Texas to Florida: Comparing Two States With No Income Tax

Texas and Florida are the two largest states with no personal income tax. Our Texas guide notes that Texas voters added a permanent constitutional ban on a personal income tax in 2019, and our Florida guide notes that Florida has never had one under its current constitution. Wages, capital gains, pensions and IRA withdrawals are untaxed at the state level in both.

That means a move between them has none of the content that defines most corridors. There is no part-year return to file in either state, no day-count test, no exit audit, and no departure state trying to prove you never left. Neither state runs an individual residency audit, because neither has an income tax for a residency audit to protect.

What is left is the part of the move that people tend to skip: property tax and the homestead filings that control it, the tax on any business you own, and, for married couples, how the law treats property you built up in Texas. The corridor overview is on the moving from Texas to Florida page.

In both states, the homestead exemption is where residency carries real money. Texas removes $140,000 of a home’s value from school district taxes, raised from $100,000 by the 2025 constitutional amendment, and caps annual growth in the appraised value of a homestead at 10 percent. Florida removes up to $50,000 of assessed value, with the second $25,000 not applying to school levies, and its Save Our Homes cap limits annual growth in a homestead’s assessed value to the lesser of 3 percent or the change in the consumer price index.

Neither state lets you hold both. Our Texas guide notes that Texas Tax Code sections 11.13 and 11.43 allow only one homestead exemption at a time, in Texas or any other state, and Florida’s homestead application asks the applicant to show they are not receiving a residency-based tax benefit in another state. Both states cross-check the exemption address against driver’s license and voter registration records.

The penalties are not symmetrical. In Texas, once a chief appraiser learns that a property is no longer the owner’s principal residence, the exemption is cancelled under section 11.43(h), and an exemption erroneously allowed in any of the five preceding years can be added back to the appraisal roll as escaped property under section 11.43(i). In Florida, Fla. Stat. section 196.161 reaches back up to 10 years for an exemption granted to someone not entitled to it, and adds a penalty of 50 percent of the unpaid taxes for each year plus interest of 15 percent a year, secured by a lien. A Texan who keeps the old exemption while claiming a new one in Florida creates the exact mismatch both systems are built to catch.

The practical sequence is simple: notify the Texas appraisal district when the Texas home stops being your principal residence, then file for the Florida homestead by March 1 of the first year you own and occupy the Florida home as your permanent residence on January 1.

Florida has a property tax amendment on the November 3, 2026 ballot. House Joint Resolution 1-F, approved by the Legislature in a June special session, would raise the homestead exemption against non-school property taxes to $150,000 beginning January 1, 2027 and to $250,000 beginning January 1, 2028, with inflation adjustments after that. School taxes would keep the current $25,000 exemption. Like any Florida constitutional amendment, it needs at least 60 percent of the vote to pass.

The provision a Texas mover needs to know about is the waiting period. According to the summaries published by the Florida Institute of CPAs, Florida Realtors and GrayRobinson, people who are not permanent Florida residents by the end of 2026 would receive a $50,000 exemption for their first five years of Florida residency, and would qualify for the larger exemption only after that. The summaries also describe a reduction in the annual assessment cap on non-homestead property from 10 percent to 5 percent.

Whether that changes anything depends on the vote and on the final ballot language, which a mover should read rather than rely on a summary. What is already true, regardless of the outcome, is that Florida homestead eligibility is fixed by your status on January 1. If you are planning this move for the coming months, the date your Florida residency began may soon matter for more than the 2027 exemption, and a dated record of that date is worth building now.

The biggest structural difference for business owners runs in the opposite direction from what many expect. Texas imposes a franchise tax on each taxable entity formed or doing business in the state, and LLCs are taxable entities even when a single-member LLC files as a sole proprietor for federal purposes. For reports due in 2026 the no-tax-due threshold is $2,650,000 in revenue, and the rates are 0.375 percent for retail and wholesale businesses, 0.75 percent for others, and 0.331 percent under the EZ computation for entities under $20 million. The Comptroller treats a sole proprietorship that is not organized to limit liability, and a joint venture wholly owned by natural persons, as outside the tax.

