Monitor Editor
GREEN COVE SPRINGS— Clay County Property Appraiser Tracy S. Drake said he has hired a firm to look for improper homestead exemption claims among the county’s 55,000 parcels with the exemptions.
Florida law provides for a number of property tax exemptions, assessment reductions, and classifications which will reduce the taxable value (and taxes) of property.
Homestead exemption is the most common. To be eligible, property owners must have legal or equitable title to the property and establish proof of permanent residency (annually as of January 1).
Drake said Clay County’s property tax base is predominately residential, with approximately 70% of the total taxable value consisting of improved residential properties, and more than 73 percent of those parcels are encumbered with an existing homestead exemption.
He added that although it is the responsibility of the property appraiser to determine the eligibility of the homestead exemption, some property owners are improperly or fraudulently receiving the tax benefit.
“(This) is problematic and creates inequity within the assessment roll and tax base,” he said in a news release. “Ultimately, honest taxpayers are left with making up the difference that homestead fraud creates. This audit is intended to certify that all property owners pay their fair share – no more, no less.”
Under Florida law, the property appraiser may review the exemption status for any current or prior year, up to 10 years, and may file a tax lien subject to the taxes owed as a result of the ineligible exemption. The appraiser may also impose a 50% penalty of the unpaid taxes for each year, and 15% interest per year.
In 2019 Property Appraiser Eddie Creamer hired the same firm to audit exemptions in St. Johns County, and the examination uncovered over 300 parcels in which property owners claimed the exemption but were not entitled to it.
The audit also uncovered nearly 100 property owners who were not claiming the exemption but who were entitled to it.
Typically, auditors uncover improper homestead exemptions by discovering similar exemptions claimed by the same property owners in other states, or by finding the alleged homestead offered for rent on online rental platforms like Airbnb or Vrbo.
Florida is particularly susceptible to improper homestead exemptions because of the high number of vacation and second homes in the state.
The homestead exemption became a topic in the 2016 Florida House District 19 race, when Bradford County Property Appraiser Jimmy Alvarez removed the exemption from Rep. Charles Van Zant’s claimed homestead.
Alvarez checked into the exemption after receiving an anonymous email. Van Zant’s wife Katherine was seeking to replace her husband in the legislature but lost the Republican primary to Bobby Payne shortly after the public disclosure of Charles Van Zant’s exemption ineligibility.
Charles Van Zant said the exemption was valid, and only agreed to pay the additional tax to remove the issue from his wife’s campaign.
He added that he had not lived in the home for eight years because of a remodeling project.
“It’s been a slow remodel, but that’s my prerogative,” he said. “There is no law that says how long a remodel must take.”
Parcel owners whom the property appraiser determined has received the exemption improperly are first notified by a 30-day notice of intent to lien. They then have 30 days to prove to the official that the exemption is proper.
