Florida’s Senior Property Tax Exemption: Who Offers It and How to File

Two versions, both adopted locally

Florida law lets a board of county commissioners or a city’s governing body adopt either or both additional exemptions by ordinance. The ordinance has to reach the property appraiser by December 1 of the year before it takes effect, and the 25-year version needs a supermajority: a majority plus one of the governing body.

The Department of Revenue says these exemptions apply only to the millage of the county or city that adopts them, not to school districts or other taxing units. A city exemption lowers city taxes; a county exemption lowers county taxes.

Who offers it around The Villages

The property appraiser applies whichever ordinances cover your parcel. This is what each county’s appraiser and published code showed when we checked.

Sumter County. The $15,000 exemption applies only to taxes levied by the Board of County Commissioners. A January 21, 2025 county workshop reviewed amending it (state law allows up to $50,000), but the published code, current through Ordinance 2025-25 of July 22, 2025, still reads $15,000. Confirm the current amount with the Sumter County Property Appraiser. For scale, at the county’s certified 2026 rate of 4.8900 mills, $15,000 of exemption is worth about $73 a year on the county general levy alone. It can also reduce other taxes the County Commission levies, such as the fire district millage.

Gaps in the lists. Leesburg and Fruitland Park are not on the Lake appraiser’s list, Dunnellon is not on Marion’s, and the Sumter appraiser’s exemptions page does not say whether any city, such as Wildwood or Bushnell, has adopted it. If your parcel is inside a city, ask the appraiser whether that city has an ordinance on file.

What it means for a home in The Villages

Confirm the county from the parcel record, not the mailing city. How to file the base homestead exemption → · Estimate the tax bill at your price →

Who qualifies for the limited-income version

• You have the Florida homestead exemption on the home, or are applying for it at the same time.
• You are 65 or older on January 1 of the tax year.
• Household income is at or under the limit. That means the prior year’s federal adjusted gross income of everyone living in the home on January 1, not counting renters or boarders.
• For 2026 the limit is $38,686, up from $37,694 for 2025. It is adjusted every January 1 by the change in the cost-of-living index.
• Social Security counts only to the extent it is taxable and included in adjusted gross income.
• If title is held jointly with right of survivorship, the owner who lives there and otherwise qualifies may receive the full exemption.

How to file Form DR-501SC

1. Start with homestead.First-time applicants file DR-501SC with Form DR-501, the homestead application, and all required attachments.
2. List the household.Name everyone living in the home on January 1 and each person’s adjusted gross income.
3. Attach income proof.For each person who files a federal return: the Form 1040 (or a Form 4868 extension) and W-2s. For each person who doesn’t: the SSA-1099, IRS Form 4506-T, and the income statement on page 3 of the form.
4. Prove your age.One document such as a Florida driver license or ID card, a certified birth certificate, or a permanent resident card.
5. Meet your county’s dates.Sumter lists DR-501SC as due March 1, with financial information due by June 1. Lake accepts filings online, by mail or in person from January 2 to March 1 and asks for household income documents by May 1. Marion asks qualified seniors to apply in person at its Ocala office, 501 SE 25th Ave; for 2026 it posted the deadline as Monday, March 2.
6. Keep it accurate.Tell the appraiser by May 1 if household income goes over the current limit. The appraiser may audit a sworn statement and ask you to sign IRS Form 8821 or 4506.

Other exemptions seniors ask about

These are statewide, not local options, and you file them with the same property appraiser, generally by March 1.

Waiting on a VA or Social Security letter? For the disability and veteran exemptions above, you can apply before the VA (or, for the $5,000 blind-or-disabled exemption, Social Security) documentation arrives. Once it arrives, the exemption or discount is granted as of the original application date, with refunds of excess taxes limited to four years.

Missed March 1?

For homestead and the statewide exemptions, Florida law gives a qualified applicant who missed March 1 a second window: file within 25 days after the property appraiser mails the proposed-tax (TRIM) notices in August. The appraiser can grant the exemption for extenuating circumstances; if not, you can petition the county value adjustment board. Local senior ordinances set their own filing rules. Lake County’s code, for example, says missing March 1 (or the June 1 documentation deadline) waives its senior exemption for that year, so ask the appraiser right away whether a late filing can be accepted.

On the November 3, 2026 ballot

Amendment 3 (CS/HJR 1-F; on the ballot as “Increased Homestead Exemption; Lower Cap on Increases in Non-Homestead Property Assessments”), passed by the Legislature on June 2, 2026, would raise the homestead exemption for non-school taxes to $150,000 in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028. Owners who had not made Florida their permanent residence by December 31, 2026 would start with up to $50,000 for non-school taxes and move to the larger amount beginning with their fifth year of exemption. It needs 60% voter approval and would take effect January 1, 2027. This page describes the law in effect now.