Exemptions for Members of the Armed Forces

Property Tax Exemption for Deployed Servicemembers

The Florida Legislature enacted implementing legislation (Florida Statute 196.173) for the Deployed Servicemember Exemption in 2011. The exemption is available each year for servicemembers who received a homestead exemption and were deployed during the preceding calendar year on certain designated operations.

A servicemember is defined as a member or former member of any branch of the United States military or military reserves, the United States Coast Guard or its reserves, or the Florida National Guard.

'Deployed' in the preceding calendar year is defined as a servicemember deployed outside the continental United States, Alaska, or Hawaii in support of designated active military operations. The last designated operations for the exemption included:  

• Operation Joint Task Force Bravo, which began in 1995;
• Operation Joint Guardian, which began on June 12, 1999;
• Operation Noble Eagle, which began on September 15, 2001;
• Operations in the Balkans, which began in 2004;
• Operation Nomad Shadow, which began in 2007;
• Operation U.S. Airstrikes Al Qaeda in Somalia, which began in January 2007;
• Operation Copper Dune, which began in 2009;
• Operation Georgia Deployment Program, which began in August 2009;
• Operation Spartan Shield, which began June 2011;
• Operation Inherent Resolve, which began in August, 8, 2014;
• Operation Atlantic Resolve, which began on April 2014;
• Operation Freedom's Sentinel, which began on January 1, 2015;
• Operation Resolute Support, which began in January 2015;
• Operation Juniper Shield, which began in February 2007;
• Operation Pacific Eagle, which began in September 2017;
• Operation Martillo, which began in January 2012;
• Operation Enduring Freedom- Horn of Africa , which began in January 2015;
• European Reassurance Initiative/European Deterrence Initiative, which began in 2014