The Amendment 3 calculator page covers the amendment itself, the December 31, 2026 residency date, and what it means in broad strokes for buyers and sellers. This article is for the seller sitting across from a buyer who wants a number. Most of what follows is true whether the amendment passes or not, because the mechanics of how a Florida tax bill is rebuilt after a sale do not change; the amendment only changes the size of one exemption in that calculation.
- Your current tax bill tells a buyer almost nothing. Florida reassesses the home to market value on the January 1 after the sale, and your Save Our Homes cap does not transfer.
- The Florida contract already carries a required property tax disclosure warning the buyer of exactly that. Use it as the starting point for an honest answer.
- The best answer is a one-page tax sheet for the listing: current bill, assessed vs. market value, the exemptions that leave with you, and a projected buyer bill from the county's estimator or our calculator.
- At closing, 2026 taxes are prorated by days of ownership on the current bill. Amendment 3 does not touch the 2026 bill at all.
- If you are buying another Florida home, you already meet the residency date, and portability lets you carry your Save Our Homes savings for up to three tax years.
Why your tax bill is not the buyer's tax bill
Two rules in Chapter 193, Florida Statutes, rebuild the bill after every sale. First, when a homestead changes hands, the property appraiser resets the assessed value to just value, which is market value, on the January 1 after the closing. Second, the Save Our Homes cap that held your assessed value to 3% growth a year belongs to you, not to the house; it leaves when you do. A seller who bought in 2012 and has watched the assessment creep up slowly can be paying half of what the buyer will pay for the same home in the same year.
Amendment 3 sits on top of that reset. If it passes and the buyer establishes permanent residency by December 31, 2026, the buyer's 2027 bill is market value, minus the $25,000 school exemption, minus $150,000 on the non-school portion. If the buyer is a new resident after that date, the exemption starts at $50,000 and ramps up over five years. If the buyer is an investor, no homestead exemption applies at all, and what matters is the non-homestead cap dropping from 10% to 5% a year.
So the honest answer to "what will my taxes be" is never your bill. It is a calculation from the sale price, the county's millage split into school and non-school, the buyer's residency status, and the exemptions they qualify for. Our Amendment 3 calculator does that math for all 67 counties in both scenarios, and the property tax estimator does it under today's rules.
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The disclosure the contract already requires
Florida law has anticipated this conversation since 2004. Section 689.261 requires every contract for the sale of residential property to carry a property tax disclosure summary, in capital letters, telling the buyer that they should not rely on the seller's current property taxes as the amount they will pay in the year after purchase, that a change of ownership or improvements trigger a reassessment that can result in higher taxes, and that they should contact the county property appraiser with questions. The FAR/BAR contract prints it on the signature page.
That disclosure protects you. A buyer who later complains that "the taxes were supposed to be $4,000" has signed a statement saying they were told otherwise. It does not, however, help you sell the house. A buyer who hears "I can't tell you, ask the appraiser" from one seller and gets a clear projected number from the next seller remembers which house felt safer.
The rule of thumb we give listing agents: never quote your own bill as the buyer's bill, never guarantee a number, and always give the buyer the tools to check it themselves. Every county property appraiser publishes a tax estimator for exactly this purpose, and pointing a buyer to it is both accurate and disarming.
A one-page tax sheet for the listing
The sellers who close fastest this fall will be the ones who put a single page in the listing packet that answers the tax question before it is asked. It takes twenty minutes to build from the property appraiser's website and the TRIM notice you received in August:
- Your 2026 bill and the millage behind it, split into school and non-school, so a buyer can see why Amendment 3 changes only part of the number.
- Assessed value vs. market value. The gap between the two is your Save Our Homes savings, and it is the amount the buyer will not inherit. Showing it plainly ends the "but your taxes are only X" conversation.
- The exemptions on the property that leave with you: homestead, and any senior, veteran or widow exemption. The buyer applies for their own.
- A projected buyer bill at the asking price under today's rules and under Amendment 3, labeled as an estimate from the county estimator or our calculator, with the December 31 residency note for relocation buyers.
- Non-ad valorem assessments that ride on the tax bill regardless of exemptions: CDD bonds, solid waste, stormwater, special districts. Buyers routinely miss these and they are not affected by the amendment.
