Florida Property Tax Appeal Rules for Remote Hearings Take Effect November 2, 2026

If you plan to appeal your property assessment to your county's value adjustment board, four more hearing rules will change on November 2, 2026. The Florida Department of Revenue filed amended Rules 12D-9.014, 12D-9.019, 12D-9.020, and 12D-9.026 of the Florida Administrative Code with the Florida Secretary of State on October 13, 2026, and the Florida Administrative Register lists November 2, 2026 as their effective date. The rules carry out 2025 changes to Florida's property tax hearing statutes. In plain terms, they explain how to ask for a hearing by phone or video, set an earlier deadline for uploading evidence for a remote hearing, add new information to your notice of hearing, and update how you and the property appraiser exchange evidence.

Who Is Affected

A value adjustment board (VAB) hears property tax appeals in each Florida county. These rules matter to you if:

• You own Florida real property and have filed, or plan to file, a petition with your county's VAB

• You would rather appear at your hearing by phone or video conference than travel to the hearing room

• You plan to call witnesses or present documents at a remote hearing

• You represent property owners before the board

• You serve as a board clerk, board attorney, special magistrate, or property appraiser

The amended rules take effect November 2, 2026. Until then, the current versions still apply. The rules do not say how they apply to hearings that were noticed before that date, so if your hearing falls close to November 2, it is worth asking the board clerk which procedures the board will follow.

Key Changes

How to ask for a remote hearing. Under section 194.032 of the Florida Statutes, the board must let you appear using electronic or other communication equipment if you make a written request at least 10 calendar days before the hearing. Counties with fewer than 75,000 residents may opt out. Amended Rule 12D-9.026 explains how to make the request. Unless you made it on your petition by checking the box for it, your written request must:

• Include your petition number and parcel number

• Include your name

• Be sent to the value adjustment board email address listed on the Form DR-481 notice for your hearing

• Include an email address the clerk can use to respond and follow up

To count the 10 days, use calendar days, leave out the hearing day, and count backward with the day before the hearing as day 1. If the last day lands on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the deadline moves to the closest earlier day that is not. The clerk must notify all parties of your request. If your county's board has opted out, the clerk must promptly tell you.

What the old remote hearing rule required. The version of Rule 12D-9.026 in place since 2010 allowed hearings by electronic media only under narrow conditions. The board had to approve and have the equipment, a special magistrate had to agree in each case, and the clerk did not have to honor a request if telephone or electronic media were not reasonably available. All parties also had to agree on how witnesses would be sworn, how evidence would be presented, and who would appear remotely. The amended rule will remove those conditions. It will keep the requirements that the board reasonably accommodate parties who face a hardship or lack equipment, provide a physical location if a party asks for one, and keep the board members or special magistrate physically present in the hearing room.

Equipment the board must have. The board must maintain equipment and procedures that let you appear in the hearing format you selected. The equipment must allow clear communication among everyone at the hearing and create the hearing records the law requires, and you must be able to send evidence in a format the board can receive, process, view, print, and archive. Rule 12D-9.014 will add this to the prehearing checklist, so before hearings begin, the board's lawyer must verify that the board has this equipment, or that the county has fewer than 75,000 residents and the board adopted a resolution or motion to opt out. If you ask for a phone or video hearing, you are responsible for having your own connection and equipment.

Your notice of hearing will tell you more. Rule 12D-9.019 already requires the clerk to send your notice of hearing so you receive it at least 25 calendar days before the hearing, along with items such as the hearing date, time, location, and your right to exchange evidence. Starting November 2, the notice will also include:

• A checkbox the clerk marks if it is known that your hearing will be held by phone or video

• If that box is checked, the type of technology and either the access instructions, a statement that they are attached, or a statement that the clerk will email them to you

• If that box is checked, a statement of the evidence upload deadline and the email address or web link for uploading

• A checkbox showing whether your county has opted out of remote hearings

• Information on how to request a remote hearing, what the request must include, and where to send it

The notice will also tell you that if your hearing is set by video conference, you may ask for an in person hearing. If it is set by telephone, you may ask for an in person hearing or ask to appear by video conference if the technology is available and practicable. The clerk must accommodate a request for an in person hearing, and must accommodate a request to switch from phone to video when the technology is available and practicable. The clerk will be able to use the standard notice of hearing (Form DR-481) for both in person and remote hearings. If it does, a separate notice of remote hearing (Form DR-481REM) is not needed, but Form DR-481REM cannot be used in place of Form DR-481. Rule 12D-16.002, which adopts these forms, was filed the same day with the same effective date, and the Department's notices for that rule show updated versions of Forms DR-481, DR-481REM, DR-486, and DR-486PORT.

