Your Florida TRIM notice, explained
Every August, your county Property Appraiser mails every owner a Notice of Proposed Property Taxes — the TRIM notice ("Truth in Millage," Fla. Stat. §200.069). It is not a bill. It is the one document each year that shows what every taxing authority proposes to collect from you — and it starts the only clock you get for challenging your assessment. This year's notice also lands in the middle of the biggest Florida property-tax vote in decades: Amendment 3, covered below.
What it is — and what it isn't
The Property Appraiser mails the notice in the name of your taxing authorities (county, school board, city, districts) after the roll is certified in summer; the actual tax bill comes separately from the Tax Collector around November 1. Nothing on the TRIM notice is due. The mailing date printed on it matters more than any other line — the petition deadline below is counted from it.
The comparison that matters: three versions of "your taxes"
The statute forces the notice into an honest three-way comparison for each taxing authority:
| Column on the notice | What it is | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| Your property taxes last year | What you actually paid each authority | The baseline you experienced |
| This year if NO budget change is adopted | This year's values at the rolled-back rate (§200.065) — the millage that would raise the same total dollars as last year from the same properties (new construction excluded) | The honest revenue-neutral baseline |
| This year if the PROPOSED budget is adopted | What the authority actually intends to levy | Higher than the middle column = a tax increase under Florida law, whatever the rate did |
Here is the part Florida's TRIM law exists to make visible: when values rise, an unchanged millage rate collects more money. If the "proposed" column is higher than the "no budget change" column, that is a tax increase under Florida law — even when an official says "we held the rate steady." The rolled-back rate is the number that makes that claim checkable.
The three values on the notice
| Value | How it's set | What moves it |
|---|---|---|
| Market (just) value | The Property Appraiser's January 1 valuation | The market — sales of comparable property |
| Assessed value | Market value minus accumulated cap savings | Save Our Homes caps homestead growth (§193.155); non-homestead carries its own 10 percent cap (§193.1554) |
| Taxable value | Assessed value minus your exemptions — what the millage actually applies to | Exemptions; school and non-school taxable values can differ because some exemptions skip school levies |
You can pull any parcel's certified values with the property tax lookup, see how your county's millage compares in the all-67 ranked county table, and check what the exemptions are worth with the homestead exemption calculator.
The 25-day deadline most people miss
Disagree with the value (or a denied exemption)? Florida gives you a short, hard window: a petition to the county's Value Adjustment Board may be filed "on or before the 25th day following the mailing of the notice" (§194.011(3)(d)). The clock runs from the mailing date printed on your TRIM notice — typically putting the deadline in early-to-mid September.
- Start with a phone call. Every Property Appraiser's office holds informal conferences; documentation errors (wrong square footage, ignored damage, a missed exemption) are often corrected without a petition.
- Then petition if needed — filed with the Value Adjustment Board clerk, listed on the notice itself.
- Know what the VAB can and cannot hear: it decides value and exemption disputes. It has no power over the tax rate.
- The rate is decided at the hearings on the notice. Each authority's budget hearing date, time, and location is printed right on the TRIM notice — that public hearing is where the millage is actually voted, and where residents get heard on it.
New for 2026: those hearings just got harder to raise taxes in (SB 4-F)
This August's notice is the first issued under SB 4-F (Chapter 2026-240), the property-tax bill from June's special session, signed July 1, 2026 and effective immediately. It rewrites the vote a local government needs to adopt its millage:
- Before: since 2009, a county, city, or special district could adopt — by simple majority — a maximum rate computed from last year's maximum, grown by Florida per-capita personal income. Taxes could drift up each year on an ordinary vote.
- Now: a simple majority only reaches the rolled-back rate — the revenue-neutral rate this very notice is built around. Going up to 110 percent of it takes a two-thirds vote of the governing body; anything beyond that takes a unanimous vote (three-fourths on boards of nine or more, or a voter referendum).
In plain terms: under SB 4-F, an actual tax increase above revenue-neutral now requires a supermajority of your county commission or city council — so the "proposed" column on your 2026 notice was set under a tougher rule than any year before it. School millage runs under its own separate rules and isn't part of this change. (Fla. SB 4-F, Ch. 2026-240; Senate staff analysis.)
