Florida calendar and forms

Florida has no income tax return, so there is no state due date, no state extension and no state estimated payment. The federal calendar is the whole calendar for income tax: the Form 1040 is due Thursday, April 15, 2027, the extension runs to Friday, October 15, and the four estimated payments fall on the federal dates. What Florida adds is a property tax year that begins with a January 1 assessment, runs through a March 1 exemption deadline, a notice of proposed taxes in August, a bill in November with a discount for paying early, and a due date of March 31 that lands in the middle of the next tax season. The two calendars overlap in a way that confuses newcomers every year: the property tax bill a Floridian pays in November 2026 is the 2026 tax, deductible on the 2026 federal return filed in 2027, while the bill paid in March 2027 is still the 2026 tax and is deductible in 2027.

The forms side is shorter than in any state with an income tax, because the Department of Revenue has almost nothing to do with an individual who does not own a business. The forms a household meets are filed with the county property appraiser, the county clerk, or, for a rental owner, the Department and the Department of Business and Professional Regulation. The table below lists the ones that come up, in the order a new resident is likely to need them.

The 2027 season, dated

How the property tax year works

Everything in the Florida property tax calendar runs from January 1. The property appraiser values every parcel as of that day and decides who qualifies for homestead on that day, which is why the application deadline is March 1 and not the closing date: the appraiser is asking whether the owner lived there on January 1, and gives two months to prove it. The appraiser certifies the roll by July 1, the taxing authorities set their rates over the summer, and in late August the appraiser mails the TRIM notice, the Truth in Millage statement that shows the proposed value, the exemptions and what each authority intends to charge. The notice is the moment to object; the value adjustment board petition is due 25 days later, and by the time the bill arrives in November the value is settled.

The bill itself is one bill for the calendar year, payable in arrears. The 4% discount for paying in November is the state’s way of getting the money early, and most mortgage servicers take it. A homeowner who pays from an escrow account should check the November statement to see that the servicer paid in November and not in March. A homeowner who pays directly has a choice that matters on the federal return: pay in December and deduct it this year, or pay in March and deduct it next year. In a year when the SALT deduction is capped, or when a household is close to the line between itemizing and the standard deduction, moving one property tax payment across December 31 can bunch two years’ bills into one and make itemizing worthwhile once in two years.

The forms a household meets

Filing the federal return from Florida

The federal return is filed the same way from Florida as from anywhere: electronically, with direct deposit, through a preparer or commercial software or the IRS Free File partners. The IRS Direct File program, which included Florida for the 2025 season, was not offered for 2026, and the IRS has since ended the program. The one thing a preparer in Florida does that a preparer elsewhere may not is run both halves of the SALT deduction. With no state income tax, the deduction is property tax plus the sales-tax election, figured from the IRS tables for the household’s income and size plus the actual tax on a vehicle, boat or other large purchase. For a household that bought a car in 2026, the sales tax can approach the property tax, and together they may be what makes itemizing pay.

Federal estimated payments matter more to a Florida retiree than to one in a state with withholding on pensions, because a Florida retiree’s only withholding is whatever the custodian takes for the IRS. A household living on Social Security, an IRA and a brokerage account with no withholding on any of it meets the federal underpayment penalty in April unless it pays estimates or has tax withheld from the IRA withdrawal. The federal safe harbors, 100% of last year’s tax or 110% for higher incomes, are described in Estimated payments; the simplest Florida fix is to have the IRA custodian withhold enough in December to cover the year.