There's a December 31 Deadline Buried in Florida's Property Tax Amendment

Every seller I've spoken to in the last three weeks has some version of the same sentence: "Florida is getting rid of property taxes, right?"

No. And the gap between what the amendment actually does and what people think it does is now big enough that it's affecting how sellers price and how buyers underwrite — which makes it my problem, and yours.

Here's the honest version. On November 3, Florida voters decide Amendment 3 — formally CS/HJR 1F, passed in a three-day special session on June 2 by a 75–26 House vote and a 30–9 Senate vote. It needs 60% approval. If it passes, most of it takes effect January 1, 2027, and it first shows up on the August 2027 TRIM notice and the tax bill mailed in November 2027.

That's fourteen months from the vote to the first dollar. Which is the first reason nobody should be pricing a Miami Beach listing off of it today.

But there are two provisions in this thing that genuinely matter here, and neither one is the headline. Let me take them in order of how much they're being misunderstood.

What the amendment actually does

Right now, a homesteaded Florida owner gets $51,411 in exemptions for the 2026 tax year — $25,000 that comes off every levy including schools, plus another $26,411 that comes off everything except schools.

Amendment 3 would replace that with:

$25,000 against school taxes — unchanged.
Up to $150,000 against non-school taxes starting January 1, 2027.
Up to $250,000 against non-school taxes starting January 1, 2028, with CPI adjustments from 2029.
The non-homestead assessment cap drops from 10% to 5% per year — also non-school only.
A waiting period for new Florida residents, which I'll get to, because it's the part being explained backwards.

Save Our Homes is untouched. Portability is untouched. Senior, veteran and disability exemptions are untouched.

⚠️ The word doing all the work is "non-school." Every property in Miami-Dade pays 6.6330 mills of school tax — county, city, wherever you are, that number is identical. On a typical Miami-Dade bill that's roughly a third of the total, and Amendment 3 does not touch a cent of it beyond the existing $25,000. Anyone telling a buyer their property taxes are going away is describing a bill that doesn't exist.

Why the headline number barely matters on Miami Beach

Run the math on the exemption. The additional exempt value versus today is $98,589 in 2027 and $198,589 in 2028. Against Miami Beach's non-school millage, that's somewhere around $1,200 a year in 2027 and $2,400 a year once it's fully phased in.

Real money. But put it next to the property. A homesteaded Miami Beach house with a $2 million taxable value is carrying a tax bill in the high five figures. Two thousand dollars is a rounding error against that — smaller than one year of the insurance increases we've all been absorbing, and smaller than a single price reduction on a listing that sat too long.

And it only reaches homesteaded property. Which, on Miami Beach, is the smaller half of the story.

The provision that actually moves money here

Miami Beach is the third-largest vacation-home market in the United States by number of units. Roughly 14,033 units — about 22% of the entire housing stock — are classified as seasonal, recreational or occasional-use, per MIAMI REALTORS® analysis of Census data. Add the long-term rentals, the short-term rentals and the small multifamily, and the share of Miami Beach property that is not somebody's homesteaded primary residence is very large.

Every one of those owners has been living under the 10% annual assessment cap. That cap is why second-home owners here keep opening a bill that's bigger than the year before even when nothing changed and millage held flat: in a rising-value market, assessed value can climb 10% a year, which roughly doubles a bill every seven years on compounding alone.

Amendment 3 cuts that cap in half.

🔑 Here's what halving the cap is worth over a hold period. Take a $2,000,000 non-homestead assessed value in a market rising fast enough to hit the cap. Under the current 10% limit, ten years later that assessed value is about $5.19 million. Under a 5% limit, it's about $3.26 million. That's a $1.9 million difference in assessed value — call it $23,000 a year of non-school tax in year ten, on the same building, with no change in millage.

That is an order of magnitude more consequential than the homestead headline, and almost nobody is talking about it, because the coverage is all written for primary-residence owners in counties that don't look anything like this one.

