Fla. Stat. § 196.198

This is the official text of Fla. Stat. § 196.198, part of Florida’s Stat — part of the compiled statutory law of Florida, published by the state as "Stat." Browse the sections below, each linked to its official government source.

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196.198 Educational property exemption.

Official statutory text

Educational institutions within this state and their property used by them or by any other exempt entity or educational institution exclusively for educational purposes are exempt from taxation. Sheltered workshops providing rehabilitation and retraining of individuals who have disabilities and exempted by a certificate under s. (d) of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938, as amended, are declared wholly educational in purpose and are exempt from certification, accreditation, and membership requirements set forth in s. 196.012. Those portions of property of college fraternities and sororities certified by the president of the college or university to the appropriate property appraiser as being essential to the educational process are exempt from ad valorem taxation. The use of property by public fairs and expositions chartered by chapter 616 is presumed to be an educational use of such property and is exempt from ad valorem taxation to the extent of such use. Property used exclusively for educational purposes shall be deemed owned by an educational institution if the entity owning 100 percent of the educational institution is owned by the identical persons who own the property, or if the entity owning 100 percent of the educational institution and the entity owning the property are owned by the identical natural persons, or if the educational institution is a lessee that owns the leasehold interest in a bona fide lease for a nominal amount per year having an original term of 98 years or more. Land, buildings, and other improvements to real property used exclusively for educational purposes shall be deemed owned by an educational institution if the entity owning 100 percent of the land is a nonprofit entity and the land is used, under a ground lease or other contractual arrangement, by an educational institution that owns the buildings and other improvements to the real property, is a nonprofit entity under s. 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, and provides education limited to students in prekindergarten through grade 8. Land, buildings, and other improvements to real property used exclusively for educational purposes are deemed owned by an educational institution if the educational institution that currently uses the land, buildings, and other improvements for educational purposes received the exemption under this section on the same property in any 10 consecutive prior years, or, is an educational institution described in s. 212.0602, and, under a lease, the educational institution is responsible for any taxes owed and for ongoing maintenance and operational expenses for the land, buildings, and other improvements. For such leasehold properties, the educational institution shall receive the full benefit of the exemption. The owner of the property shall disclose to the educational institution the full amount of the benefit derived from the exemption and the method for ensuring that the educational institution receives the benefit. Any portion of real property used by a child care facility that has achieved Gold Seal Quality status under s. 1002.945 is deemed owned by such facility and used for an educational purpose if, under a lease, the operator of a facility is responsible for payment of ad valorem taxes. The owner of such property shall disclose to the lessee child care facility operator the total amount of the benefit derived from the exemption and the method for ensuring that the operator receives the benefit. Notwithstanding ss. 196.195 and 196.196, property owned by a house of public worship and used by an educational institution for educational purposes limited to students in preschool through grade 8 shall be exempt from ad valorem taxes

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.