Monroe County Property Appraiser: Veteran and Military Exemptions

The exemptions are the State's; the Florida entries explain them. The Monroe County Property Appraiser's veterans and military page, FAQ and forms list what it asks for. Filing: "Application must be made by March 1"; applications after the deadline are treated as "pre-files" for the next roll; "original signatures are required, we cannot accept faxed or e-mailed applications", at any of the three offices; main office 500 Whitehead Street, Key West, 305-292-3420, weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Exemptions renew automatically. $5,000 for a disabled ex-servicemember (196.24). The page restates the statute (honourable conditions, a 10% disability, the unremarried surviving spouse) and then says: "If filing for the first time, please present a letter from the Veteran's Administration (VA) certifying a Service Connected Total and Permanent disability." That is the 196.081 test. Section 196.24 accepts "a certificate of disability" showing 10% or more, and its FAQ asks for exactly that (a "service connected disability of at least 10% (VA Letter 27-125)"). The same FAQ says the applicant must "have homestead exemption"; section 196.24 exempts $5,000 of a qualifying veteran's property, homestead or not. A veteran rated 10% to 90%, or one without a homestead, should apply with the rating letter and cite the statute. Total and permanent (196.081). A VA or U.S. Government letter certifying a service-connected total and permanent disability (the FAQ names VA letter 27-333) makes the homestead 100% exempt, less any commercial portion. The page passes it to a surviving spouse "that held title to the homestead property, with the veteran as an estate by the entirety". Section 196.081(3) asks only that the spouse hold legal or beneficial title and live there, and lets a spouse who sells carry the exemption, up to the last roll's amount, to a new home. The surviving spouse of a veteran who died of service-connected causes on active duty brings the VA or U.S. Government letter. 65 and older, combat-related (196.082). Form DR-501DV, proof of age 65 by January 1, the DD-214, the rating decision, and evidence of the combat-related share if the decision does not show it; the page notes the 2012 amendment opening the discount to veterans who were not Florida residents at entry. Beneath it the page says the unremarried surviving spouse "of veterans who were disabled with a service-connected disability of 10% or more" qualifies; the discount's own carryover, section 196.082(3), passes it to a spouse who holds title and lives there until remarriage or sale. Deployed military (196.173). Form DR-501M with proof of deployment. The page's operations list is an older one: it still names Operations Observant Compass and Resolute Support, which the statute no longer lists, and stops at Operation Martillo, omitting the seven the statute now adds, from Enduring Freedom - Horn of Africa to the Multinational Force and Observers, among them Operation Southern Spear (2025), added by chapter 2026-239 for the 2026 roll. Check a deployment against the statute, not the page.