Two honest caveats, because they matter:

The cap only binds when values are actually rising fast. Miami Beach condo values are not climbing 10% a year right now — we've spent this whole year talking about discounts and absorption. So this is insurance against the next up-cycle, not a discount on today's bill.
Assessed value resets to market on a change of ownership. The cap protects whoever holds the asset. It does not follow the sale. Which is exactly why it's a story you tell a buyer about their next ten years — not a reason to raise your asking price.

The December 31 deadline — and the part people have backwards

This is the provision I'd want every relocating buyer on Miami Beach to understand, and it's the one I keep hearing described wrong.

If you are a permanent Florida resident as of December 31, 2026, you're eligible for the full expanded exemption starting in 2027.

If you establish Florida residency on or after January 1, 2027, you start with a $50,000 new-resident exemption against non-school levies. You then have to maintain a Florida homestead for four years, and the full exemption first applies on January 1 of the fifth year.

At Miami Beach millage, the gap between those two paths runs roughly $8,000 to $9,000 in cumulative tax over the four-year wait. Not life-changing. Not nothing either.

💡 The part almost everyone gets backwards: the December 31 date is about establishing residency, not about closing on a house. The Property Appraiser guidance is explicit — someone who becomes a Florida resident by December 31, 2026 but hasn't bought yet is still eligible for the higher exemption whenever they do buy and file for homestead. So the buyer who moves down this fall and rents for a year has protected the benefit. There is no closing deadline. There is a residency deadline.

I want to be careful about what that means for sellers, because the tempting conclusion is the wrong one. This is not a stampede that ends December 31 and hands you a hot Q4. If anything it's the opposite: it tells relocating buyers they can secure the tax benefit without rushing a purchase.

What it actually gives you is a genuine, non-salesy reason to be in front of an out-of-state buyer right now — because most of them don't know this, their agent up north definitely doesn't know it, and the version circulating online ("close by year-end!") is wrong in a way that could cost them four years of benefit if they act on it.

Why I would not price a listing on any of this

Three reasons, and I'd say all three to a seller's face.

It has to pass, and 60% is a real bar

Polling has run between 63% and 74% depending on how the question is worded — which sounds comfortable until you look at the split underneath it: roughly 87% of Republicans in favor, 62% of independents, 35% of Democrats. There's also a lawsuit filed June 11 in Leon County challenging the ballot summary as advocacy rather than description. That suit can't remove the amendment from the ballot, but a rewrite of the summary language moves numbers, and this measure is close enough to 60% that wording matters.

The benefit arrives in November 2027

Even in the pass scenario, nothing changes on a 2026 closing. Taxes are assessed, prorated and collected under current law. No buyer is going to pay more today for a line item that first appears on a tax bill fourteen months from now, and no appraiser is going to support it.

Millage is the release valve, and Miami Beach is exposed

State economists have put the eventual revenue impact as high as $11.86 billion a year once fully implemented; legislative staff estimated $4.6 billion in FY 2027-28 growing to $8.4 billion the following year. That money comes out of counties and cities. Nothing in the amendment guarantees funding for police or fire, and nothing in it touches non-ad valorem assessments at all.

Miami Beach funds its own fire and police, and — because 22% of its housing stock is second homes — it collects a smaller share of its revenue from exactly the homesteaded properties this amendment shields. A city in that position has fewer places to absorb the hit than a bedroom community full of primary residences. I'm not predicting a millage increase. I'm saying that a seller who markets "your taxes are about to drop" is writing a check that a 2027 TRIM notice may not cash, and that conversation lands on the buyer's desk long after the closing.

What I'd actually do with this

Use it as an underwriting input and a conversation, not a pricing argument.