For a listing that will attract out-of-state buyers, that page is also a marketing document. A relocation buyer who understands the December 31 residency date has a reason to close in November rather than "sometime in the spring," and a seller who lays the timeline out for them has made the case for a quick closing without saying a word about urgency.
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How 2026 taxes prorate at closing
Amendment 3 has no effect on the 2026 tax bill, which mails November 1 and covers the calendar year. What happens at your closing is the same as every other year: property taxes are prorated between seller and buyer by days of ownership. If you close before the bill is issued, the standard Florida contract prorates on the current year's bill if it is available and otherwise on the prior year's assessment with allowance for the maximum discount, and the buyer pays the bill when it arrives. If you close after November 1 and have already paid, the buyer credits you for their share of the year.
Three things sellers ask about at the table:
- The November discount. Florida gives 4% off for paying in November, 3% in December, and so on. Contracts prorate at the full discounted amount, so a seller closing in December who has not paid does not get to prorate on the gross figure.
- An appeal you filed this fall. A pending Value Adjustment Board petition belongs to the owner of record for the tax year, which is you. The contract should say how any refund is split; our VAB deadline guide covers the assignment language we add when a file closes with an appeal open.
- A buyer who wants next year's taxes escrowed. Prorations settle this year's taxes only. The buyer's 2027 bill is theirs, and their lender sets up the escrow from a projection, not from your bill.
Our proration guide walks through the arithmetic with examples, and the proration calculator gives you the seller and buyer shares for any closing date.
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Submit a Contract →What you take with you, and the timing of your next purchase
If you are selling one Florida homestead to buy another, you are in the best position in the market this fall. You are already a permanent resident, so the December 31 date is met, and Florida's portability rule lets you transfer up to $500,000 of your Save Our Homes assessment difference to the new home as long as you establish the new homestead within three tax years of leaving the old one. File the portability form (DR-501T) with your homestead application on the new home by March 1.
Timing your next purchase is where the amendment changes the calculation. Under today's rules, a seller who closes on the sale in December and on the purchase in January has simply moved. If Amendment 3 passes, the same seller wants to own and occupy the new home on January 1, 2027 to receive the $150,000 exemption on it in 2027; a purchase that closes in mid-January still qualifies for the larger exemption because residency was established long ago, but the 2027 exemption on the new home requires ownership on January 1, so the first year of the larger benefit would be 2028. That is one year of difference, not five, but on a higher-value home it is worth scheduling around.
If you are leaving Florida, none of this follows you, and the only tax item left is the proration at closing and any refund from a pending appeal. If you are staying in Florida but renting for a while, the three-year portability window is the number to keep in mind; sell in 2026 and you have through 2029 to claim it on a new home.
Whichever way the vote goes, the paperwork at your closing is the same: the payoff, the proration, the deed. Send us the contract when you have a buyer and we will build the closing calendar from it, including any tax dates that matter to you or to the buyer.
Related Reading
Florida Amendment 3 Property Tax Calculator
Savings by county under the 2027 and 2028 exemption levels.
Florida Property Taxes After Buying a Home
Why the first bill after a purchase surprises buyers.
Who Pays Property Taxes at a Florida Closing
How the proration works, with examples.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will Amendment 3 lower my taxes this year while my house is for sale?
No. The 2026 bill that mails November 1 is unaffected. If the amendment passes, the first bill that reflects it is the November 2027 bill, and it reflects it for the owner on January 1, 2027, who will be the buyer if you have sold.
Can I tell a buyer their taxes will be the same as mine?
You should not. Florida resets the assessed value to market value on the January 1 after a sale and your Save Our Homes cap does not transfer, so the buyer's bill is usually higher. The contract's property tax disclosure summary warns the buyer of exactly this.
How are property taxes prorated at a Florida closing?
By days of ownership in the calendar year. If the current bill is available it is used, with the maximum discount; otherwise the prior year's assessment is used. The buyer pays the bill when it arrives and receives a credit for the seller's share, or reimburses the seller if the seller already paid.
Do I keep my Save Our Homes savings when I sell?
Not on the house you sell, but you can port up to $500,000 of the assessment difference to a new Florida homestead established within three tax years, by filing form DR-501T with your new homestead application by March 1.
I filed a property tax appeal this fall and now I am selling. Who gets the refund?
The petition belongs to the owner of record for the tax year, which is the seller. The contract should assign any refund; otherwise the tax collector sends it to the owner on file when it issues. We add assignment language at closing when an appeal is pending.