Florida VAB Petition Deadline 2026: County Dates and How to File

TRIM notices went out in August, which means the 25-day clock to challenge your 2026 assessment is running now and, in most counties, expires between September 8 and September 25. Here is how the deadline is set, what the petition costs, where to file in all 67 counties, and what happens to a pending appeal when the property sells.

Why the deadline is now

Every August, each of Florida's 67 property appraisers mails a Notice of Proposed Property Taxes, the TRIM notice, showing the January 1 market value, the assessed value after the Save Our Homes or 10% cap, the exemptions applied and the taxes each taxing authority proposes. It is not a bill. It is the one document that starts a legal clock: from the day it is mailed, you have 25 days to file a petition with the Value Adjustment Board if you think the value, the exemption or the classification is wrong. Miss the date and the assessment stands for the year, and the bill that arrives in November is what you pay.

Because appraisers mail on different days, the deadline is different in every county. Our TRIM notice guide explains how to read the notice; this page is about the deadline itself and where the petition goes.

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How the 25-day clock works

Section 194.011(3)(d) sets the deadline at the 25th day after the property appraiser mails the TRIM notices for that county. The date is printed on the notice, usually near the bottom under a heading like “deadline to file a petition.” If the 25th day falls on a weekend or holiday, the clerk accepts the petition on the next business day. The petition must be received by the clerk by that date, not postmarked; online filing through the clerk's VAB portal is time-stamped and is the safest route.

A late petition can still be heard if the board finds good cause, which in practice means a documented reason outside your control, such as a hospitalization or a notice mailed to the wrong address. Simply not reading the notice is not good cause. The filing fee, set by section 194.013, is $15 per parcel and is waived for certain exemption denials and for petitioners who file a statement of inability to pay.

Two other deadlines sit nearby and are often confused with this one. A denial of a homestead or other exemption carries its own 30-day appeal window that started when the denial letter was mailed, usually in July. And the clerk must receive your evidence at least 15 days before the hearing, with the appraiser's evidence due to you 7 days before, under section 194.011(4).

Where to file in all 67 counties

The petition goes to the clerk of the circuit court in the county where the property sits, because the clerk serves as clerk to the Value Adjustment Board. Most clerks accept the petition online through a VAB portal, by mail, or in person at the courthouse. The property appraiser does not accept petitions, though appraisers will meet with you informally before the deadline and often resolve obvious errors without a hearing. Every county below links to our property-tax guide for that county, which covers the local millage, exemptions and appraiser contact.

State form DR-486 is the petition for value, exemption, classification and portability disputes; DR-486PORT is used for portability denials in a different county. Both are on the Florida Department of Revenue site and on every clerk's VAB page.

What you can appeal, and what to bring

The Value Adjustment Board hears four kinds of petition: the market value the appraiser assigned as of January 1, the denial of an exemption such as homestead, the denial of a classification such as agricultural greenbelt, and portability disputes when a Save Our Homes benefit is transferred. The board does not hear complaints about the tax rate; millage is set by the county, cities, school board and districts at the September budget hearings listed on the same TRIM notice, and those are the meetings to attend if the rate is the problem.

Value petitions are decided by a special magistrate, usually a state-certified appraiser, and the question is whether the appraiser's value exceeds what the property would have sold for on January 1, 2026. Bring evidence that speaks to that date:

• Comparable sales from late 2025 and early 2026, ideally three to five, with the adjustments explained.
• Your own purchase price if you bought in 2025, with the closing statement.
• An appraisal from a purchase or refinance near January 1.
• Photos and estimates documenting damage, deferred maintenance or hurricane repairs the appraiser could not see.
• Errors in the record card: wrong square footage, a pool that does not exist, a garage counted as living area.

The evidence must reach the clerk at least 15 days before the hearing. If it does not, the magistrate can refuse to consider it, and many petitions are lost on that rule alone.

Pay the bill anyway

Filing a petition does not pause the tax bill. Under section 194.014, a petitioner must pay at least 75% of the ad valorem taxes and 100% of the non-ad valorem assessments before the taxes become delinquent on April 1, or the petition is automatically dismissed. Most owners simply pay the full November bill and take the early-payment discount; if the board lowers the value, the tax collector refunds the difference with interest. Our guide to the November discount covers the payment schedule.

Appeals and a pending sale

This is the part we handle at the closing table. A petition belongs to the owner of record for the tax year, so if a home is under contract in September, the seller files, not the buyer. Whether the buyer benefits depends on the contract. The FAR/BAR contract prorates the current year's taxes at closing using the best available figure, and a reduction won by the seller after closing produces a refund payable to whoever the tax collector has on file, usually the new owner. Sellers who expect a meaningful reduction should add a clause assigning the refund, or the parties can agree to re-prorate once the final bill issues. We draft that language and, when the amount is significant, hold the disputed proration in escrow until the board rules.

Buyers should also understand that a successful appeal by the seller helps only this year. Florida reassesses the property to market value on the January 1 after a sale, and the Save Our Homes cap starts over for the new owner. Our guide to property taxes after buying a home walks through what the first full-year bill will look like, and the property tax calculator models it for any county.

The mistakes that get petitions thrown out

• Filing with the property appraiser instead of the clerk. The appraiser can review your value informally, but the legal petition must reach the clerk of court by the deadline.
• Arguing about the tax, not the value. The board cannot lower a millage rate. It can only decide whether the January 1 value or an exemption decision is wrong.
• Missing the 15-day evidence deadline. The magistrate can decline to look at anything filed late.
• Comparing to today's market. The question is value on January 1, 2026. Sales from this summer carry less weight than sales from last winter.
• Not paying the bill. The 75% payment rule dismisses the petition automatically on April 1 regardless of how strong the case is.
• Skipping the informal review. Many record-card errors are fixed by the appraiser in a ten-minute phone call, before the deadline, at no cost.

Related Reading

Property Tax

How to Appeal a Florida Property Tax Assessment

The full appeal process from informal review through the VAB hearing and circuit court.

Property Tax

The Florida TRIM Notice, Explained

How to read every line of the Notice of Proposed Property Taxes, and what to do with it.

Property Tax

Florida Property Tax Bill: The November Discount

Pay in November and save 4%. The full discount schedule, delinquency dates and how escrow accounts handle it.

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