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Welcome to the St. Johns County
Value Adjustment Board
2022
IMPORTANT:
ALL VALUE ADJUSTMENT BOARD PETITIONS RELATING TO ISSUES OF VALUATION MUST BE FILED WITH THE CLERK OF COURT’S OFFICE ON OR BEFORE THE September 13, 2022, FILING DEADLINE!
Instructions for Filing a Petition:
Select File a New Petition above to begin the petition filing process. Once you have completed your petition, your transaction number and password will be sent to the e-mail address provided. Once you have your transaction number and password you may access this site at any time to track the status of your petition.
Important Payment Information:
Please remember that your petition is considered incomplete until the filing fee has been received by the Clerk. Filing fees not paid at time of filing should be sent to the Clerk of Courts, Attention: Value Adjustment Board, 500 San Sebastian View, St. Augustine, Florida 32084. All payments must be received by the September 13, 2022, filing deadline.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT REQUIRED PAYMENTS BEFORE THE TAX DELINQUENCY DATE TO AVOID DENIAL OF YOUR PETITION
Required Partial Payment of Taxes To Avoid Denial Of Your Petition (Section 194.014, F.S.)
For properties that have a value adjustment board petition, State law requires a partial payment of taxes, and a full payment of non-ad valorem assessments, before the payment delinquency date. The payment delinquency date is normally April 1 following the assessment year under review, but this date can vary. If the required partial payment is not made before the delinquency date, the value adjustment board will deny your petition. The last day to make the partial payment before the delinquency date is generally March 31. Review your tax bill or contact your tax collector to determine your delinquency date.
Petitioners should be aware that even if a special magistrate’s recommended decision has been issued, a partial payment is still required before the delinquency date. A special magistrate’s recommended decision is not a final decision of the value adjustment board. A partial payment is not required only if the value adjustment board makes a final decision on a petition before April 1. The payment amount depends on the type of petition filed on the property. The partial payment requirements are summarized below.
Value Appeals:
For petitions on the value of property (and for petitions about portability), the payment before the delinquency date must include:
· All of the non-ad valorem assessments, and
· A partial payment of at least 75 percent of the ad valorem taxes,
· Less applicable discounts under s. 197.162 F.S.
Other Assessment Appeals:
For petitions on the denial of a classification or exemption, or based on an argument that the property was not substantially complete on January 1, the payment before the delinquency date must include:
· All of the non-ad valorem assessments, and
· The amount of the ad valorem taxes the taxpayer admits in good faith to owe,
· Less applicable discounts under s. 197.162, F.S.
An effort to find improper homestead exemptions in St. Johns County has begun to yield results, with a few hundred improperly homesteaded properties found so far. St. Johns County Property Appraiser Eddie Creamer launched the effort in 2019, hiring the business The Exemption Project to comb through county records and find properties that are getting a
homestead exemption when they don’t qualify for it. The property appraiser started sending data to the business at the end of November and early December for review, Creamer said. The property appraiser does not send confidential information, such as social security numbers. Because of the audit, 328 parcels have been identified as needing their homestead exemption removed, according to Creamer. And The Exemption Project plans to send questionnaires to get information about 1,986 more parcels that could be improperly receiving a homestead exemption. When the property appraiser determines a homestead exemption is improperly claimed, the office sends a certified letter that gives the property owner 30 days to show Creamer that his office is wrong or pay what is owed before a lien is filed, he said. What is owed, which is defined by Florida law, is the unpaid taxes, a penalty of 50% of the unpaid taxes and 15% interest. The Exemption Project gets 18% of taxes, penalties and interest collected per property they audit, according to the contract. The county does
not pay a fee for the work.
Information found by The Exemption Project led the property appraiser to file 16 liens against parcels, according to Creamer. The liens are worth $43,872.63 in tax dollars, and $21,603.69 of that has been paid.
In addition to that, the property appraiser plans to file 15 more liens on Feb. 3, said Nikki Pontello, the property appraiser’s chief administrative officer.
There’s more work to be done on the audit.
The Exemption Project’s contract with Creamer’s office says the agreement will become a month-to-month contract after September. Creamer said he expects to keep the homestead reviews going.
“Simply because our county is growing so fast,” he said.
In other parts of the state, people have said that they were given homestead exemption in another state but didn’t know it or apply for it, and because of that they were hit with a large bill for back taxes, according to an article from the USA TODAY NETWORK-Florida Capital Bureau.
Legislation is proposed to help people in that situation, according to the article.
An analysis of Senate Bill 514 says that, “Current law provides that a property owner who is receiving or claiming an ad valorem tax exemption in another state that is conditioned upon permanent residency in that state may not receive the ad valorem homestead exemption in Florida.”
That applies regardless of whether the person applied for the exemption, according to the analysis.
The bill would allow a property owner to retain homestead exemption in Florida if that owner ”demonstrates to the satisfaction of the property appraiser that they did not apply for the exemption or credit in the other state and ... are no longer receiving or will no longer receive the tax exemption or tax credit in another state.”
Creamer said he has not had someone claim that they didn’t realize they were receiving homestead exemption in another state.
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