Florida Property Tax Protest Deadline 2026

Your deadline is 25 days after your county mails its TRIM notice, set by Florida Statute §194.011(3)(d). Most 2026 TRIM notices mail between August 14 and 24, which puts petition deadlines between roughly September 8 and 18, 2026. The exact date is printed on your own TRIM notice — that date controls. The deadline is strict: the Clerk of Court must physically RECEIVE your Form DR-486 by the deadline; a postmark does not count.

After your TRIM notice arrives in August, you file Form DR-486 (the petition to the Value Adjustment Board) with your county Clerk of Court within the 25-day window, along with the county's filing fee (typically $15 per parcel). You then present comparable-sales evidence — usually 3 to 5 similar homes that show your just/market value is too high — at a hearing before a special magistrate, generally in October or November. AppealMyTax pulls your assessment from county records, matches it against real comparable sales, and generates a pre-filled, sign-ready DR-486 for a $49 flat fee.

Form DR-486 is Florida's official Petition to the Value Adjustment Board, prescribed by the Department of Revenue. It is how a homeowner formally contests the just (market) value, assessed value, or a denied exemption on their TRIM notice. You file it with the Clerk of Court in your county, not with the Property Appraiser, so the review is independent.

Section 194.011, Florida Statutes, is the law that gives every property owner the right to petition the Value Adjustment Board to contest an assessment. Subsection (3)(d) sets the filing window at 25 days after the Property Appraiser mails the TRIM notice under §200.069. It is the statutory basis for the entire Florida appeal process and the deadline on this page.

If you miss the 25-day VAB petition window, you generally lose your right to appeal that year's assessment and must wait for the next TRIM cycle. In narrow circumstances a late petition can be accepted for good cause at the VAB's discretion, but you should never count on it. The safe move is to check your home now and have your DR-486 ready to file the moment your TRIM notice arrives.

AppealMyTax charges a $49 flat fee for a complete, pre-filled DR-486 petition kit with comparable-sales evidence — no contingency fee, no percentage of your savings, no recurring charge, and a 30-day refund. Separately, your county Clerk of Court charges a filing fee (commonly $15 per parcel). You keep 100% of whatever you save.