Description

Note: On November 4, 2008, Florida voters approved Amendment 3, which removes the 10-year duration of the exemption, although this applies only to residential property. The amendment also strikes the previous section in the state constitution that established the original guidance upon which the June 2008 law described below is based, thereby creating a possible contradiction that will need to be addressed.

In June 2008, Florida enacted legislation that revived a renewable energy property tax exemption that had previously expired in 1990. Under Florida law, improved real property upon which a renewable energy source device* is installed and operated is entitled to an exemption in the amount of the original cost of the device, including the installation cost. The exemption does not include the cost of replacing, removing or improving existing property in the course of the installation.

Renewable energy devices must be installed on or after January 1, 2009, to qualify for the exemption, and the exemption will not be authorized for more than 10 years. If the renewable energy device was operative for less than a full calendar year preceding the taxpayer’s exemption application, the exempt amount will be reduced proportionally.

* The legislation states that a “renewable energy source device means any of the following equipment which, when installed in connection with a dwelling unit or other structure, collects, transmits, stores, or uses solar energy, wind energy, or energy derived from geothermal deposits: solar energy collectors; storage tanks and other storage systems, excluding swimming pools used as storage tanks; rockbeds; thermostats and other control devices; heat exchange devices; pumps and fans; roof ponds; freestanding thermal containers; pipes, ducts, refrigerant handling systems, and other equipment used to interconnect such systems (however, conventional backup systems of any type are not included in this definition); windmills; wind-driven generators; power conditioning and storage devices that use wind energy to generate electricity or mechanical forms of energy; pipes and other equipment used to transmit hot geothermal water to a dwelling or structure from a geothermal deposit.”