Miami-Dade Property Taxes Explained: Your Bill, TRIM Notice and Appeals

Your Miami-Dade property tax bill is your taxable value multiplied by the millage rates of every taxing authority where you live, plus flat non-ad valorem charges like garbage or CDD fees. The proposed amounts arrive on the TRIM notice in August, the bill arrives by November 1, and paying in November saves 4%. If you are buying, remember that taxes reset to market value on January 1 after the sale, so the seller's bill is not your bill.

Market value, assessed value and taxable value

Three numbers appear on every notice, and the difference between them is where most confusion starts.

Read our homestead exemption guide to see how the $25,000 and $26,411 pieces work.

Millage: what you are paying for

One mill is $1 of tax for every $1,000 of taxable value. Your total depends on whether you are in a city or in unincorporated Miami-Dade (UMSA). These are the proposed 2026 rates on the TRIM notices:

That adds up to about 15.77 mills in unincorporated areas such as much of Kendall. Cities replace the UMSA rate with their own, and some add debt service, so totals are higher. For example, the City of Miami's operating rate is 7.1080 mills and Homestead's is 6.3945. Many city addresses land roughly between 18 and 21 mills. Final rates are adopted at September budget hearings and are usually the same as or lower than the TRIM figures.

Reading your TRIM notice and November bill

The Notice of Proposed Property Taxes (TRIM notice) is mailed by about August 24. It is not a bill. It shows your January 1 values, exemptions, last year's taxes, the taxes each authority proposes, and the dates of public budget hearings where you can speak. If you didn't receive one, call 311.

The actual bill from the Miami-Dade Tax Collector is mailed on or before November 1. Under Florida law, paying early earns a discount:

Unpaid taxes become delinquent April 1. If your lender pays through escrow, it normally pays in November to capture the 4%. If you pay yourself, the Tax Collector's quarterly installment plan lets you spread payments with smaller discounts. For the 2026 tax year, the application deadline was April 30, 2026.

CDD fees and other non-ad valorem charges

Below the ad valorem taxes, your bill lists flat charges that exemptions do not reduce:

• Community Development District (CDD) assessments, common in newer communities in Homestead, Florida City and other parts of South Dade. They often include a debt portion that runs for decades.
• Solid waste fees in unincorporated areas and some cities, often a few hundred dollars a year.
• Special taxing districts for street lights, guard gates or landscaping.
• PACE assessments for solar, roofs or windows financed through the tax bill. These can be large and usually must be paid off at sale or disclosed to the buyer.

Before you make an offer, look up the folio on the Property Appraiser's site and ask for the prior year's full bill, not just the tax total on the listing.

How to appeal your value

1. Review the TRIM notice as soon as it arrives. Compare your market value with recent sales of similar homes.
2. Ask the Property Appraiser for an informal review. Many errors (square footage, a missed exemption) are fixed here.
3. File a petition with the Value Adjustment Board (VAB) within 25 days of the TRIM mailing. In Miami-Dade the 2026 deadline was September 18, 2026. The Clerk charged $15 per folio; state law now allows boards to charge up to $50.
4. Pay on time anyway. To keep a value petition alive, you must pay all non-ad valorem charges and at least 75% of the ad valorem taxes before they become delinquent.
5. Share your evidence with the Property Appraiser at least 15 days before your hearing.

Broward follows the same state calendar through the Broward Property Appraiser and the Broward Value Adjustment Board.

Estimating taxes before you buy

The seller's tax figure usually reflects years of Save Our Homes caps. On January 1 after you close, the home is reassessed at market value, and you start over with your own homestead. Here is an example in unincorporated Miami-Dade using 2026 proposed rates:

Non-ad valorem charges come on top. Use the Property Appraiser's Property Tax Estimator, budget on the full purchase price to be safe, and add any CDD amount. If Amendment 3 on the November 3, 2026 ballot passed, the non-school portion would drop for qualifying homesteads starting with 2027 bills, but results and implementing rules were not final when we published this (early unofficial returns showed it passing with about 61%; see our news page). Plug your estimate into our affordability guide.

How we can help

Before you write an offer, we pull the folio, the last full tax bill and any CDD or PACE charges, and we give you a realistic post-closing tax estimate for that city. If you own and think your assessment is too high, we can pull comparable sales for your informal review. Contact us at (786) 545-9222.

Frequently asked questions