(1) The applicant must be a corporation not for profit pursuant to chapter 617 or a Florida limited partnership, the sole general partner of which is a corporation not for profit pursuant to chapter 617, and the corporation not for profit must have been exempt as of January 1 of the year for which exemption from ad valorem property taxes is requested from federal income taxation by having qualified as an exempt charitable organization under the provisions of s. 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1954 or of the corresponding section of a subsequently enacted federal revenue act.

(2) A facility will not qualify as a “home for the aged” unless at least 75 percent of the occupants are over the age of 62 years or totally and permanently disabled. For homes for the aged which are exempt from paying income taxes to the United States as specified in subsection (1), licensing by the Agency for Health Care Administration is required for ad valorem tax exemption hereunder only if the home:

(a) Furnishes medical facilities or nursing services to its residents, or

(b) Qualifies as an assisted living facility under chapter 429.

(3) Those portions of the home for the aged which are devoted exclusively to the conduct of religious services or the rendering of nursing or medical services are exempt from ad valorem taxation.

(4)(a) After removing the assessed value exempted in subsection (3), units or apartments in homes for the aged shall be exempt only to the extent that residency in the existing unit or apartment of the applicant home is reserved for or restricted to or the unit or apartment is occupied by persons who have resided in the applicant home and in good faith made this state their permanent residence as of January 1 of the year in which exemption is claimed and who also meet the requirements set forth in one of the following subparagraphs:

1. Persons who have gross incomes of not more than $7,200 per year and who are 62 years of age or older.

2. Couples, one of whom must be 62 years of age or older, having a combined gross income of not more than $8,000 per year, or the surviving spouse thereof, who lived with the deceased at the time of the deceased’s death in a home for the aged.

3. Persons who are totally and permanently disabled and who have gross incomes of not more than $7,200 per year.

4. Couples, one or both of whom are totally and permanently disabled, having a combined gross income of not more than $8,000 per year, or the surviving spouse thereof, who lived with the deceased at the time of the deceased’s death in a home for the aged.

However, the income limitations do not apply to totally and permanently disabled veterans, provided they meet the requirements of s. 196.081.

(b) The maximum income limitations permitted in this subsection shall be adjusted, effective January 1 each year, by the percentage change in the average cost-of-living index in the period January 1 through December 31 of the immediate prior year compared with the same period for the year prior to that. The index is the average of the monthly consumer price index figures for the stated 12-month period, relative to the United States as a whole, issued by the United States Department of Labor.

(c) Each not-for-profit corporation applying for an exemption under paragraph (a) must file with its annual application for exemption an affidavit approved by the Department of Revenue from each person who occupies a unit or apartment which states the person’s income. The affidavit is prima facie evidence of the person’s income. The corporation is not required to provide an affidavit from a resident who is a totally and permanently disabled veteran who meets the requirements of s. 196.081. If, at a later time, the property appraiser determines that additional documentation proving an affiant’s income is necessary, the property appraiser may request such documentation.

(5) Nonprofit housing projects that are financed by a mortgage loan made or insured by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development under s. 202, s. 202 with a s. 8 subsidy, s. 221(d)(3) or (4), or s. 236 of the National Housing Act, as amended, and that are subject to the income limitations established by that department are exempt from ad valorem taxation.

(6) For the purposes of this section, gross income includes social security benefits payable to the person or couple or assigned to an organization designated specifically for the support or benefit of that person or couple.

(7) It is declared to be the intent of the Legislature that subsection (3) implements the ad valorem tax exemption authorized in the third sentence of s. 3(a), Art. VII, State Constitution, and the remaining subsections implement s. 6(c), Art. VII, State Constitution, for purposes of granting such exemption to homes for the aged.

(8) Physical occupancy on January 1 is not required in those instances in which a home restricts occupancy to persons meeting the income requirements specified in this section. Those portions of a property failing to meet those requirements shall qualify for an alternative exemption as provided in subsection (9). In a home in which at least 25 percent of the units or apartments of the home are restricted to or occupied by persons meeting the income requirements specified in this section, the common areas of that home are exempt from taxation.

(9)(a) Each unit or apartment of a home for the aged not exempted in subsection (3) or subsection (4), which is operated by a not for profit corporation and is owned by such corporation or leased by such corporation from a health facilities authority pursuant to part III of chapter 154 or an industrial development authority pursuant to part III of chapter 159, and which property is used by such home for the aged for the purposes for which it was organized, is exempt from all ad valorem taxation, except for assessments for special benefits, to the extent of $25,000 of assessed valuation of such property for each apartment or unit:

1. Which is used by such home for the aged for the purposes for which it was organized; and

2. Which is occupied, on January 1 of the year in which exemption from ad valorem property taxation is requested, by a person who resides therein and in good faith makes the same his or her permanent home.

(b) Each corporation applying for an exemption under paragraph (a) of this subsection or paragraph (4)(a) must file with the annual application for exemption an affidavit from each person who occupies a unit or apartment for which an exemption under either of those paragraphs is claimed stating that the person resides therein and in good faith makes that unit or apartment his or her permanent residence.

(10) Homes for the aged, or life care communities, however designated, which are financed through the sale of health facilities authority bonds or bonds of any other public entity, whether on a sale-leaseback basis, a sale-repurchase basis, or other financing arrangement, or which are financed without public-entity bonds, are exempt from ad valorem taxation only in accordance with the provisions of this section.

(11) Any portion of such property used for nonexempt purposes may be valued and placed upon the tax rolls separately from any portion entitled to exemption pursuant to this chapter.

(12) When it becomes necessary for the property appraiser to determine the value of a unit, he or she shall include in such valuation the proportionate share of the common areas, including the land, fairly attributable to such unit, based upon the value of such unit in relation to all other units in the home, unless the common areas are otherwise exempted by subsection (8).

(13) Sections 196.195 and 196.196 do not apply to this section.

History.—s. 12, ch. 76-234; s. 1, ch. 77-174; s. 1, ch. 77-448; s. 87, ch. 79-400; s. 3, ch. 80-261; s. 53, ch. 80-274; s. 13, ch. 81-219; s. 1, ch. 82-133; s. 9, ch. 82-399; s. 8, ch. 83-71; s. 2, ch. 84-138; s. 27, ch. 85-80; s. 1, ch. 87-332; s. 46, ch. 91-45; s. 999, ch. 95-147; s. 2, ch. 95-210; s. 2, ch. 95-383; s. 141, ch. 95-418; s. 9, ch. 96-397; s. 19, ch. 99-8; s. 2, ch. 99-208; s. 10, ch. 2001-137; s. 1, ch. 2001-208; s. 7, ch. 2006-197; s. 27, ch. 2010-5; s. 5, ch. 2017-36; s. 34, ch. 2019-3.