If you're selling a non-homestead Miami Beach property — a second home, a rental, a small multifamily — the 5% cap is a legitimate, material improvement to your buyer's ten-year carrying-cost model. Put it in the offering package with the honest caveats attached. It doesn't move your price, but it moves the buyer's spreadsheet, and in a market where buyers are taking three to four months to decide, a better spreadsheet is worth having.
If you're courting relocating buyers, the December 31 residency point is the single most useful thing you can hand them right now, and correcting the "close by year-end" misinformation buys you more credibility than any market stat will.
If you're a Miami Beach owner deciding whether to sell now or hold, run both scenarios. The 5% cap is a real argument for holding a long-term appreciating asset. It is not an argument for holding a building with a special assessment coming, a financing problem, or a reserve shortfall — none of which Amendment 3 touches.
Don't wait for November to list. Rates aren't helping you: the 30-year fixed averaged 6.71% the week of September 3, up from 6.66% the week before and up from 6.50% a year ago. The listing that goes up in September competes with fall inventory. The one that waits for the election competes with everyone else who waited for the election.

What I actually think

Amendment 3 is being sold to homeowners and will mostly benefit homeowners in places where the median house is $400,000 and $250,000 of exemption wipes out most of the non-school bill. That is a genuinely large tax cut in most of Florida.

Miami Beach is not most of Florida. Here, the exemption is a modest offset against a large bill, and the provision with real teeth is a five-point change to an assessment cap that only bites during an up-cycle — which is to say, the benefit is real, it's meaningful, and it's almost entirely in the future.

So the correct posture for a seller this fall is exactly the posture that's been correct all year: price to the market you're standing in, get your building's documents and financing story clean, and treat the tax amendment as one more thing you understand better than the next listing does. That last part is worth more than people think. In a market where a Miami Beach listing takes three to four months to go under contract, being the seller whose agent can explain the buyer's actual ten-year cost — accurately, including what isn't changing — is a competitive advantage.

The rest of it we'll know on November 3.

Want to know what Amendment 3 would actually do to your specific Miami Beach property? Send me the address and I'll run it both ways — homesteaded and non-homestead, current law versus the proposed structure — with your actual assessed value, your actual exemptions, and your actual millage, so you're looking at real numbers instead of a headline. If you're selling, I'll fold it into the buyer-facing carrying-cost package. No listing pitch, just the math.
👉 Message me on WhatsApp | 🏷️ Thinking about listing before year-end? This is exactly when the analysis is worth the most | ✉️ silvana@carvalhoresidences.com

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Florida eliminating property taxes in 2027?

No. Amendment 3 on the November 3, 2026 ballot would increase the homestead exemption for non-school property taxes to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, and reduce the non-homestead assessment cap from 10% to 5%. School district taxes are excluded — only the existing $25,000 exemption applies to them. In Miami-Dade, school levies total 6.6330 mills on every property, roughly a third of a typical bill, and Amendment 3 does not change that. The amendment does authorize the Legislature to create a procedure for local governments to raise exemptions further over time, potentially up to full assessed value, but that would require future legislative action.

What is the December 31, 2026 deadline in Florida's property tax amendment?

Anyone who is a permanent Florida resident as of December 31, 2026 would qualify for the full expanded homestead exemption beginning in 2027. Anyone establishing Florida residency on or after January 1, 2027 starts with a $50,000 new-resident exemption against non-school levies and must maintain a Florida homestead for four years, with the larger exemption first applying on January 1 of the fifth year. Importantly, the deadline applies to establishing residency, not to closing on a property — Property Appraiser guidance confirms that someone who becomes a Florida resident by December 31, 2026 but buys later would still be eligible for the higher exemption when they purchase and file for homestead.

How much would Amendment 3 save a Miami Beach homeowner?

The additional exempt value compared with the current $51,411 exemption is $98,589 in 2027 and $198,589 in 2028. Applied against Miami Beach's non-school millage, that works out to roughly $1,200 a year in 2027 and roughly $2,400 a year once fully phased in. Actual savings vary with assessed value, existing Save Our Homes benefit, other exemptions, and the millage rates adopted each September. These figures are illustrations, not a calculation for any specific property.

How does the amendment affect second homes and rental property in Miami Beach?

