Date Taxes Become Due Taxes become due and payable to the Collector on November 1st with a discount of 4% if paid in November, 3% in December, 2% in January and 1% in February. Taxes become delinquent April 1st. Taxes are levied on a calendar-year basis, being paid in arrears for the period January 1st - December 31st.
For more information on Taxes, please visit the web site of the HIGHLANDS COUNTY TAX COLLECTOR.
Current 08/2019
(1) For the purposes of Section 193.461, F.S., agricultural purposes does not include the wholesaling, retailing or processing of farm products, such as by a canning factory.
(2) Good faith commercial agricultural use of property is defined as the pursuit of an agricultural activity for a reasonable profit or at least upon a reasonable expectation of meeting investment cost and realizing a reasonable profit. The profit or reasonable expectation thereof must be viewed from the standpoint of the fee owner and measured in light of his investment.
Rulemaking Authority 195.027(1), 213.06(1) FS. Law Implemented 193.461 FS. History–New 10-12-76, Formerly 12D-5.01.
(1) Rulemaking Authority 195.027(1), 213.06(1) FS. Law Implemented 193.461, 195.032 FS. History– New 10-12-76, Amended 11-10-77, Formerly 12D-5.02, Repealed 9-19-17.
The property appraiser shall not deny agricultural classification solely because of the maintenance of a dwelling on a part of the lands used for agricultural purposes, nor shall the agricultural classification disqualify the land for homestead exemption. So long as the dwelling is an integral part of the entire agricultural operation, the land it occupies shall be considered agricultural in nature. However, such dwellings and other improvements on the land shall be assessed under Section 193.011, F.S., at their just value and added to the agriculturally assessed value of the land.
Rulemaking Authority 195.027(1), 213.06(1) FS. Law Implemented 193.461 FS. History–New 10-12-76, Formerly 12D-5.03.
Rulemaking Authority 195.027(1), 213.06(1) FS. Law Implemented 193.461, 213.05 FS. History– New 10-12-76, Amended 11-10-77, Formerly 12D-5.04, Amended 11-1-12.
The recreational use must be non-commercial. The term “non-commercial” would not prohibit the imposition of a fee or charge to use the recreational or park facility so long as the fee or charge is calculated solely to defray the reasonable expenses of maintaining the land for recreational or park purposes. Since public access is necessarily a prerequisite to classification and tax treatment under Section 193.501, F.S., and Article VII, Section 4, Florida Constitution, the Trustees of the Internal Improvement Trust Fund or the governing board of a county or delegated municipality, as the case may be, in their discretion need not accept an instrument conveying development rights or establishing a covenant under the statute. In all cases, the tax treatment provided by Section 193.501, F.S., shall continue only so long as the lands are actually used for outdoor recreational or park purposes. Since all property is assessed as of its status on January 1 of the tax year, if the instrument conveying the development rights or establishing the covenant is not accepted by the appropriately authorized body on or before January 1 of the tax year, then special treatment under Section 193.501, F.S., would not be available for that tax year. When special treatment under the statute is to be granted because of a covenant, such special treatment shall be granted only if the covenant extends for a period of ten or more years from January 1 of each year for which such special treatment assessment is made; however, recognition of the restriction and length of any covenant extending less than 10 years shall be made in assessing the just value of the land under Section 193.011, F.S.
Rulemaking Authority 195.027(1), 213.06(1) FS. Law Implemented 193.011, 193.501 FS. History– New 10-12-76, Amended 11-10-77, Formerly 12D-5.05, Amended 12-31-98.
Unless otherwise stated or unless otherwise clearly indicated by the context in which a particular term is used, all terms used in this chapter shall have the same meanings as are attributed to them in the current Florida Statutes. In this connection, reference is made to the definitions in Sections 192.001, 211.01 and 211.30, F.S.
Rulemaking Authority 195.027(1), 213.06(1) FS. Law Implemented 192.001, 193.461, 193.481, 211.01, 211.30 FS. History–New 2-10-82, Formerly 12D-5.10.
(1) All oil, mineral, gas, and other subsurface rights in and to real property, which have been sold or otherwise transferred by the owner of the real property, or retained or acquired through reservation or otherwise, shall be appraised and taxed separately from the fee or other interest in the fee. This tax is against those who benefit from the possession of the subsurface rights. When such subsurface rights are leased, the tax burden falls on the lessee, not on the lessor who owns the rights outright in perpetuity.
(a) When the subsurface rights in land have been transferred by the fee owner, or retained or acquired by other than the surface owner, it is the duty of the property appraiser to use reasonable means to determine the name of the record title owner from the public records of the county.
