Florida Recapture Calculator: Why Did My Property Tax Go Up When My Value Didn’t?
Type in the values from your TRIM notice. This tool splits your tax change into three parts (recapture or cap growth, millage, and exemptions), checks whether your assessed value rose more than the 2026 cap allows, and estimates how many more years the climb can last.
Your TRIM notice values
Optional: your millage, cap and other exemptions
What changed, and why
How long can recapture last? (flat market values)
If market value stays where it is today and millage does not change, your assessed value keeps stepping up by the cap until it reaches market value. This table shows each step. It is an approximation, not a forecast: the cap is reset each year by inflation, and market values and millage rarely stand still.
Where to find these numbers
Every value this calculator asks for is printed on your TRIM notice, the Notice of Proposed Property Taxes that Florida property appraisers mail in August. The same figures, including last year’s, are on the parcel page of your county property appraiser’s website. Market value (just value) is the appraiser’s estimate of what the property was worth on January 1. Assessed value is market value after the Save Our Homes cap or the 10% non-homestead cap. Taxable value is assessed value minus exemptions, and that is the number your millage applies to. Our glossary explains the difference between just value and assessed value in more detail.
How the calculator splits your increase
It first recomputes last year’s tax from last year’s values. Then it changes one thing at a time. The assessment step applies this year’s assessed value at last year’s millage: if your market value was flat or fell and the assessed value still rose, that step is recapture. The millage step applies this year’s millage to this year’s value, which isolates rate changes adopted by the county, city, school board and special districts. Leave both millage boxes blank and the calculator uses your county’s typical FY2025-26 rate for both years, so the millage step reads zero; type the totals from your TRIM notice to see the real split. Homestead exemptions are modeled at $25,000 on all levies plus up to about $25,000 more on non-school levies (that second amount is indexed to inflation, so the real figure is slightly higher).
When the numbers do not add up
If your assessed value rose by more than the cap allows, recapture is not the whole story. Common reasons are new construction or an addition, a pool or other improvement picked up by the appraiser, a homestead exemption that was removed or not renewed, a change of ownership that reset the cap, or a correction to the roll. The calculator flags this case. Ask your county property appraiser first; if you still disagree, the Value Adjustment Board appeal guide explains the deadline, which is 25 days after TRIM notices are mailed.
Common questions
Why did my Florida property tax go up when my home value went down?
Usually because of recapture. Florida’s Save Our Homes cap limits how fast a homestead’s assessed value can rise, to 3% a year or the change in the Consumer Price Index if lower. When market values rose faster than the cap in earlier years, a gap opened between market value and assessed value. Until it closes, the assessed value keeps rising by the cap each year, even when market value is flat or falling.
How do I tell recapture from a millage increase?
Compare your assessed value and your millage separately. If assessed value rose while market value was flat or down, that part of the increase is recapture. If your total millage on the TRIM notice is higher than last year, that part is a rate change adopted by your taxing authorities. This calculator separates the two when you enter both years of values and millage.
What is the Save Our Homes cap for 2026?
2.7%. The cap is the lower of 3% or the change in the Consumer Price Index. The Pinellas County Property Appraiser lists 2.7% for 2026 and 2.9% for 2025, and the Martin County Property Appraiser’s Save Our Homes 2026 notice also states 2.7%.
How many years will recapture last?
Until assessed value catches up with market value. At flat values and a 2.7% cap, a 10% gap takes about 4 years to close and a 25% gap about 11 years. If values rise faster than the cap, the gap stays open or widens; if values fall, it closes sooner.
My assessed value rose more than 2.7%. Is that recapture?
Not for a homestead. Save Our Homes caps the yearly increase, so a larger jump usually means something else changed: new construction or improvements, a lost or changed exemption, a change of ownership, or a correction. Ask your county property appraiser what drove it, and note the 25-day window to petition the Value Adjustment Board.
Does recapture apply to non-homestead property?
Yes, with a 10% cap instead of the Save Our Homes cap, and only on non-school levies. School taxes on non-homestead property are based on full market value, so they follow the market up and down. Our non-homestead cap calculator covers that case in detail.
Go deeper: read why Florida tax bills rise when values fall (with the median gap in 21 counties), see what your taxes will be after you buy, estimate your bill with the Save Our Homes tax estimator, learn how the rollback rate on your TRIM notice works, or check your escrow with the escrow shortage calculator. More tools: all Florida housing calculators.
Thinking about selling instead? See what your home would sell for. Buying? Browse Florida homes for sale.
<a href="https://movewithmomentum.com/tools/florida-property-tax-recapture-calculator">Florida Recapture Calculator: Why Did My Property Tax Go Up? — Momentum Realty</a>Estimates only. This calculator applies the Save Our Homes cap (default 2.7% for 2026, per the Pinellas and Martin County Property Appraisers) or the 10% non-homestead cap on non-school levies to the values you enter. County millage defaults are county-typical FY2025-26 rates with an approximate school and non-school split; municipal and special-district rates vary within counties, and non-ad-valorem assessments are not included. Homestead exemptions are approximated at $25,000 on all levies plus up to $25,000 on non-school levies; other exemptions are subtracted from all levies, which may not match how your county applies them. Projections assume flat market values, a constant cap and constant millage. Not a tax quote, appraisal or valuation of any property, and not tax or legal advice. Verify your values with your county property appraiser. Equal Housing Opportunity.