Amendment 3: the property-tax vote your notice arrives into
On June 2, 2026, the Florida Legislature passed HJR 1-F, placing Amendment 3 on the November 3, 2026 ballot under the title "Increased Homestead Exemption; Lower Cap on Increases in Non-Homestead Property Assessments." It needs at least 60 percent approval to pass. (The original title, "Save Our Homes From Excessive Property Taxes," was ruled misleading by a Leon County judge on August 4, 2026; the state did not appeal, and the Attorney General's rewrite replaced it on August 14 — our Amendment 3 lawsuit tracker follows the case.) What it would do:
- Homestead exemption, non-school levies: a new exemption of $150,000 of assessed value in 2027, rising to $250,000 in 2028, with annual inflation adjustments beginning in 2029 (per the enrolled text). It replaces today's non-school exemption rather than adding to it. School-district taxes are unaffected — you would keep paying school levies on today's basis.
- New Florida residents wait: anyone without a Florida permanent residence as of December 31, 2026 gets a $50,000 non-school exemption for their first four years, then the full amount beginning with the fifth year.
- Non-homestead cap tightens: the annual assessment-increase cap on second homes, rentals, and commercial property drops from 10 percent to 5 percent (non-school levies) beginning 2027.
- The money question: Florida's Revenue Estimating Conference (July 10, 2026 review) puts the cut to local non-school property taxes at about $4.9 billion in the 2027-28 state fiscal year and $8.7 billion in 2028-29, and about $11.8 billion a year once fully in effect, counting the homestead exemption and the 5 percent cap together (conference analysis, PDF). How counties, cities, and special districts absorb or replace that is the open question; the amendment itself specifies no replacement.
What it does not change: anything on the notice in your hand. This year's TRIM notice and the bill that follows it are computed under current law; if Amendment 3 passes, its first effect would be the 2027 roll. Nothing about it changes the 25-day petition window or this year's hearings.
Buying a home? The seller's TRIM math is not yours
The values on a listing's TRIM notice carry the seller's Save Our Homes history — which dies at closing. Assessed value resets to market when you buy (§193.155), so your first full-year bill is computed from what you paid. The buyer property-tax calculator models that reset for your county, and the portability calculator computes what you can carry from a prior Florida homestead.
Sources
- Fla. Stat. §200.069 — the notice's required form; §200.065 — rolled-back rate and hearing process; §194.011 — the 25-day petition window.
- Florida Senate, June 2, 2026 — passage of HJR 1-F.
- Florida Policy Institute and Tax Foundation — Amendment 3 ballot language, figures, and fiscal analyses.
Planning figures and plain-language summaries — not legal or tax advice. Your county's notice, Property Appraiser, and Value Adjustment Board control.
Quick answers
What is a TRIM notice?
Florida's Notice of Proposed Property Taxes (Truth in Millage, Fla. Stat. §200.069), mailed by every county Property Appraiser in August. It shows your property's assessed and taxable values and what each taxing authority proposes to charge. It is not a bill — the bill comes in November.
How long do I have to appeal my TRIM notice?
25 days from the mailing of the notice to petition the Value Adjustment Board (Fla. Stat. §194.011(3)(d)) — the deadline is printed on the notice itself. The VAB hears value and exemption disputes, not complaints about the tax rate.
Is the TRIM appeal deadline the same in every Florida county?
No. The 25 days run from each county's own mailing date, so deadlines differ by county and usually land in early-to-mid September. Use the date printed on your notice; the reminder maker on this page turns it into a calendar entry.
What is SB 4-F and how does it change my 2026 notice?
The June 2026 special-session property-tax law (Chapter 2026-240, signed July 1, 2026). It rewrote the vote local governments need to raise millage: a simple majority now reaches only the rolled-back (revenue-neutral) rate, and real increases above it take supermajorities. Your 2026 notice is the first issued under that rule.
Does the TRIM notice change what I pay this year?
Not by itself — it is the preview, and the hearings printed on it are where rates are actually adopted. Your November bill reflects what those hearings decide, minus any early-payment discount you capture.
Data verified as of October 2026.