Non-homestead property — second homes, rentals, short-term rentals, commercial property and vacant land — does not receive the homestead exemption, but would benefit from the annual assessment cap dropping from 10% to 5% for non-school levies. This matters disproportionately on Miami Beach, where roughly 22% of the housing stock (about 14,033 units) is seasonal, recreational or occasional-use per MIAMI REALTORS® analysis. The cap only limits assessed value growth, not tax rates, and only binds in years when market values rise faster than the cap. Assessed value also resets to market value on a change of ownership, so the benefit accrues to the holder over time rather than transferring with a sale.

Should I wait until after the November election to list my Miami Beach property?

There's no tax reason to. Even if Amendment 3 passes, the changes take effect January 1, 2027 and first appear on the August 2027 TRIM notice and the tax bill mailed in November 2027 — so nothing about a 2026 closing changes, and no buyer will pay more today for a benefit that lands fourteen months out. Meanwhile mortgage rates averaged 6.71% the week of September 3, 2026, higher than a year earlier, and a listing that waits for the election competes in January with everyone else who waited.

Could property tax rates go up if the amendment passes?

Possibly. The amendment reduces taxable value, not tax rates, and millage rates are set annually by each taxing authority every September. Legislative staff estimated a revenue reduction of roughly $4.6 billion in FY 2027-28 growing to $8.4 billion the following year; state economists have estimated up to $11.86 billion annually once fully implemented. The amendment does not guarantee funding levels for police, fire or EMS, and it does not apply to non-ad valorem assessments at all. Municipalities with a high share of non-homesteaded property — Miami Beach among them — have a narrower base of shielded properties, so local budget outcomes there are worth watching.

This is general information about a proposed constitutional amendment, not tax or legal advice, and current Florida law remains in effect unless and until voters approve the measure. If you're reading this after November 3, reach out and I'll tell you where it actually landed and what it means for your building. 🔑

Sources: Florida Legislature CS/HJR 1F, "Save Our Homes from Excessive Property Taxes," passed in special session June 1–3, 2026 (House 75–26 on June 2; Senate 30–9); appears as Amendment 3 on the November 3, 2026 general election ballot and requires 60% voter approval. Provision detail per the Pinellas County Property Appraiser's published Amendment 3 FAQ: current 2026 homestead exemption of $51,411 ($25,000 all millages plus $26,411 non-school, CPI-adjusted); proposed structure of $25,000 school plus up to $150,000 non-school in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, with CPI adjustments from 2029; permanent Florida residents as of December 31, 2026 eligible for the larger exemption in 2027; residency established on or after January 1, 2027 begins at a $50,000 new-resident exemption against non-school levies with the larger exemption first applying January 1 of the fifth year after four years of maintained homestead; non-homestead assessment limitation reduced from 10% to 5% for non-school levies only, with school taxes remaining uncapped at just/market value; effective January 1, 2027 and first reflected on August 2027 TRIM notices and November 2027 tax bills. Fiscal estimates: approximately $4.6 billion (FY 2027-28) rising to $8.4 billion (FY 2028-29) per legislative staff analysis, and up to $11.86 billion annually once fully implemented per state economist estimates. Ballot-summary lawsuit filed June 11, 2026 in Leon County Circuit Court. Polling of 63%–74% support with a partisan split of approximately 87% Republican / 62% independent / 35% Democrat, per Florida Politics and Gulfshore Business reporting. Miami-Dade millage detail (school district 6.6330 mills countywide; countywide levies 5.7361 mills; regional levies 0.2571 mills) per the Miami-Dade Property Appraiser 2025 Adopted Millage Chart. Miami Beach vacation-home share (approximately 14,033 units, ~22% of housing stock, third-largest U.S. vacation-home market) per MIAMI REALTORS® analysis of U.S. Census data. Mortgage rate of 6.71% for the week of September 3, 2026 (versus 6.66% prior week and 6.50% a year earlier) per Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey. Dollar illustrations in this article assume a non-school millage in the range typical for Miami Beach and are for general information only — they are not an appraisal, a tax calculation, or a valuation of any specific property.