Florida offers five separate homestead property tax breaks for resident service members, honorably discharged disabled veterans and unremarried surviving spouses. You apply for all of them through your local county property appraiser, not the state. You can apply before your VA or U.S. Government paperwork arrives; once the property appraiser receives the documentation, the break takes effect as of the date of your original application. If military service keeps you from applying yourself, your next of kin can file for you.
File with the property appraiser in the Florida county where the home is, using the Florida Department of Revenue Original Application for Homestead and Related Tax Exemptions (Form DR-501). The Deployed Military Property Tax Exemption uses a different form. Your county property appraiser can confirm the filing deadline.
Proof you own the home and live in it, proof of Florida residency, and your VA disability rating letter, specially adapted housing grant paperwork, deployment orders or casualty documentation depending on which break you are claiming.
