Property tax exemptions
Who doesn't pay property tax on part or all of their property, and what it adds up to. From the 2026 tax roll for every parcel in Bay County, with a closer look at exemptions for veterans.
How an exemption works
- An exemption takes value off the tax bill. A $25,000 exemption means you're taxed as if your home were worth $25,000 less. A full exemption means no property tax at all.
- Most are set by the Florida Constitution and state law. Local governments choose only a few, like the extra exemption for seniors with limited income.
- Exempt value spreads the cost. When value is exempt, each tax rate raises less from it, so the rest of the tax base carries more of the budget. The dollars here estimate the tax each exemption takes off the bill at current rates.
See your parcel → My Address shows a home's homestead exemption and the total of any others. To protect owners' privacy, this site never shows which other exemptions (veteran, disability, widow and so on) a particular property has; this page shows countywide counts only.
Exemptions for homeowners
2026 tax roll · estimated tax at FY2026 rates| Exemption and who qualifies | Amount | School taxes? | Homes | Value exempted | Tax taken off bills |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| HomesteadYour permanent home, owned and lived in on January 1. | First $25,000 of value | Yes | 46,089 | $1.15B | $15.4M |
| Additional homesteadAutomatic with the homestead exemption. The amount now rises with inflation each year. Not applied to school taxes. | Value between $50,000 and about $76,000 | No | 39,795 | $1.02B | $8.1M |
| Disabled veteran, total and permanentA veteran with a service-connected, total and permanent disability rated by the VA, or the surviving spouse. Also surviving spouses of service members who died on active duty. | Entire value | Yes | 3,413 | $840.5M | $11.1M |
| Disabled veteran, $5,000A veteran with a service-connected disability of 10% or more, or the surviving spouse. | $5,000 | Yes | 6,030 | $30.7M | $413K |
| Combat-disabled veteran discount, 65+A veteran 65 or older with a combat-related disability. | Percent equal to the VA disability rating | Yes | 337 | $41.9M | $581K |
| Deployed service memberService members deployed outside the U.S. in a qualifying operation during the prior year. | Share of value for days deployed | Yes | 14 | $984K | $14K |
| Disabled first responderA first responder totally and permanently disabled in the line of duty, or the surviving spouse of one who died in the line of duty. | Entire value | Yes | 4 | $533K | $6,592 |
| Totally and permanently disabled personQuadriplegics; or paraplegics, people who must use a wheelchair, and legally blind people whose household income is under a state limit. | Entire value | Yes | 295 | $31.7M | $427K |
| Senior, countyHomeowners 65+ whose household income is under a state limit that is adjusted each year. | Up to $50,000 more, county taxes only | No | 2,006 | $80.7M | $502K |
| Long-term senior, countyHomeowners 65+ with limited income who have lived in a home worth less than a set amount for 25 years or more. | Entire value, county taxes only | No | 520 | $37.9M | $238K |
| WidowA widow who has not remarried. | $5,000 | Yes | 2,924 | $14.7M | $198K |
| WidowerA widower who has not remarried. | $5,000 | Yes | 598 | $3.0M | $40K |
| Disabled person, $5,000A Florida resident who is totally and permanently disabled. | $5,000 | Yes | 892 | $4.6M | $61K |
| Blind personA Florida resident who is legally blind. | $5,000 | Yes | 37 | $185K | $2,547 |
| Granny flatLiving quarters built for a parent or grandparent 62 or older. | Reduced assessed value | Yes | 5 | $273K | $3,579 |
"School taxes?" says whether the exemption also lowers school taxes. No Bay County city has adopted the city senior exemptions state law allows. A home can have several exemptions; homes are counted under each one.
Veterans
9,794 veteran exemptions on 46,089 homesteadsShare of homesteads fully exempt for a disabled veteran
Bay County is home to Tyndall Air Force Base and Naval Support Activity Panama City. The full exemption for disabled veterans is set by the Florida Constitution; local governments can't change it.
Other exempt property
$49.6M a year in estimated tax| Type | Parcels | Value exempted | Tax taken off bills |
|---|---|---|---|
| Government property | 2,090 | $2.35B | $39.5M |
| Churches, charities and other nonprofits | 820 | $360.0M | $5.3M |
| Affordable housing (state-certified) | 13 | $152.0M | $2.0M |
| Affordable housing (nonprofit) | 98 | $102.4M | $1.6M |
| Nonprofit homes for the aged | 3 | $28.9M | $523K |
| Charter schools | 12 | $28.1M | $426K |
| Economic development incentive (county) | 3 | $18.3M | $128K |
| Private schools | 15 | $7.4M | $123K |
| Hospitals and nursing homes | 1 | $2.8M | $31K |
| Conservation land | 5 | $12K | $145 |
Government property includes land and buildings owned by the federal, state, county and city governments and the school district, including military land.
Do you qualify?
- Apply with the Bay County Property Appraiser. Under state law, applications for most exemptions are due by March 1 for that year's taxes. Once granted, most renew automatically each year as long as you still qualify.
- Veterans need a VA letter showing the disability rating; surviving spouses need the veteran's rating and proof of marriage.
- Seniors applying for the income-based exemptions file a household income statement each year.
- See what your home gets now on My Address; the property card shows the homestead exemption and the total of any others.
- Bay County Property Appraiser ↗
Sources and method
Counts and values come from the 2026 final tax roll for Bay County that the Property Appraiser files with the Florida Department of Revenue (the "NAL" file, posted October 16, 2026), which lists each parcel's exemptions by type and its school and non-school taxable values. Florida DOR data portal
"Tax taken off bills" applies the latest complete set of adopted tax rates (FY2026 bills, the same rates My Address uses) to the value each exemption removes, parcel by parcel, using each parcel's own tax district. Where a parcel has several exemptions, the tax is shared among them by amount. It doesn't include the Save Our Homes cap, which limits how fast a homestead's taxed value can rise and is not an exemption. Total for all exemptions, homes and other property: $86.7M a year.