Property tax exemptions for seniors and veterans — Sebastian, Florida

Sebastian owners can add exemptions for widows and widowers, blind and disabled persons, disabled veterans, disabled first responders, deployed service members and qualifying seniors, all granted by the Indian River County Property Appraiser.

The Indian River County Property Appraiser lists the forms and information sheets for each one (Indian River County Property Appraiser): a DR501 SC Senior Citizen Exemption Application, a DR501M Deployed Military Exemption Form, $5,000 exemptions for an ex-service member with a disability, for disability, for blind persons and for widows and widowers, a Service Connected Total and Permanent Disability Exemption, a Homestead Property Tax Discount for Veterans Age 65 and Older with a Combat Related Disability, and a Reduction in Assessment for Living Quarters of Parents or Grandparents. Its exemptions page adds separate entries for disabled first responders, disabled veterans and widow(er)s (Property Appraiser exemptions page).

Who decides matters for anyone standing at a counter on US 1. The Indian River County Tax Collector says exemption eligibility is determined by the County Property Appraiser and sends questions to that office (Indian River County Tax Collector). The Florida Department of Revenue says the same statewide: submit all applications and documentation to the property appraiser in the county where the property is located. For a home in the Sebastian Highlands or along Indian River Drive, that means the Indian River County Property Appraiser, which keeps a Sebastian Office at 1921 US Hwy 1 (Property Appraiser).

Florida offers Sebastian veterans four tiers: a $5,000 exemption for a disability of 10 percent or more, an age 65 discount for combat-related disability, and full exemptions for total and permanent service-connected disability or wheelchair use.

The smallest benefit has the lowest bar. Under Florida Statutes 196.24, an ex-servicemember discharged under honorable conditions who has been disabled to a degree of 10 percent or more by misfortune or while serving during a period of wartime service gets property to the value of $5,000 exempt, and the unremarried surviving spouse keeps it. A Sebastian veteran produces a certificate of disability from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs before the Indian River County Property Appraiser as proof.

The largest benefit removes a Sebastian home from the tax roll. Section 196.081 exempts real estate that is owned and used as a homestead by a veteran who was honorably discharged with a service-connected total and permanent disability, with the exemption carrying over to a surviving spouse who stays in the home until remarriage or sale. Section 196.091 gives a separate full exemption to a service-connected totally disabled veteran who received VA assistance for specially adapted housing and must use a wheelchair.

Older combat veterans have a percentage discount instead. Under section 196.082, a veteran who is age 65 or older and partially or totally permanently disabled receives a discount equal to the percentage of the veteran's permanent, service-connected disability, if the disability was combat-related and the discharge honorable. The applicant brings the Indian River County Property Appraiser a VA letter stating the percentage and showing it is combat-related, a copy of the honorable discharge and proof of age by March 1.

Help with the paperwork is on Main Street in Sebastian. Indian River County Veterans Services runs a Sebastian Office at 1235 Main Street, phone (772) 226-1145, by appointment, and lists Homestead Tax Exemptions among the benefits its State-Certified Veterans Service Officers assist with (Indian River County Veterans Services). For active-duty owners, section 196.173 adds an exemption on a homestead for servicemembers deployed during the preceding calendar year outside the continental United States, Alaska, or Hawaii in listed operations, filed on the Property Appraiser's DR501M form.

Widows, widowers, blind persons and totally and permanently disabled persons in Sebastian each qualify for a $5,000 exemption, and some disabled homestead owners qualify for a full exemption.

The base rule is short. Florida Statutes 196.202 states that property to the value of $5,000 of every widow, widower, blind person, or totally and permanently disabled person who is a bona fide resident of this state is exempt from taxation. A totally and permanently disabled person, for this section, is someone currently certified by a Florida-licensed physician, by the VA or by the Social Security Administration. An applicant may file before the paperwork arrives; once it does, the exemption dates back to the original application and excess taxes are refunded for up to four years. The Indian River County Property Appraiser lists a separate $5,000 information sheet for each group.

