new home’s county, by March 1. If the old home was in a different county, a copy also goes to that county’s property appraiser.

No. Portability only applies between Florida homesteads. Someone moving from another state starts with the new home’s full market value as its assessed value, then gets the homestead exemption and the 3% cap from that point.

No. Amendment 3, on the November 3, 2026 ballot, would raise the homestead exemption, but property appraisers say it does not change Florida’s portability provisions. A separate 2026 law made a small wording change to portability starting with the 2027 tax roll, and the formulas and $500,000 cap are unchanged.

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This article is for general informational purposes only and isn’t financial, legal, insurance, or tax advice – for guidance specific to your situation, talk to a licensed professional.