Seminole County Property Appraiser: Veteran Exemptions

The exemptions are the State's; the Florida entries explain them. The Seminole County Property Appraiser takes applications online, at its office in Sanford or by email to [email protected], with a VA letter whose effective date is before January 1 of the application year. What its veteran page says, and where it departs from the law. - The full exemption under section 196.081. The page describes it for an honorably discharged veteran with a "100% total & permanent service-connected disability", carried over to the surviving spouse, and says it "is not retro active for ad valorem purposes". Section 196.081 lets a veteran apply before VA's certificate arrives, dates the exemption back to the original application once it does, and refunds excess taxes for up to the four-year limit in section 197.182; it also gives a prorated refund on a homestead bought between January 1 and November 1. Ask for both. - The $5,000 exemption under section 196.24. The page asks for "a 10% to 100% service-connected disability" and that the applicant "Be a US Citizen or have a Permanent Resident Card". The statute requires a bona fide Florida resident discharged under honorable conditions, disabled 10% or more "by misfortune or while serving during a period of wartime service"; it sets no citizenship test. - The combat-related discount at 65 under section 196.082 is described correctly. What the page leaves out. The exemption under section 196.091 for a veteran with a total service-connected disability who uses a wheelchair and has VA specially adapted housing assistance; the full exemption for the unremarried surviving spouse of a member who died from service-connected causes on active duty, under section 196.081(4); and the deployed servicemember exemption under section 196.173. All three are the State's and apply in Seminole County; ask the Appraiser for them by section number. The page notes, correctly, that the exemptions do not reach non-ad valorem assessments such as garbage or street lighting.