Additional Homestead Exemption for Deployed Servicemembers
Exempts a share of your home's taxable value equal to the share of last year you spent deployed on a qualifying operation.
Verified August 15, 2026
What this benefit is
An additional homestead exemption proportional to the share of the previous calendar year you spent deployed on a designated operation. Deployed for 200 days of a 365-day year, and roughly 55% of your taxable value is exempted.
A full 365-day deployment produces a 100% exemption.
What it's worth: A share of your tax bill equal to your share of the year deployed
- A full 365-day deployment produces a 100% exemption.
- Worked example: $250,000 taxable value and 200 qualifying days gives about $2,466 at 18 mills.
Who is entitled to it
- A servicemember who was deployed during the previous calendar year.
- On one of the operations enumerated in Fla. Stat. §196.173(2).
- Who owns and lives in the Florida home as their homestead.
Not sure whether that describes you?
Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.
The thing most people get wrong
This one has no disability element at all
It is the only Florida property tax benefit in this set that does not ask about a rating, a letter, or a percentage. It asks where you were and for how long. It is also the highest-value and least-known benefit in the corpus — on a $250,000 taxable value with 200 qualifying days, roughly $2,466 at 18 mills.
How to claim it
Deadline: March 1 of the following year- 1Get orders or a statement showing your deployment dates for last year.
- 2File Form DR-501M with your county property appraiser by March 1.
- 3Re-file every year you were deployed.
- Form
- DR-501M
- File with
- Your county property appraiser
- Documents you will need
- deployment orders · proof of deployment dates
- You must re-file every year
- This one MUST be re-filed every year. It is a prior-year computation and does not inherit the automatic renewal of its chapter 196 siblings.
Common mistakes that cost people this benefit
- Not re-filing. This is the trap. It is a prior-year computation and must be filed every single year — it does not inherit the automatic renewal that its chapter 196 siblings have.
- Assuming your operation is not on the list without checking. The statutory list has not been updated in four years, so it is worth confirming rather than guessing.
- Using the wrong form. This one uses the DR-501M, not the standard DR-501.
Questions people ask
- My deployment was on an operation I cannot find in the statute. What now?
- The list has been unchanged for four years, so it is genuinely possible to be deployed on something the legislature has not added. File anyway and let the appraiser rule on it — and tell your County Veteran Service Officer, because that gap is a legislative fix, not a paperwork one.
- I was deployed for part of last year and part of this year. How is it counted?
- Only the days in the previous calendar year count toward this year's exemption. This year's days count on next year's filing, which is why re-filing annually matters so much.
Sources
- authority · statuteFla. Stat. §196.173
- operating · fee scheduleForm DR-501M
This finder provides an informational match, not a government eligibility determination. The responsible agency decides your application.