Property Tax Estimator for Brevard County
A simple guide to estimate property taxes for Brevard County Florida
While Florida does not have a state income tax the county and state levy a property tax on home and property owners. The Brevard County property appraiser has a tax estimator on its website using a formula which takes the market value or purchase price and multiplies it by a millage rate of 21. Since this formula rarely creates an accurate estimate and usually over estimates the property taxes I have devised a more realistic approach to estimating taxable value. I have found that the Brevard County property appraiser figures the taxable value of home by finding an average price per square foot of the average sales prices of homes sold within 3 months to a year in the same area or neighborhood as the subject property. The subject property’s taxable appraised value assigned by the county usually has a range of 65% to 95% of the purchase price and according the representatives for the Brevard County property appraiser the average millage rate for the county is 18.5.
Unless you are familiar with a “millage rate” you are probably asking, “How does the millage rate calculate property taxes?” The answer is quite simple. The millage rate is really 1 unit per thousand, so a millage rate of 18.5 translates into 1.85%. Now take the range of 65% to 95% of the taxable value and multiply that amount by 1.85% and there you have a low and high estimate of your property taxes.
Here is a quick example:
Say you purchase a home for $100,000.
The estimate of taxable value would be $65,000 to $95,000.
Multiplied by 1.85% and your estimated range would be $1,202 to $1,757.
The tax estimator on the county’s property appraiser website would give you and estimate range of $1,785 to $1,995.
But wait! There is one more important factor in calculating property taxes. If the property is going to be used as a primary residence than you can apply to get a homestead exemption which reduces $50,000 off of the taxable value. In the case of the home purchase for $100,000 the estimated taxable value range becomes $15,000 to $45,000. Now your estimate for property taxes is $277 to $832 per year.