If you own commercial property or a business in Florida, a TRIM notice will land in your mailbox around this time of year, and it is worth more than a quick glance before it gets set aside.
TRIM stands for Truth in Millage. It is not a bill. It is a notice showing the proposed property tax rates set by each local taxing authority, your county, city, school board, and any special districts, along with what your property tax bill would be if those proposed rates are adopted. The actual bill comes later, typically in November, once the rates are finalized.
The notice matters for two reasons. First, it is your opportunity to catch errors or object to your property’s assessed value before the rate is locked in. Each notice includes information on how and when to file a petition if you believe the assessment is wrong, and that window closes faster than most owners expect. Second, even without an objection, the notice gives you a preview of what to budget for later in the year, which is useful if property taxes are a meaningful line item in your business’s operating costs.
For business owners specifically, it is worth checking whether any exemptions you are entitled to, homestead if applicable, or various business personal property exemptions, are correctly reflected. Errors here are more common than people assume, and they do not fix themselves.
Read the notice when it arrives rather than filing it for later. The deadline to act on it is shorter than the deadline to pay the eventual bill.
Questions about how your TRIM notice affects your business’s budget for the rest of the year? Reach out to our tax team.