Home Sale Taxes in Florida: Seller's Guide, October 2026
Every fall, once the snowbird calls start coming in, I get the same question from long-time owners in Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach: "If I sell, how much of this goes to taxes?" It's a fair question. A lot of South Florida homeowners are sitting on a big gain. According to MIAMI Realtors' July 2026 report, the median single-family sale price in Broward hit $650,000, up 4.8% from a year earlier. If you bought ten or fifteen years ago, your paper profit could be several hundred thousand dollars.
The good news is that Florida is one of the friendliest states in the country to sell in. The less-good news is that a few rules still trip people up. Here's what I walk my sellers through before we ever talk about list price. (I'm a REALTOR, not a CPA, so please run your own numbers past your tax professional. My job is to make sure you ask the right questions early.)
No state income tax on your profit
Florida has no personal state income tax, so there's no state capital gains tax on the sale of your home. Your only income-tax exposure on a Florida home sale is federal.
The federal exclusion: $250,000 single, $500,000 married
Under Section 121 of the tax code, and as laid out in IRS Publication 523, you can generally exclude up to $250,000 of gain from the sale of your main home, or $500,000 if you're married filing jointly. To qualify, you need to pass two tests during the five years before the sale:
- Ownership test: you owned the home for at least 24 months.
- Use test: you lived in it as your main home for at least 24 months. The two years don't have to be back-to-back, and they don't have to be the same 24 months as the ownership period.
- Married couples: only one spouse needs to meet the ownership test, but both need to meet the use test to get the full $500,000.
Those limits haven't moved since 1997, which is why they matter so much more in today's prices. You may have seen headlines about the "No Tax on Home Sales Act" (H.R. 4327), which would remove the cap entirely. As of this week, Congress.gov shows it's still sitting in the House Ways and Means Committee, and a separate bill to double the limits is also stuck in committee. I'm telling my sellers to plan under the current $250,000/$500,000 rules and treat any change as a bonus.
Your basis is bigger than what you paid
Your taxable gain isn't sale price minus purchase price. It's your net sale price (after commissions and closing costs) minus your adjusted basis. Adjusted basis starts with what you paid, plus certain purchase closing costs, plus the cost of capital improvements that are still part of the home when you sell.
In South Florida, that list is often longer than people think. A full roof replacement, impact windows and doors, a new AC system, a pool, a kitchen remodel, or a seawall can all count. Repainting or patching a few shingles generally doesn't, because those are repairs. Dig up those receipts and contracts now. I've watched sellers move from "I owe tax" to "I'm under the exclusion" just by documenting a $40,000 hurricane-hardening project they'd forgotten about.
Second homes and rentals play by different rules
The exclusion only covers your main home. If you're selling a condo you've been renting out, or a vacation place you visit in winter, the full gain is generally taxable at federal capital gains rates, and any depreciation you claimed as a landlord gets recaptured. Investors who want to stay in real estate often look at a 1031 exchange, which can defer the gain if you buy a like-kind replacement property under strict timelines. That's a conversation to have with your CPA and a qualified intermediary before you sign a listing agreement, not after closing.
Florida closing costs that hit sellers
The one Florida tax you will almost certainly see on your settlement statement is documentary stamp tax on the deed. According to the Florida Department of Revenue, the rate is 70 cents per $100 of the sale price in every county except Miami-Dade. On a $650,000 Broward sale, that's $4,550. In Miami-Dade, the rate is 60 cents per $100, plus a 45-cent surtax on properties that aren't single-family homes (so condo sellers there pay more). In South Florida resales, the seller customarily pays the deed stamps, but it's negotiable in the contract.
Don't leave your Save Our Homes savings behind
If you're selling a homesteaded home and buying another one in Florida, your Save Our Homes benefit (the gap between your home's market value and its capped assessed value) is portable. You can carry up to $500,000 of that difference to your next homestead, as long as you apply on Form DR-501T along with your new homestead exemption, by March 1 of the year you're claiming it. Miss that deadline and your new property taxes could be dramatically higher.
There's also a helpful change coming. According to a 2026 tax-law summary from Florida CPA firm James Moore, starting with the 2027 tax roll you'll be able to port your benefit from any homestead you've left in the previous three years, not just the one you most recently owned.
And if you're watching the property tax debate, the Amendment 3 vote on November 3 could change homestead exemptions and non-homestead caps going forward. I covered that in detail in my Amendment 3 breakdown.
Timing your sale around the calendar
Since it's mid-October, a few timing points are worth thinking about now:
- Closing in December vs. January moves your gain into a different tax year. If you're close to the exclusion limit or expecting a lower-income year in 2027, that can matter.
- Prorated property taxes are credited to the buyer at closing for the part of the year you owned the home, so you're never paying for months after the sale.
- Close to the two-year mark? If you're a few months short of 24 months in the home, waiting can be worth a lot. If you have to sell early because of a job change, health reasons, or certain unforeseen circumstances, the IRS may allow a partial exclusion.
A quick word on rates
For context, Freddie Mac's survey for the week of October 8, 2026 put the 30-year fixed at 7.40% and the 15-year at 6.73%, both up for a second straight week. Higher rates make some buyers more payment-sensitive, which is one more reason to know your true net proceeds before you price.
Know your number before you list
The sellers who feel best at closing are the ones who knew their net number months earlier. If you're thinking about selling this season, start with a free home valuation at homes.discoversouthfl.com. Then email me at eduardosellsfl@gmail.com for a personalized market analysis. I'll put together a pricing plan and a net sheet you can take straight to your CPA.