1031 Exchange in Florida: Rules, Taxes, and Why It's Popular
By Adam Kalimi · Published · 3 min read
Florida is one of the easiest states in the country to run a 1031 exchange — and one of the most popular to exchange into. The reason is simple: Florida has no state income tax, so the only capital gains tax you're deferring is federal. No state conformity questions, no annual tracking forms, no clawback when you eventually sell.
That doesn't make a Florida exchange paperwork-free. Here's what applies, what doesn't, and the one trap that follows out-of-state investors in.
The federal rules are the whole game
With no state income tax, a Florida exchange is governed entirely by the federal 1031 rules:
- 45 days to identify replacement property in writing, 180 days to close — both from your sale date. Print your dates with the deadline calculator.
- A qualified intermediary must hold the proceeds — they can never touch your account.
- Reinvest all equity and match or exceed the debt, or the difference is taxable boot.
What Florida charges anyway
A 1031 exchange defers income tax. Florida's transaction taxes are due at every closing, exchange or not:
Doc stamps are a closing cost, not a gain tax — a 1031 exchange does not make them go away.
Deed doc stamps run $0.70 per $100 of the price in most counties (Miami-Dade charges $0.60 plus a surtax on some property types). Financing the replacement adds note stamps and the intangible tax on the new mortgage. Budget for these like any closing cost — they're small next to the federal tax you're deferring, but they surprise people who heard "1031" and expected zero tax at the table.
Also worth knowing: the property-tax assessment resets at sale in Florida. The Save Our Homes cap that kept the seller's assessed value low doesn't transfer to an investor — underwrite on your purchase price, not the seller's tax bill.
The trap: your old state may follow you in
Exchange a California or Oregon rental into a Tampa duplex and the federal-and-Florida picture is clean — but your origin state may not let go. California in particular treats the gain that accrued there as California-source income forever and requires an annual Form 3840 filing; when you eventually sell the Florida property in a taxable sale, California collects its share of the old deferred gain. We cover this in detail in the California guide. Florida adds nothing on its end — the clawback is entirely your former state's doing.
The 45-day search, on Florida inventory
Florida is an inbound-exchange magnet, which means replacement inventory moves fast and the 45-day identification window is the pinch point. WhoseTitle covers Florida county records deeply — circle a neighborhood and pull every owner with tenure and equity signals, free, straight from the county rolls. See free property owner data for Florida for how to work the counties, and use the 1031 capital gains calculator to see the federal bill you're deferring before you commit.
General information, not tax or legal advice. Doc-stamp rates and surtaxes vary by county and property type — confirm your numbers with a CPA and a qualified intermediary.
Turn any neighborhood into a lead list
Draw an area on the map, pull every owner inside it, and work them through action plans — that's WhoseTitle.
Keep reading
- 1031 Exchange in California: Rules, the Clawback, and Form 3840
California 1031 exchange rules: how the state taxes deferred gains, the out-of-state clawback, annual Form 3840 filing, and the real-estate withholding exemption.
- Can You 1031 Exchange Into a Primary Residence? The 5-Year Rule
How a 1031 exchange interacts with your primary residence: converting a replacement property into your home, the Section 121 exclusion, and the 5-year rule.
- 1031 Exchange in Texas: Rules, Taxes, and What's Different
Texas 1031 exchange rules: no state income tax and no transfer tax, the federal deadlines that still govern everything, and how property taxes change the math.