Bill Amendment: FL S0804 | 2016 | Regular Session

Florida Senate Bill 804 (Prior Session Legislation)

NOTE: For additional amemendments please see the Bill Drafting List

Bill Title: Homestead Property Tax Exemptions

Status: 2016-03-11 - Died in Finance and Tax [S0804 Detail]

Download: Florida-2016-S0804-Senate_Committee_Amendment_523874.html

       Florida Senate - 2016                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. SB 804
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Ì523874BÎ523874                         
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
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       The Committee on Military and Veterans Affairs, Space, and
       Domestic Security (Evers) recommended the following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete everything after the enacting clause
    4  and insert:
    5         Section 1. Subsection (4) of section 196.081, Florida
    6  Statutes, is amended, present subsections (5) and (6) of that
    7  section are renumbered as subsections (6) and (7), respectively,
    8  and a new subsection (5) is added to that section, to read:
    9         196.081 Exemption for certain totally and permanently and
   10  totally disabled veterans and for surviving spouses of veterans;
   11  exemption for surviving spouses of first responders who die in
   12  the line of duty.—
   13         (4) Any real estate that is owned and used as a homestead
   14  by the surviving spouse of a veteran who died from service
   15  connected causes while on active duty as a member of the United
   16  States Armed Forces and for whom a letter from the United States
   17  Government or United States Department of Veterans Affairs or
   18  its predecessor has been issued certifying that the veteran who
   19  died from service-connected causes while on active duty is
   20  exempt from taxation if the veteran was a permanent resident of
   21  this state on January 1 of the year in which the veteran died.
   22         (a) The production of the letter by the surviving spouse
   23  which attests to the veteran’s death while on active duty is
   24  prima facie evidence that the surviving spouse is entitled to
   25  the exemption.
   26         (b) The tax exemption carries over to the benefit of the
   27  veteran’s surviving spouse as long as the spouse holds the legal
   28  or beneficial title to the homestead, permanently resides
   29  thereon as specified in s. 196.031, and does not remarry. If the
   30  surviving spouse sells the property, an exemption not to exceed
   31  the amount granted under the most recent ad valorem tax roll may
   32  be transferred to his or her new residence as long as it is used
   33  as his or her primary residence and he or she does not remarry.
   34         (5)(a) The unremarried surviving spouse of a veteran who
   35  was honorably discharged with a service-connected total and
   36  permanent disability is entitled to the same exemption that
   37  would otherwise be granted to a surviving spouse as described in
   38  subsections (1)-(3) if the veteran, at the time of his or her
   39  death, owned property in another state which he or she used in a
   40  manner that would have qualified for homestead exemption under
   41  s. 196.031 if the property was located in this state on January
   42  1 of the year the veteran died. To qualify for the exemption
   43  under this subsection, the unremarried surviving spouse,
   44  subsequent to the death of the veteran, must hold the legal or
   45  beneficial title to homestead property in this state and
   46  permanently reside thereon as specified in s. 196.031 as of
   47  January 1 of the tax year for which the exemption is being
   48  claimed.
   49         (b) The surviving spouse must provide documentation as set
   50  forth in subsection (2) to the property appraiser in the county
   51  in which the property is located.
   52         (c) The tax exemption provided by this subsection:
   53         1. Is available until the surviving spouse remarries.
   54         2. May be transferred to a new residence in an amount not
   55  to exceed the amount granted from the most recent ad valorem tax
   56  roll as long as it is used as the surviving spouse’s primary
   57  residence and he or she does not remarry.
   58         Section 2. This act shall take effect January 1, 2017.
   59  
   60  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
   61  And the title is amended as follows:
   62         Delete everything before the enacting clause
   63  and insert:
   64                        A bill to be entitled                      
   65         An act relating to homestead property tax exemptions;
   66         amending s. 196.081, F.S.; revising a homestead tax
   67         exemption for the surviving spouses of certain
   68         veterans who died from service-connected causes while
   69         on active duty, to remove a specified condition of
   70         permanent residency; providing a homestead tax
   71         exemption to the unremarried surviving spouses of
   72         certain disabled veterans who owned property in
   73         another state and used such property in a manner that
   74         would have qualified for homestead exemption in this
   75         state, and specifying requirements for and conditions
   76         of the exemption; providing an effective date.