Portability (FILING DEADLINES EXTENDED)

Portability allows eligible property owners to pay less property taxes at their newly homesteaded property by transferring all or a portion of the Save Our Homes (SOH) savings from one Florida property to another Florida property, within a strict time frame allowed by law. If you qualify, Portability allows for a reduction on your property’s assessed value, resulting in tax savings this year and possible tax savings in future years, depending upon the market value of your home each year.

Portability applies to both upsizing and downsizing in property value, based upon specified formulas. The intent of Portability is to encourage Florida homeowners to stay within the State.  Portability may be used an unlimited number of times and may be used for moves to anywhere within Florida. Portability does not require you to sell your previous home, but merely that the Homestead at your prior property be fully abandoned.

Most homeowners will have already applied for Portability when completing their Homestead Exemption application. Portability is only reflected on our website’s property record page the first year for which it is approved.

Effective tax year 2021, a property owner who applied and was approved for Homestead Exemption for 2021 is eligible to apply for Portability if the property owner held a Homestead Exemption at a previous Florida home in one of the three previous tax years. Example: if you established a new Homestead in tax year 2021, you must have held Homestead at your prior residence in tax year 2020, 2019, or 2018 in order to take advantage of potential Portability savings.

PLEASE NOTE: Homesteads established in tax years 2008 through 2020 are eligible for Portability if the property owner held Homestead Exemption on a property in the previous two tax years (the law was changed in 2021 to allow three years before any Portability savings expired). Example: you established Homestead on your property in 2014 but forgot to file for Portability, you may be eligible if you held a previous Homestead at another Florida property in tax year 2013 or 2012.

You can apply this year by completing the Transfer of Assessment Difference Form found on the Broward County Property Appraiser’s website https://web.bcpa.net/bcpaclient/#/Download-Forms by the September 19, 2022 exemption filing deadline. If you have any questions, please contact the BCPA Customer Service Department at 954-357-6830 or by email at Portability@bcpa.net