Changes for Administrative Reviews of 2011 Assessments:
Partial Payment of Taxes
The 2011 Legislature enacted a requirement that property taxpayers make a partial payment of
taxes on properties that have a VAB petition pending on or after the tax delinquency date (normally
April 1 following the assessment year under review). The new statute provides that if the taxpayer
fails to make the required partial payment before the delinquency date, the petition will be denied.
The required partial payment amount depends on the type of petition filed on the property. The
partial payment requirements of the new law are summarized below.
• For petitions on the value of property, including portability, the required payment must include
all of the non-ad valorem assessments and a partial payment of at least 75 percent of the ad
valorem taxes, less applicable discounts under Section 197.162, F.S.
• For petitions on the denial of a classification or exemption, or based on an argument that the
property was not substantially complete as of January 1, the required payment must include all
non-ad valorem assessments and the amount of the ad valorem taxes that the taxpayer admits
in good faith to be owing, less applicable discounts under Section 197.162, F.S.
No partial payment is required if the petition is on a denial of tax deferral.
Please refer to Section 194.014, F.S., titled "Partial payment of ad valorem taxes; proceedings
before value adjustment board." This statutory section was created by Chapter 2011-181, Laws of
Florida (HB281), effective July 1, 2011. The new law states: "The value adjustment board must
deny the petition by written decision by April 20 if the petitioner fails to make the payment required
by this subsection."
As part of the implementation of the new law, the Department plans to initiate formal rulemaking
to revise Forms DR-486 and DR-486PORT for consistency with the new statute. Draft revisions of
these forms are available for public review and comment on the Department's website at:
http://dor.myflorida.com/dor/property/vab/partialp mt.html.| http://www.floridahomesteadservices.com |