A full exemption applies in narrower cases. Under section 196.101, any real estate used and owned as a homestead by any quadriplegic is exempt, and so is the homestead of a paraplegic, hemiplegic or other totally and permanently disabled person who must use a wheelchair for mobility or who is legally blind. That second group faces an income test: gross income of everyone living in the home could not exceed $14,500 when the limit was set, and the statute adjusts it each January 1 by the cost-of-living index, so a Sebastian household checks the current figure with the Property Appraiser.

First responders are covered too. Section 196.102 exempts the homestead of a first responder with a total and permanent disability from injuries sustained in the line of duty, applied for by March 1 to the property appraiser of the county where the property is located. The Department of Revenue adds that a surviving spouse of a first responder who died in the line of duty may receive a total exemption on homestead property, under section 196.081(6). For a Sebastian family, both claims go to the Indian River County Property Appraiser.

No: the Florida senior exemption is a local option that reduces only the taxes of the county or city that adopted it, so on a Sebastian bill it can apply to some lines and not others.

The rule for Sebastian and Indian River County comes from Florida Statutes 196.075. The board of county commissioners of any county or the governing authority of any municipality may adopt an ordinance for up to $50,000 for a homeowner who has attained age 65 and whose household income stays under a limit that began at $20,000 and is adjusted every January 1. A second, larger option exempts the full assessed value for an owner 65 or older who has lived in the home for at least 25 years, when its just value was under $250,000, and needs a super majority vote. Either way the ordinance must specify that the exemption applies only to taxes levied by the unit of government granting the exemption.

That matters in Sebastian because, unless the ordinance says otherwise, the exemption applies to all tax levies of the county or city granting it, including its dependent special districts and municipal service taxing units, and to no other levy (section 196.075). The Indian River County Property Appraiser offers a DR501 SC Senior Citizen Exemption Application and a Senior Exemption Information sheet (Property Appraiser forms), and Sebastian owners confirm which lines it covers with the Property Appraiser's Sebastian Office before counting on it. School taxes are not a county or city levy and are not reduced by a county or city ordinance under this section.

Paperwork is heavier than for other exemptions. A first-time Sebastian applicant must submit to the property appraiser, not later than March 1, a sworn statement of household income, backed by prior-year federal returns and W-2 forms for each household member, and must notify the property appraiser by May 1 if household income later exceeds the adjusted limit (section 196.075).

Sebastian owners apply to the Indian River County Property Appraiser by March 1 for the tax year, in person at 1921 US Hwy 1 in Sebastian or at the Vero Beach office.

The deadline at the Indian River County Property Appraiser is set by state law. Florida Statutes 196.011 requires every person entitled to an exemption to file, on or before March 1 of each year, an application with the county property appraiser, and failure to make application, when required, on or before March 1 of any year shall constitute a waiver of the exemption privilege for that year. Once an exemption is granted, the property appraiser mails a renewal application on or before February 1 in each succeeding year, and any denial must be served on or before July 1.

Timing in Indian River County follows January 1 status. The Indian River County Property Appraiser home page states that permanent Florida residency is required on January 1 and that the application is due by March 1, and notes that as of September 6th, all Homestead Exemption applications submitted will be for the 2027 tax year (Indian River County Property Appraiser). A Sebastian homestead application filed this fall therefore counts toward the 2027 tax year.

Two Property Appraiser offices serve Sebastian owners. The Property Appraiser's Sebastian Office is at 1921 US HWY 1, Sebastian, phone (772) 226-1133, Monday to Friday, 8:00AM to 5:00PM (Property Appraiser). The main office is at 1800 27th Street in Vero Beach, (772) 226-1469. A denied applicant can petition the Value Adjustment Board, as section 196.082 spells out for the veterans discount.

Last verified: October 11, 2026, on the Indian River County Property Appraiser website.