Understanding Your Florida 2005 Property Tax Bill

By: Daniel Weiss
Submitted: 2007-01-17 16:16:44
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Real Estate and Tangible Personal Property Tax Bills May Now Be Paid at a Discount

Taxes paid--i.e., received by the Tax Collector--during

November are subject to a 4% discount;

December are subject to a 3% discount;

January are subject to a 2% discount;

February are subject to a 1% discount.

Taxes paid after March 31 are delinquent and are subject to penalties and 1 1/2% delinquent interest per month.

As of this writing, bills have been mailed out on every parcel of real estate and every folio of taxable tangible personal property in Florida.

Real property taxes are ad valorem assessments on parcels of land, buildings and improvements to land and buildings within Miami-Dade County. The real property tax notice also includes non-ad valorem assessments levied against the property.

Both types of taxes appear on the same tax bill and are subject to enforcemenet and collection in the same way.

Ad valorem taxes typically appear at the top of the tax bill and non-advolrem at the bottom.

"Ad valorem" means "on the value." These are taxes based on the valuation of the property taxed. Ad valorem taxes include real estate, tangible peronal; property and intangible personal property.

Non-ad valorem assessments are fees for services such as Solid Waste, Fire, Lighting, Guard and other special assessments.

Real property tax notices are mailed to the owner and address of record on or before November 1 of each year for the calendar year, January through December.

The property values are based on a valuation prepared by the Property Appraiser as of January 1. The same value carries through for the entire year, even though the value of the property may be reduced during the year by fire, demolition, hurruicane or other causes--or enhanced during the year through remodeling, renovation or expansion, vertical or horizontal.

Upon completion of the certified tax roll, the Property Appraiser delivers the certified tax roll to the Tax Collector who mails tax notices to the last owner of record and collects moneys due to the various taxing authorities.

Combined Tax Notices are mailed each year in November for the calendar year January through December. For instance, tax bills mailed in November 2005 are for calendar year January through December 2005. Taxes become delinquent on April 1 each year, at which time additional interest and fees are added to the bill. Discounts do not apply to delinquent payments.

According to section 197.122, Florida Statutes, the taxpayer is "held to know" when taxes are due and payable. If a taxpayer does not receive a tax notice in November, it is the taxpayer's responsibility to contact the Tax Collector's Office to request a duplicate tax notice.

The Miami-Dade Board of County Commissioners, municipal governments and various governing bodies set the millage rates for properties within their boundaries. One mill equals $1.00 per $1,000 of property value.

You may estimate your real property ad valorem tax by using the assessed value, minus any exemptions, multiply by the millage rate and divide by 1,000. For instance, $100,000 in taxable value with a millage rate of 5.0000 divided by 1,000 would generate $500 in taxes.

Non-ad valorem assessments must be added to real property tax, if applicable for the estimate to be accurate. Non-ad valorem assessments do not apply to tangible personal property.

You may access tables of recent millage rates from the Property Appraiser, or historical millage rates below.

About The Author
Daniel Weiss In Florida Trend magazine™'s Legal Elite's issue, July 2004, Mr. Weiss was selected by his peers as one of the top 30 government lawyers in the State of Florida. For a free consultation regarding your property, contact us at: http://www.tannebaumweis.com.

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