Every August, Florida's county property appraisers mail a document that most homeowners glance at and toss in a drawer. That's a mistake that can cost hundreds — sometimes thousands — of dollars a year. The TRIM notice (short for Truth in Millage) is not a bill, but it is the one annual moment when your property's assessed value is open to question, and the window to act is a firm 25 calendar days from the mailing date — not from the day you open it.
What TRIM Stands For — and Why It Matters
Florida law requires every county property appraiser to mail the TRIM notice each August so homeowners can review their property information before tax bills go out in November. Think of it as a preview: it shows your property's just (market) value, assessed value, and taxable value, along with any exemptions or classifications already applied. The proposed millage rates — set separately by your county commission, school board, water management district, and special districts — are also listed, giving you an estimate of what you'll actually owe. Property values on the notice are based on real estate market conditions as of January 1, 2026.
Decoding the Three Key Numbers
The three value columns trip up a lot of readers, so here's the plain-language breakdown:
- Just Value — The property appraiser's estimate of your home's full open-market value. This is the number you're contesting if you file an appeal. Ask yourself: could you realistically sell the house for this amount today?
- Assessed Value — What most of your taxes are actually calculated on. For homestead properties, this is capped by Save Our Homes and can be significantly lower than just value after several years of ownership.
- Taxable Value — The assessed value minus any exemptions you qualify for. Multiply this by your local millage rate and you get your estimated tax bill. One mill equals $1 of tax per $1,000 of taxable value.
One important wrinkle: school district taxes are calculated differently. Most non-homestead exemptions do not apply to school millage, so don't be surprised if your school-tax line uses a higher base value than the rest.
Verify Your Save Our Homes Cap Is Working
If your home has a homestead exemption, Florida's Save Our Homes (SOH) amendment limits how fast your assessed value can climb. Specifically, it caps annual increases at either 3% or the change in the Consumer Price Index, whichever is lower. For the 2026 tax year, that cap is 2.7%, meaning no matter how much your neighborhood's market value surged, your assessed value could not rise more than 2.7% above last year's figure. Over a decade or two of Florida's appreciation cycles, the gap between market value and assessed value can grow to a substantial sum — and that gap represents real tax savings you keep as long as you stay in the home.
On your TRIM notice, check that the assessed value is lower than the just value (if you've owned the home under homestead for more than one year) and that the year-over-year increase in assessed value does not exceed 2.7%. If your just value jumped 15% but your assessed value jumped the same amount, something is wrong and you should call your property appraiser's office immediately. Also confirm that your homestead exemption itself is listed — if it's missing, contact the appraiser before the September protest deadline.
Exemptions to Double-Check
The standard Florida homestead exemption reduces your assessed value by $50,000 — the first $25,000 applies to all taxing authorities, and the second $25,000 applies to everything except school district taxes. Beyond that baseline, several additional exemptions are easy to miss:
- Senior Exemption — Most Florida counties have adopted a local ordinance allowing homeowners 65 or older with household adjusted gross income below $38,686 (for 2026) to claim an additional exemption of up to $50,000. This exemption is not automatic — you must apply with your county property appraiser, typically by March 1. If you turned 65 recently and haven't applied, check this immediately.
- Widow/Widower's Exemption — Permanent Florida residents who are widowed may claim a $5,000 exemption, provided they haven't remarried.
- Disability Exemption — Totally and permanently disabled Florida residents qualify for a $5,000 reduction; 100%-rated disabled veterans can qualify for a full exemption.
- Deployed Military Exemption — Active-duty military members deployed overseas during a prior year may be eligible for a partial exemption based on deployment time.
Income thresholds and exact amounts can vary by county and are adjusted periodically, so always verify current figures with your local property appraiser's office.
How to File a Value Appeal Before the Deadline
If you believe your just value is too high — or if an exemption is missing — here's the sequence to follow:
- Check the mailing date. The 25-day appeal clock starts from the date printed on the notice, not the day it arrives in your mailbox. The deadline is printed on the notice itself, so note it the moment you open the envelope. For 2026, most county deadlines fall in early-to-mid September — Orange County's VAB deadline, for example, fell on September 18, 2026.
- Try an informal review first. Before filing a formal petition, call or visit your county property appraiser's office. Many counties resolve disputes informally, and this step costs nothing. Just know that having an informal chat does not pause or extend your 25-day window.
- File Form DR-486. If the informal review doesn't resolve things, download the Florida Department of Revenue's Petition to the Value Adjustment Board form (DR-486) from floridarevenue.com. Submit it — along with the filing fee, which is capped at $15 per parcel by state law — to your county's Value Adjustment Board clerk, not to the property appraiser. Many counties now accept online filing through a VAB portal. If you're appealing a portability matter, use form DR-486PORT instead.
- Exchange evidence on time. Florida's VAB evidence-exchange rules have teeth. You must submit your supporting documents — recent comparable sales, an independent appraisal, photos of property condition issues, or any factual errors in the property record card — directly to the property appraiser at least 15 days before your scheduled hearing. Evidence you wait to spring on the day of the hearing will not help you.
- Attend your hearing. Hearings are conducted by a special magistrate and typically run about 15 minutes. Bring organized copies of everything you submitted. The VAB is separate from the property appraiser's office and makes its decision independently.
A Note on SOH Portability
If you're planning to move within Florida, your accumulated Save Our Homes benefit doesn't disappear. You can transfer up to $500,000 of that SOH differential to a new Florida homestead, and since a 2020 constitutional amendment extended the portability window, you have up to three years from the date you abandon your old homestead to claim it. File form DR-501T when you apply for homestead on the new property. This single step can be worth far more than any appeal.
Bottom line: When your TRIM notice arrives — typically mid-August — open it that day, note the printed deadline, and run through this checklist before anything else. Confirm your exemptions are listed, verify that your assessed value didn't jump more than 2.7%, and compare the just value to recent sale prices in your neighborhood. If something looks off, the phone call or online filing it takes to push back costs very little. Missing the window costs a full year.
