You can take it with you…
In the last Blog Post we covered the Save Our Homes Cap (SOH) and how it can save you thousands of dollars on Real Estate taxes for as long as you live in your home. Now let’s take a look at how you can take those savings with you if you decide to move.
These benefits can transfer if you UPSIZE or DOWNSIZE to any home located in any County in the State of Florida.
If you are upsizing it’s a fairly simple calculation; you take your accumulated amount of your SOH cap and transfer it to your new home and your Assessed Value drops accordingly. Then subtract your $50,000 Homestead Exemption to arrive at your taxable value..
If you are downsizing you transfer a percentage of your SOH benefits. This is calculated by dividing the Just Value of your new home by the Just Value of your old home. This will give you a percentage ( in our example below it is 75% ). Now multiply your accumulated SOH differential from your old home times the percentage to determine the new SOH reduction. Then subtract your $50,000 Homestead Exemption to arrive at your taxable value. (see below)
Downsize formula: $300,000 / $400,000 = .75
.75 x $150,000 = $112,500
To see what your current SOH value is you can go to the Pinellas County Property Appraiser website: https://www.pcpao.org/. On the left side bar click Search Our Database then By Address. Enter your address and you will be taken to a link, click the link to proceed to your full property record. Note the Just/Market Value and the Assessed Value in the most recent tax year. Subtract Assessed Value from Just/Market Value and that is your accumulated SOH benefit.
If you, a family member or friend have sold a home this year make sure you or they file Homestead and apply for a transfer of the accumulated SOH benefit by the end of the year.
If you have any questions please give me a call.
Best regards,
Your Broker
Pete Doiron