St. Johns County Property Taxes and Your Mortgage Payment

Short answer: Two county offices handle your property taxes. The St. Johns County Property Appraiser values your home and grants exemptions, and the St. Johns County Tax Collector bills and collects. If you have a mortgage with an escrow account, your servicer pays the bill from your monthly payment. When you buy, the seller's homestead benefits end, and your taxes reset the next year.

We checked every date and figure below with the county offices and the 2026 Florida Statutes on October 22, 2026.

How property taxes get into your mortgage payment

Most buyers pay property taxes through an escrow account. Each month your payment includes one-twelfth of the yearly tax and insurance bills, and your servicer pays the bills when they come due. FHA requires escrow for taxes and insurance, and so do many conventional loans.

When the taxes are escrowed, the Tax Collector sends the bill to your mortgage company and mails you a copy marked "THIS IS NOT A BILL – DO NOT PAY" (Tax Collector). You still owe the tax if a bill goes astray, so check that your servicer paid it.

Federal rules set the guardrails for the account (12 CFR 1024.17):

• Your servicer can hold a cushion of no more than one-sixth of the year's estimated bills.
• Your servicer reviews the account every 12 months.
• If the review shows a surplus of $50 or more and you're current, the servicer refunds it within 30 days.

If taxes go up, the annual review raises your monthly payment to cover the shortage. On a fixed-rate loan, principal and interest stay put, so taxes and insurance drive any change in your payment.

The homestead exemption

If you own the home and live in it as your permanent residence on January 1, you can apply for homestead with the Property Appraiser by March 1 (Florida Statutes 196.011). You can file online. Bring a Florida driver license or ID showing the home's address and the Social Security numbers of you and your spouse.

For 2026 the full exemption totals $51,411 (Property Appraiser; Florida Statutes 196.031):

• The first $25,000 comes off your value for all taxes, school taxes included.
• A second exemption, $26,411 for 2026, comes off assessed value above $50,000 and doesn't apply to school taxes. The state adjusts this amount for inflation each year.

Save Our Homes: the cap on your assessed value

Starting the year after you get homestead, the Property Appraiser can raise your assessed value by no more than 3% a year or the change in the Consumer Price Index, whichever is lower (Florida Statutes 193.155). Market value can climb faster than that, and over time a gap opens between the two. Your TRIM notice, mailed each August, shows the benefit you've built up.

Portability lets you carry that gap to your next Florida homestead, up to $500,000. You must apply within three tax years of leaving the old homestead, and if you buy a cheaper home you move a share of the benefit in proportion to the new home's value (Property Appraiser). Apply for homestead and portability at the same time.

Homes without homestead have their own 10% yearly cap, which doesn't apply to school taxes and can't move to another home.

Why a purchase resets your taxes

The Save Our Homes cap stays with the owner. Florida law tells the Property Appraiser to assess the home at market value on January 1 of the year after it changes hands (Florida Statutes 193.155).

1. Year you buy: the November bill uses the seller's January 1 status, often with the seller's homestead and capped value. The title company prorates that bill at closing.
2. January 1 after you buy: the Property Appraiser resets the assessed value to market value. Your own homestead counts only if you owned and lived in the home on that date and file by March 1.
3. Next November: your first bill on your own terms arrives. If the seller had owned the home for years, this bill can run far above the old one.

Your lender has to estimate the taxes on the reset value, not the seller's bill. HUD tells FHA lenders to use accurate tax estimates and, for new construction, to base them on both land and improvements (HUD Handbook 4000.1). The Property Appraiser's tax estimator gives you a starting point. Plan for an escrow increase in your second year even so.

The St. Johns County tax calendar

Early-payment discounts

Florida law gives a discount for paying early (Florida Statutes 197.162):

• November: 4%
• December: 3%
• January: 2%
• February: 1%
• March: no discount

With escrow, your servicer picks the payment date, so ask whether it pays in November. If you pay the bill yourself, you can also sign up for the Tax Collector's installment plan: apply before May 1 if your estimated taxes run above $100, and the first payment is due by June 30 (Tax Collector).

What happens if taxes go unpaid

From April 1 the Tax Collector adds 3% interest and an advertising charge. By June 1 the office sells a tax certificate, a lien on the home, and interest runs from then. Two years later, the certificate holder can apply for a tax deed, which can cost you the home (Tax Collector). Your mortgage also requires you to keep taxes paid, so a lien puts the loan at risk too.

Amendment 3 on the November 3, 2026 ballot

Voters will decide on a constitutional amendment that would raise the homestead exemption for non-school taxes to $150,000 from January 1, 2027, and $250,000 from January 1, 2028. It would also cut the cap on non-homestead homes from 10% to 5%. It needs 60% approval, school taxes would stay, and Save Our Homes and portability would not change. If it passes, the November 2027 bills would show it first (St. Johns County Property Appraiser). Until then, current law applies, and this guide describes current law.

St. Johns County property tax questions

When are St. Johns County property taxes due?

The Tax Collector mails bills around November 1. The full amount is due March 31, and unpaid taxes become delinquent April 1.

How do I get the 4% discount?

Pay in November. December earns 3%, January 2% and February 1%. With escrow, your servicer makes the payment and picks the date.

Does the seller's homestead exemption transfer to me?

No. The Property Appraiser resets the home to market value on January 1 after you buy, and you file your own homestead by March 1.

Where do I file for homestead in St. Johns County?

With the St. Johns County Property Appraiser, online or in person, by March 1.

Disclosure: This article is general information only and is not tax, legal or financial advice or a commitment to lend. Tax rules, exemption amounts and deadlines change; figures checked against the St. Johns County Property Appraiser, the St. Johns County Tax Collector, HUD, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the 2026 Florida Statutes on October 22, 2026. All loans are subject to credit approval and program guidelines. FLO Mortgage is licensed as a mortgage lender in Florida (MLD2621) and Georgia (#1835856), Company NMLS #1835856; Broker Owner Joy McCoy Flores, NMLS #1096400. Equal Housing Opportunity. 212 Moody Blvd, Flagler Beach, FL 32136. (386) 882-9980.