Florida has no franchise tax of that kind, but it does have a corporate income tax of 5.5 percent, applied after a $50,000 exemption. The Florida Department of Revenue applies it to corporations, to LLCs classified as corporations, and to S corporations only when they owe federal tax at the entity level. Single-member LLCs treated as disregarded entities generally do not file a separate Florida return, and sole proprietors are outside it entirely.

Neither tax follows the owner’s personal residency. A Texas LLC that keeps doing business in Texas after you move stays subject to the Texas franchise tax, and a C corporation that moves its operations to Florida picks up a Florida corporate income tax obligation it did not have before. For most owners of pass-through businesses, the move is close to neutral on entity tax. For owners of a C corporation, it is not, and that is worth running before the moving truck rather than after.

Texas is a community property state and Florida is not. That difference does not disappear at the state line. Florida adopted the Uniform Disposition of Community Property Rights at Death Act, Fla. Stat. sections 732.216 through 732.228, which applies to personal property that was acquired as community property under the laws of another jurisdiction, and to Florida real estate traceable to it. Under section 732.219, when a married person dies, one half of that property belongs to the surviving spouse and is not part of the decedent’s probate estate.

The federal tax angle is the reason it matters. Under 26 U.S.C. section 1014(b)(6), the surviving spouse’s half of community property also receives a new cost basis at the first spouse’s death, as long as at least half of the community interest was included in the decedent’s gross estate. In a common law state, jointly owned property generally gets a basis step-up only on the decedent’s half. Assets that kept their Texas community character can keep that advantage, but only if the records show where they came from.

Florida also offers a separate route for couples who want community property treatment for assets they acquire after arriving. The Florida Community Property Trust Act, enacted in 2021 as chapter 2021-183 and codified at Fla. Stat. sections 736.1501 through 736.1512, lets married couples hold assets in a trust that expressly declares itself a community property trust, with at least one qualified trustee, signed by both spouses. Section 736.1503 requires the agreement to open with a capitalized warning about the consequences for creditor claims, divorce and death, and recommends that each spouse get independent legal advice. That is a decision for an estate planning attorney, not a moving checklist, but it starts with knowing which assets were community property in Texas.

Texas builds domicile from a combination of filings: the homestead exemption, driver’s license, voter registration and vehicle registration. Florida adds a purpose-built one. Under Fla. Stat. section 222.17, a person who has established a Florida domicile may file a sworn declaration with the clerk of the circuit court in their county, stating their Florida residence, that they are a bona fide resident, and the state they previously lived in. Our Florida guide describes it as a one-page statement, notarized and recorded with the clerk for a small recording fee.

Between two states without an income tax, the declaration will rarely be contested. Its value shows up later. A dated, recorded statement of when Florida became home supports the homestead application, any eligibility date that depends on when residency began, and the record you would need if you later spend significant time in a state that does tax income. That is the scenario our moving from New York to Florida page covers, and it is why the habit is worth starting even when the current move carries no audit risk.

The usual new-resident deadlines also apply. Our Florida guide notes that new residents should get a Florida driver license within 30 days and register vehicles within 10 days of establishing residency. On the Texas side, our Texas guide notes there is no part-year return to file when you leave; the departure steps are removing the homestead exemption and moving your license, registration and voter registration to Florida.

A Texas to Florida move costs nothing in income tax, which makes it easy to treat the paperwork as optional. The records still matter if your plans change. A later move into an income-tax state, or a return through one, puts the date your residency began and ended back in play. The moving from Texas to California page shows how quickly a no-tax history turns into evidence when the destination state taxes income.

For a side-by-side look at what each state would cost on your own numbers, our residency savings and exposure calculator runs the comparison.

For the homestead question, keep the Texas appraisal district notice or confirmation that your Texas exemption was removed, the Florida closing or lease documents, the date you began living in the Florida home, and the Florida homestead application with its filing date. Keep the issue dates of your Florida driver license, vehicle registration and voter registration, and the recorded declaration of domicile if you file one.

