The Property Appraiser’s Office has joined the Clerk of Courts and Tax Collector in manning satellite offices in Crescent City and Interlachen. The Property Appraiser’s Office will have representation in the satellite offices from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm, between January 1st and March 1st

Crescent City Office – Mondays and Wednesdays Only
 
115 N. Summit Street
 
(386) 698-4284
 
 
 
Interlachen Office – Tuesdays and Thursdays Only
 
Hitchcock’s Plaza, SR #20
 
(386) 684-3383

Homestead exemption is a legal status given to homeowners through which they may protect all or a portion of their property assessment from ad valorem taxes. Every Florida resident who has legal or equitable title to real estate and maintains it as his or her permanent residence shall be entitled to this exemption.

The $ 25,000 exemption applies to all ad valorem tax levies, and means that if your home is appraised at less than $ 25,000 that you will not be billed for ad valorem taxes. Homestead Exemption does not apply to Special Assessments.

The filing deadline for all exemptions ins March 1st of the year for which they are being filed. Applications must be filed in person at our office. If you were otherwise eligible but missed the March 1st deadline due to extenuating circumstances, F.S. 196.011(8) allows you to request that the Property Appraiser grant exemptions through the TRIM period.

Portability is the ability to shift tax benefits directly caused by the “Save Our Homes” law from one homesteaded residence to another. Properties that have utilized this benefit and ported their “Save Our Home” benefit from one homesteaded residence to another will show up as PHX in the exemption list. There is also a Portability Information box on your Parcel Detail Listing which shows how much Save Our Home benefit is available to Port.

LOW-INCOME SENIOR EXEMPTION

In 2000, the Putnam County Board of County Commissioners enacted ordinance #2000-24 which implemented a constitutional amendment approved by Florida voters in 1998 intended to provide tax relief for low income senior citizens. The new Ordinance provided for an additional tax exemption (which is applied to County general millage only) for certain eligible senior citizen home owners. In October 2003, they voted to increase this exemption from $ 20,000 to $ 25,000.

In order to be eligible for this new exemption, you must meet the following requirements:

1. You must meet the requirements for the regular $ 25,000 Homestead Exemption.
2. At least one owner living in your home must have reached the age of 65 before January 1, of the application year.
3. The total annual adjusted household income of all persons living in your home last year must not have exceeded the current adjusted income limitation. Please check with our office to find out the current adjusted household income limitation.

In order to receive this new exemption, eligible homeowners must file in person between January 1 and March 1 with the Property Appraiser’s Office. Applications are available in our main office in Palatka. Applications can also be made in our satellite offices in Crescent City and Interlachen between January 1 and March 1.

In addition, before your application will be considered to be complete, Florida Law specifies certain financial records that must be provided by the applicants for all persons living in your home in order to prove household income levels. Some applicants will be required to submit Federal Income Tax Return Form 1040 and Wage Earnings Statement (W-2 Form). Other applicants (those who do not file income tax returns) must file a Social Security Statement Form (SSA 1099) and complete a Statement of Income. Since some of these records may not be available prior to your initial filing deadline of March 1, applicants will have until June 1, to furnish any previously unavailable financial records that are needed to complete your application.

SUPER SENIOR EXEMPTION

Additionally, if you meet the requirements above, have lived in your home for 25 years or more and the just value of the home is less than $ 250,000, you qualify for the Super Senior Exemption. The Super Senior Exemption exempts the assessed value of the homesteaded property in its entirety. This exemption applies to all taxing districts that have enacted it through local ordinance. Currently the following Taxing Authorities have passed ordinances enacting this exemption: Putnam County, City of Palatka, Crescent City, Town of Interlachen, Town of Pomona Park and Town of Welaka.

Please contact our office for further details on either of these exemptions.

All persons who are qualified to receive the regular Homestead Exemption will automatically receive the new additional Homestead Exemption as long as their home is assessed on the tax rolls for more than $ 50,000. The new exemption is applied on home valuations between $ 50,000 and $ 75,000. So, in order to receive the full benefit, your home needs to be assessed for $ 75,000 or higher.

$5000 – Every Florida resident who is blind qualifies for this exemption. If claiming the exemption based on blindness, a certificate from the Division of Blind Services of the Department of Education or the United States Department of Veterans Affairs or the Federal Social Security Administration certifying the applicant to be blind is required. “Blind person” is defined as an individual having central vision acuity 20/200 or less in the better eye with correcting glasses, or a disqualifying field defect in which the peripheral field has contracted to such an extent that the widest diameter or visual field subtends an angular distance no greater than twenty degrees.

$5,000 – Any ex-service member who is a permanent resident of Florida and is disabled at least 10% in war or by service-connected misfortune is entitled to a $5,000 exemption. If filing for the first time, please present a certificate from the United States Government. Under certain circumstances the benefit of this exemption can carry over to the veteran’s spouse in the event of the veteran’s death. Consult your appraiser for details.

Any veteran age 65 and older may qualify for a homestead property tax discount if the veteran has an honorable discharge from military service and is partially disabled with a permanent service connected disability that is combat-related. The discount is equal to the percentage of the veteran’s permanent service connected disability as determined by the United States Department of Veterans Affairs.

