Your Florida benefits calendar

Not a page of dates — the dates your own matches depend on, and the two moments that nothing in Florida's system will warn you about.

The Florida property tax year

Every chapter 196 exemption runs on this calendar.

January 1 — status date
in 114 days
Residency, age and permanence are all measured on this date. Whatever is true on January 1 is what the county uses for the whole year.
February 1 — renewal cards mail
in 145 days
Automatic renewal cards for chapter 196 exemptions go out by this date. If yours does not arrive, do not assume it renewed.
Fla. Stat. §196.011(7)
March 1 — filing deadline for every chapter 196 exemption
in 173 days
File even if your VA letter has not arrived. Your date is preserved and refunds run up to 4 years back.
Fla. Stat. §196.011; §196.081(5)
March 31 — utility re-certification
in 203 days
KEYS Energy and the Florida Keys Aqueduct Authority both re-certify by this date. Miss it and the discount stops.
April 1 — SSN cure deadline and CSDDV scholarship deadline
in 204 days
If your application was missing a Social Security number, this is the last day to supply it.
July 1 — denial notices must be mailed by this date
in 295 days
If you filed and have heard nothing by now, call the appraiser.
Fla. Stat. §196.193
Mid-August — TRIM notices mail
in 340 days
Your TRIM notice shows whether the exemption was actually applied. Read it. The 25-day appeal clock starts from its date.
TRIM + 25 days — Value Adjustment Board petition deadline
in 365 days
A petition costs $15, or nothing if you are appealing a denial of a timely-filed application.
November 1 — end of the mid-year acquisition proration window
in 53 days

The two triggers nothing else fires on

These are not dates. They are events, and they are where the most value is lost.

Your VA rating changes
A rating increase can cross a Florida threshold: 10% opens §196.24, 50% opens the free hunting and fishing licence, 100% opens the DV plate. Tell us and we will re-run your match and say what just became available.
The veteran dies
The surviving-spouse transfer is real, valuable, not automatic, and permanently lost on remarriage. The window is within 60 days of the death and before the next March 1. Nothing in Florida's system triggers on this.

The renewal trap

Several counties describe the disabled-veteran exemption as renewing automatically. That is true while the veteran is alive. For a surviving spouse it creates a false sense of security — when the veteran dies the renewal eventually stops, and by then March 1 may have passed.

Check which benefits apply to you, for a personalised calendar