For a business, keep the entity formation documents, the last Texas franchise tax report or Public Information Report, and any record of where the business operates after the move.

For married couples, keep statements that show which accounts and assets were acquired while you lived in Texas, so their community character can be traced later.

The full rules for both states are in our Texas residency intelligence guide and our Florida residency intelligence guide.

ResidencyIQ organizes records and highlights potential exposure factors. It does not provide legal or tax advice. Business owners and married couples with significant Texas assets should have the entity and estate questions reviewed by professionals who handle both states.

The Texas homestead exemption amount, the 10 percent appraisal cap, the one-homestead rule under Tax Code sections 11.13 and 11.43, cancellation under section 11.43(h) and the five-year escaped-property lookback under section 11.43(i) are from our Texas residency guide, which cites the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts, Property Tax Exemptions: https://comptroller.texas.gov/taxes/property-tax/exemptions/, and Ballotpedia, Texas Proposition 13 (2025): https://ballotpedia.org/Texas_Proposition_13,_Increase_Homestead_Property_Tax_Exemption_Amendment_(2025).

The Florida homestead exemption amounts, the Save Our Homes cap, the January 1 and March 1 rules, and the out-of-state benefit requirement are from our Florida residency guide, which cites the Florida Department of Revenue, Form PT-113: https://floridarevenue.com/property/documents/pt113.pdf.

The 10-year lookback, 50 percent penalty, 15 percent interest and lien for improper Florida homestead exemptions are from Fla. Stat. section 196.161: https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/196.161.

The HJR 1-F exemption amounts, school levy treatment, five-year waiting period for new residents, non-homestead cap change and 60 percent threshold are from the Florida Institute of CPAs, Legislative Update: Property Tax Reform Placed on November Ballot: https://www.ficpa.org/news/be13fbce-df3c-4856-b190-35dce29a2d0e:legislative-update-property-tax-reform-placed-on-november-ballot; Florida Realtors, Property Tax Amendment Heads to Voters (June 2026): https://www.floridarealtors.org/news-media/news-articles/2026/06/property-tax-amendment-heads-voters; and GrayRobinson, Florida Property Tax Reform: Summary of the Ballot Proposal HJR 1F: https://www.gray-robinson.com/insights/post/5458/grayrobinson-government-affairs-and-lobbying-insight-by-chris-carmody-and-senior-government-affairs-advisor-robert-stuart-florida-property-tax-reform-summary-of-the-ballot-proposal-hjr-1f-and-administrative-changes-sb-4f.

The Texas franchise tax 2026 threshold and rates are from the Texas Comptroller, Franchise Tax: https://comptroller.texas.gov/taxes/franchise/. The treatment of sole proprietorships, joint ventures owned by natural persons, and LLCs is from the Comptroller’s Taxable Entities FAQ: https://comptroller.texas.gov/taxes/franchise/faq/taxable-entities.php.

The Florida corporate income tax rate, exemption and filing rules by entity type are from the Florida Department of Revenue, Corporate Income Tax: https://floridarevenue.com/taxes/taxesfees/Pages/corporate.aspx.

The application of Florida’s community property act is from Fla. Stat. section 732.217: https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/732.217, and the disposition at death from section 732.219: https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/732.219. The basis rule for the surviving spouse’s half is from 26 U.S.C. section 1014(b)(6): https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/26/1014.

The requirements for a Florida community property trust are from Fla. Stat. section 736.1503: https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/736.1503. The enacting chapter law is from the history note to section 736.1501: https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/736.1501.

The Florida declaration of domicile is from Fla. Stat. section 222.17: https://www.flsenate.gov/Laws/Statutes/2025/222.17. The notarization and recording practice is from our Florida residency guide, which cites the Miami-Dade Clerk of Courts at https://www.miamidadeclerk.gov/clerk/declaration-domicile.page.

The Florida driver license and vehicle deadlines are from our Florida residency guide, which cites the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles at https://www.flhsmv.gov/new-resident/. The Texas constitutional ban on a personal income tax and the absence of a part-year return are from our Texas residency guide.