On the Lookout for Homestead Exemption Cheats

The Miami Herald recently published an article about homestead exemption fraud in Miami-Dade County, by Martha Brannigan. (Click here to view the full story). Miami-Dade Property Appraiser Carlos Lopez-Cantera has requested help from local cities in Miami-Dade County to put an end to the fraud, enlisting 16 investigators to begin the process. The Miami-Dade County property appraiser has around 2,900 leads that these detectives will begin working on after they complete the homestead exemption training. “Getting caught can be costly”, Brannigan states, “Under state law, violators must pay up to 10 years in back taxes, plus a 50 percent penalty, plus 15 percent annual interest.”

“The official with the biggest stake in the effort was Miami-Dade Public Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho”, says Brannigan, “The school district gets one of every three dollars in property taxes in Miami-Dade”.

For more information on Homestead Exemption, and reporting homestead exemption fraud, please click here.