Property Tax Exemptions for Seniors, Veterans and Disability — Brevard County, Florida

Beyond the basic homestead exemption, the Brevard County Property Appraiser grants exemptions for limited-income seniors, veterans and their surviving spouses, widows and widowers, blind owners, disabled owners and the families of first responders.

The BCPAO exemptions page groups them under General Exemptions and Veteran and First Responder Exemptions. Several stack on top of a homestead, while the $5,000 exemptions can apply to property that is not a homestead. Most renew automatically each year as long as the qualifying conditions do not change, and BCPAO asks owners to contact the office after a move or a change of title.

Amounts in the table come from the BCPAO exemption list and from the Department of Revenue guides PT-109 and PT-111. The same BCPAO page lists the Additional Homestead Exemption at $26,411 and carries a notice that Amendment 3, major homestead exemption changes, is on the November 3 ballot.

Through the Brevard County Property Appraiser, a veteran rated at least 10 percent disabled from service gets $5,000 off any property owned, and a veteran with a service-connected total and permanent disability can have a homestead fully exempt from property tax.

The BCPAO veterans rack card lays out five benefits. The $5,000 Disabled Ex-Service Member exemption applies to an ex-service member disabled at least 10 percent in war or by service-connected events, on any property he or she owns. An honorably discharged veteran who is totally and permanently disabled, or who requires a wheelchair for mobility because of military service, may qualify for total exemption from ad valorem taxes. A veteran 65 or older who owns a homestead and has a permanent service-connected disability that is at least partly combat-related may qualify for a discount based on the percentage of disability, in addition to other veteran exemptions, provided the veteran was honorably discharged.

Two benefits reach active service and families. The Deployed Military Exemption covers a member or former member of the armed forces, the reserves or the Florida National Guard who holds a homestead exemption and was deployed during the last calendar year outside the continental United States, Alaska and Hawaii in support of a designated operation; it is filed with BCPAO on Form DR-501M with proof of deployment. A surviving spouse of a veteran who died from service-connected causes while on active duty may be granted a total exemption. BCPAO adds that, effective 2021, the disability benefits can carry over to a surviving spouse.

The Department of Revenue guide PT-109 fills in the arithmetic. The deployed exemption equals the percent of the prior year the service member spent on a designated operation, and the combat-related discount equals the percentage of permanent, service-connected disability determined by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. A veteran may apply at a BCPAO office in Palm Bay, Melbourne, Viera or Titusville before the VA paperwork arrives; once it does, the exemption is effective from the original application date.

BCPAO asks veterans to bring a VA Award Letter, a Florida driver license or ID card, a Brevard County voter registration card, vehicle registration, a Social Security card and a copy of the deed, plus the title or registration when the home is a manufactured home.

The Brevard County Property Appraiser grants each widow, widower, blind person or totally and permanently disabled Florida resident a $5,000 exemption, and some disabled homeowners qualify for a full exemption.

Section 196.202, Florida Statutes sets one $5,000 exemption each for a widow, a widower, a blind person and a totally and permanently disabled person, provided the owner is a bona fide Florida resident. For this purpose, totally and permanently disabled means certified as such by a Florida-licensed physician, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or the Social Security Administration. BCPAO lists each as a separate $5,000 line on its exemptions page. An applicant may file with BCPAO before the federal paperwork arrives, and once it is received, excess taxes are refunded for up to four years.

Full exemptions apply to two groups of disabled homeowners. Under Section 196.101, Florida Statutes, any homestead owned and used by a quadriplegic, in Palm Bay or anywhere else in the county, is exempt from taxation with no income test. A homestead of a paraplegic, hemiplegic or other totally and permanently disabled person who must use a wheelchair or is legally blind is also exempt, but only if the gross income of everyone living in the home for the prior year does not exceed $14,500, a ceiling the statute adjusts every January 1 for inflation. Gross income here includes Veterans Affairs and Social Security benefits.

Proof is specific. The Department of Revenue guide PT-111 says a first-time applicant for the wheelchair or blind exemption presents a certificate of total and permanent disability (Form DR-416) from two Florida-licensed doctors or from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and that for a legally blind applicant one of the two may be a Florida-licensed optometrist (Form DR-416B). BCPAO lists this benefit as the civilian Total and Permanent Disability Exemption, separate from the veteran version.

For 2026, a Brevard County homeowner aged 65 or older with a homestead exemption qualified for the limited-income senior exemption when 2025 household adjusted gross income did not exceed $38,686, according to the BCPAO application.

The 2026 BCPAO Limited Income Senior Exemption Application sets the steps: the applicant must hold a current homestead exemption, be 65 by January 1 of the application year, and file with the Property Appraiser by March 1. Each household member who files a federal return submits a copy of the 2025 IRS 1040 and all 1099 forms; members who do not file submit all 1099 forms. The form puts that paperwork deadline at May 1, 2026, and directs mailed applications to BCPAO at P.O. Box 429, Titusville.

The benefit depends on where the home sits. Brevard County Code Section 102-146 grants an additional county exemption of $25,000, for a total senior exemption of $50,000 since 2009, applied to county millage but not to special districts or municipal services taxing units. City taxes are a separate decision for each council. The BCPAO senior rack card lists 12 cities that add a municipal senior exemption of up to $25,000, including Melbourne, West Melbourne, Malabar, Grant-Valkaria, Melbourne Beach and Melbourne Village in South Brevard. Palm Bay does not appear on that list, so a Palm Bay senior receives the county exemption but no city one.

Yes: the surviving spouse of a first responder who died in the line of duty can have a Brevard County homestead fully exempt, and BCPAO also lists a First Responder Total and Permanent Disability Exemption.

Section 196.081(6), Florida Statutes exempts a homestead owned and used by the surviving spouse of a first responder who died in the line of duty while employed by the federal government, the state or any political subdivision, including authorities and special districts. The proof is a letter from that employer certifying the death in the line of duty. For this subsection the statute defines a first responder as a law enforcement or correctional officer, a firefighter, or an emergency medical technician or paramedic, whether full-time, part-time or an unpaid volunteer, so it reaches responders employed by a city such as Palm Bay or Melbourne as well as by the county or the state.

The Department of Revenue adds a residency condition: the first responder and the surviving spouse must have been permanent Florida residents on January 1 of the year the first responder died. On the BCPAO exemptions page, both this benefit and the veteran surviving spouse benefit sit under one heading, Surviving Spouse of Military Veteran or First Responder Exemption.

Most Brevard County exemptions must be filed with the Property Appraiser by March 1, at BCPAO offices in Palm Bay, Melbourne, Viera or Titusville or by mail to Titusville.

The BCPAO rack cards list the yearly calendar: January 1 is the legal assessment date, March 1 the deadline for most exemptions, August the month proposed tax notices are mailed, and September the deadline to file a Value Adjustment Board petition. The South Brevard counters are the Brevard County Service Complex at 450 Cogan Drive SE in Palm Bay, (321) 952-4574, and the South Service Complex at 1515 Sarno Road in Melbourne, (321) 255-4440; the Brevard County Government Center office at 2725 Judge Fran Jamieson Way, Building C, in Viera answers at (321) 690-6880.

A denial is not the last word. The Department of Revenue notes that an owner whose application is denied may petition the county value adjustment board, which in Brevard County runs on the September petition deadline shown on the BCPAO cards.

Last verified: October 12, 2026, on the BCPAO website, in Florida Department of Revenue guides PT-109 and PT-111, and in Florida Statutes chapter 196.