An earlier deadline for remote hearing evidence. For a hearing by phone or video, your evidence, including rebuttal evidence, must be uploaded or emailed to the board's designated address and received no later than 9:00 a.m. at least two non-holiday workdays before the hearing. If your hearing is on a Monday, the deadline is 9:00 a.m. the Thursday before. The 2010 rule set no upload deadline at all. Your documents must be in PDF format and start with a cover page that lists:

• The petition number

• The parcel or folio number or numbers

• The petitioner's name

• Which party is submitting the documents

• A telephone number

• The names and telephone numbers of any witnesses who will not be at your number

If the clerk does not use software that numbers pages automatically, you must number the pages yourself. You are also responsible for making sure your witnesses are available, have the equipment they need, and have copies of the documents they will testify about.

The amended rule makes clear that uploading evidence to the board is a separate step from exchanging evidence with the property appraiser. You must do both.

Evidence exchange with the property appraiser. Amended Rule 12D-9.020 will match the statute. At least 15 days before the hearing, you must give the property appraiser your list of evidence, a summary of what your witnesses will say, and copies of your documents. The property appraiser must give you the same, along with the current property record card, at least 15 days before the hearing. The old rule required the property appraiser to provide its evidence no later than 7 days before the hearing, and only if you had already sent yours and asked for theirs in writing. If you did not send yours, the property appraiser did not have to send anything. Under the amended rule, if the property appraiser misses its deadline, the hearing must be rescheduled so you have time to review its evidence, and a new sentence says you may waive the rescheduling. Both sides will count the 15 days the same way, with the day before the hearing as day 1.

Evidence you hold back. The old Rule 12D-9.020 said that if you did not take part in the evidence exchange, the board could not exclude your evidence for that reason alone. It also said that evidence the property appraiser asked you for in writing could be used if you gave it over a reasonable time before the hearing, even if that was less than 15 days ahead. Both statements will be gone. Under the amended rule, if the property appraiser asks you in writing for specific evidence, and you have it and knowingly refuse to provide it, you cannot present it. That evidence is timely only if the property appraiser receives it at least 15 days before the hearing. This will line Rule 12D-9.020 up with Rule 12D-9.025, which changed on August 27, 2026. Rebuttal evidence that was not specifically requested will still be allowed.

The old rule also said that skipping the evidence exchange did not affect your right to receive the property record card. That sentence will be removed, but section 194.032 still requires the property appraiser to give you the property record card when it receives your petition from the clerk, whether or not you start the evidence exchange, unless the card is available online and the property appraiser tells you so.

Practical Implications

When your notice of hearing arrives, mark your deadlines right away by counting backward from the hearing date:

• At least 15 days before: your evidence is due to the property appraiser, and the property appraiser's evidence is due to you

• At least 10 calendar days before: your written request to appear by phone or video

• By 9:00 a.m. at least two non-holiday workdays before: your evidence upload for a remote hearing, or the Thursday before for a Monday hearing

Look closely at the checkboxes on your notice. If the board has already set your hearing by phone or video and you would rather appear in person, you have the right to ask for that. If the notice says your county opted out, plan to attend in person.

If you choose a remote hearing, prepare your PDF and cover page early. Two workdays is less time than it sounds, especially around weekends and holidays, and the cover page has to include every item on the list. Test your phone or video connection ahead of time, and make sure each witness has the documents they will be asked about.

Keep the two evidence steps separate in your planning. Sending your evidence to the property appraiser does not put it before the board, and uploading it to the board does not satisfy the exchange with the property appraiser.

If the property appraiser's evidence does not arrive at least 15 days before your hearing, you can have the hearing rescheduled. You can also choose to waive that and go forward, which may make sense if you have already seen the information or want to keep your date.