(b) When subsurface rights have been separated from the fee, the property appraiser shall make a separate entry on the assessment roll indicating the assessment of the subsurface rights which have been separated from the fee. The property appraiser may describe and enter these subsurface rights on the roll in the same manner in which they were conveyed. This entry shall immediately follow, in the same section, township, and range, the entry listing the record title owner of the surface fee insofar as is practicable.
(2) At the request of a real property owner who also owns the oil, mineral, and other subsurface rights to the same property, the property appraiser shall assess the subsurface rights separately from the remainder of the real estate. Such request shall be filed with the property appraiser on or before April 1. Failure to do so relieves the appraiser of the duty to assess subsurface rights separately from the remainder of the real estate owned by the owner of such subsurface rights.
(3) All subsurface rights are to be assessed on the basis of just value. The combined value of the subsurface rights, the undisposed subsurface interests, and the remaining surface interests shall not exceed the full just value of the fee title of the land inclusive of such subsurface rights.
(a) Any fractional subsurface interest in a parcel must be assessed against the entire parcel, not against a fraction of the parcel. For example, a one-fourth interest in the subsurface rights on 40 acres is assessed as a fractional interest on the entire 40 acres, not as an interest on 10 acres.
(b) Just value, or fair market value, of subsurface rights may be determined by comparable sales. In determining the value of such subsurface rights, the property appraiser may apply the methods provided by law, including consideration of the amounts paid for mineral, oil, and other subsurface rights in the area as reflected by the public records.
(c) The cost approach to value may be used to determine the assessed value of a mineral or subsurface right. Where comparable sales or market information is unavailable, and the lease transaction is reasonably contemporary, arm’s length, and the contract rent appears to reflect market value, the property appraiser may consider the total value of the contract and discount it to present value as a means of determining just value.
(4) At such time as all mineral assets shall be deemed depleted under present technology or upon a final decree by a court or action or ruling by a quasi-judicial body of competent jurisdiction ordering that no further extraction of minerals will be permitted, the property appraiser shall reduce the assessment of such subsurface rights in accordance with existing circumstances. However, as long as such interests remain, they shall continue to be separately assessed.
(5) Insofar as they may be applied, statutes and regulations not conflicting with the provisions of this chapter pertaining to the assessment and collection of ad valorem taxes on real property, shall apply to the separate assessment and taxation of subsurface rights.
Rulemaking Authority 195.027(1), 213.06(1) FS. Law Implemented 193.052, 193.062, 193.114(2), 193.481 FS. History–New 2-10-82, Formerly 12D-5.11.
(1) Tax certificates and tax liens may be acquired, purchased, transferred and enforced, and tax deeds issued encumbering subsurface rights as they are on real property. Except that in the case of a tax lien on leased subsurface rights where mineral rights are leased or otherwise transferred for a term of years, the lien shall be a personal liability of the lessee and shall be a lien against all property of the lessee.
(2) The owner of subsurface rights shall, by recording with the clerk of the circuit court his name, address and the legal description of the property in which he has a subsurface interest, be entitled to notification, by registered mail with return receipt requested, of:
(a) Non-payment of taxes by the surface owner, or the sale of tax certificates affecting the surface;
(b) Or applications for a tax deed for the surface interest;
(c) Or any foreclosure proceedings thereon.
(3) No tax deed nor foreclosure proceedings shall affect the subsurface owner’s interest if he has filed with the clerk of the circuit court and such notice as described above is not given.
Rulemaking Authority 195.027(1), 213.06(1) FS. Law Implemented 193.481, 211.18 FS. History– New 2-10-82, Formerly 12D-5.12.
(1) To apply for the assessment of lands subject to a conservation easement, environmentally endangered lands, or lands used for outdoor recreational or park purposes when land development rights have been conveyed or conservation restrictions have been covenanted, a property owner must submit an original application to the property appraiser by March 1, as outlined in Section 193.501, F.S.
(2) The Department prescribes Form DR-482C, Land Used for Conservation, Assessment Application, and incorporated by reference in Rule 12D-16.002, F.A.C., for property owners to apply for the assessment in Section 193.501, F.S.
(3) The Department prescribes Form DR-482CR, Land Used for Conservation, Assessment Reapplication, incorporated by reference in Rule 12D-16.002, F.A.C., for property owners to reapply for the assessment after the first year a property is assessed under Section 193.501, F.S., when the property owner and use have not changed. The property owner must complete and return the reapplication to the property appraiser by March 1.
Rulemaking Authority 195.027(1), 213.06(1) FS. Law Implemented 193.501, 213.05 FS. History– New 11-1-12.