$5000 – Every Florida resident who is totally and permanently disabled qualifies for this exemption. If filing for the first time, please present at least one of the following as proof of your disability: A certificate from a licensed Florida physician, or a certificate from the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, or documentation from the Social Security Administration.

$5000 – Any widow who is a permanent Florida resident may claim this exemption. If the widow remarries, she is no longer eligible. If the husband and wife were divorced before his death, the woman is not considered a widow. You may be asked to produce a death certificate when filing for the first time.

$5000 – Any widower who is a permanent Florida resident may claim this exemption. If the widower remarries he is no longer eligible. If the husband and wife were divorced before her death, the man is not considered a widower. You may be asked to produce a death certificate when filing for the first time.

Complete Tax Exemption is available for honorably discharged veterans with 100% service-connected total and permanent disabilities, on their homes, also for quadriplegics and certain other total and permanently disabled persons meeting an income requirement.

Under Florida Law, certain religious, literary, scientific, and charitable properties defined as nonprofit in F.S. 196.196 are exempt from taxation. Also certain educational institutions and most government property is exempted.

Veterans deployed in the prior year outside the continental United States, Alaska or Hawaii in support operations designated by the Florida legislature are eligible for additional exemption based on the term of deployment in the prior year.

The Legislature enacted Chapter 2018-118, Laws of Florida, (HB 7087)effective July 1, 2018. Section 15 updates the designated operations for which deployed servicemembers may qualify for the homestead exemption in Section 196.173, Florida Statutes. It specifies that Operation Enduring Freedom ended on December 31, 2014, and it removes from the list Operations New Dawn and Odyssey Dawn, which ended on December 15, 2011, and October 31, 2011, respectively.

The exemption is available to service members who were deployed during the preceding calendar year on active duty outside the continental United States, Alaska, or Hawaii in support of any of the following military operations:

• Operation Joint Task Force Bravo, which began in 1995.
• Operation Joint Guardian, which began on June 12, 1999.
• Operation Noble Eagle, which began on September 15, 2001.
• Operations in the Balkans, which began in 2004.
• Operation Nomad Shadow, which began in 2007.
• Operation U.S. Airstrikes Al Qaeda in Somalia, which began in January 2007.
• Operation Juniper Shield, Which began in February 2007.
• Operation Copper Dune, which began in 2009.
• Operation Georgia Deployment Program, which began in August 2009.
• Operation Spartan Shield, which began in June 2011.
• Operation Observant Compass, which began in October 2011.
• Operation Martillo, which began in January 2012.
• Operation Inherent Resolve, which began on August 8, 2014.
• Operation Atlantic Resolve, which began in April 2014.
• Operation Freedom’s Sentinel, which began on January 1, 2015.
• Operation Resolute Support, which began in January 2015.
• Operation Pacific Eagle, which began in September 2017.

The designated operations can change – please file an application and we will process it based on the latest information provided to the Legislature by the Department of Military Affairs.

To apply, complete the application form and submit it along with proof of the qualifying deployment(s) which includes dates of the deployment and other information necessary to verify eligibility for the exemption such as a letter from the servicemember’s administrative officer. You may e-mail your application and supporting information to hx-appraiser@putnam-fl.gov, fax it to (386) 329-0447, or hand deliver or mail it to the Putnam County Property Appraiser’s office (East Annex Bldg) at 312 Oak Street, Palatka, Florida 32177.

The deadline to file is March 1. Service members whose deployment spans over two calendar years must apply each year.

A Florida first responder who was totally and permanently disabled in the line of duty can qualify to have his/her homesteaded residence exempted from all ad valorem taxes. To qualify for the Total & Permanent Disabled First Responder Exemption, the applicant must:

• Have applied for and been approved for Homestead exemption
• Provide totally and permanently disabled proof
  • Documentation from the Social Security Administration stating that the applicant is totally and permanently disabled AND one (1) completed Physician’s Certificate of Disability.
  • An applicant that cannot obtain the medical status determination because of ineligibility for social security or medicare benefits must provide documentation to that effect from the Social Security Administration and two (2) completed Physician’s Certificates of Disability from two different Florida licensed physicians that are not related or in the same medical practice.
• Provide In the Line of Duty Proof
  • An ‘Employer Certificate’ that must contain (at a minimum):
    • The title of the person signing the certificate;
    • The name and address of the employing entity;
    • A description of the incident that caused the injury or injuries;
    • The date and location of the incident; and
    • A statement that the first responder’s injury or injuries were:
      • (I) Directly and proximately caused by service in the line of duty.
      • (II) Without willful negligence on the part of the first responder.
      • (III) The sole cause of the first responder’s total and permanent disability.
    • It must be supplemented with documentation of the incident or event that caused the injury, such as an accident or incident report.
• For injuries caused by cardiac events: the certificate must include a statement from the first responder’s treating cardiologist for cardiac events that, within a reasonable degree of medical certainty (I) was not caused by a preexisting cardiac vascular disease and (II) the nonroutine stressful or strenuous activity directly and proximately caused the cardiac event that gave rise to the total and permanent disability.