The bottom of the flange needs to be sitting flush with (or not more than 1/8" above) the finished floor or else the toilet will rock. The flange should be fastened to the floor. Dry fit the toilet to make sure it doesn't rock. If it does rock, use shims to prevent rocking - just tightening the bolts probably will not stop the rocking but will risk cracking the toilet or breaking the flange.
Pull up the old toilet, finish the tiling job, and drop in the new toilet. Anything else is going to leave you with a hack job that will eat away at your satisfaction in having your own home every time you turn around to flush.
Finishing the tiling job may turn out to be dead simple if matching tile is available. This is not likely, though, as anyone too lazy to pull the toilet when tiling a bathroom was probably also too cheap to buy tile from a reputable open stock.
So -- find some tile that co-ordinates with the existing floor. For example, if your tile has a pattern, pick up one of the pattern colors with a solid color. Or, you might like the effect of a solid color matching the new toilet.
Pull the old toilet. Enlarge the hole in the tile to a neat shape and fill it in with new tile. Make the replacement area just large enough to look like an expensive decorating consultant did it on purpose. Of course you might need a flange extender when installing the new toilet.
Now, to really finish off the look, find some other feature in the bathroom that can be highlighted in the same way. For example, you might re-color the area where you stand at the sink. Or, you could call out the door sweep area.
Save the removed tiles as well as any unused new tiles for future repair needs.
Is anyone in your family artistic and crafty? Use a combination of removed tiles and new tiles to decorate a tissue box.
Best Answer
If the floor tile is going underneath it, it should come up pretty easy. do use a chisel and hammer and crack from the top only if possible. You may be able to separate it from the flooring in one piece by setting the chisel at the floor and wedging up the chunk, but you may dislodge tile while you are at it although it will not be likely, still possible. Best to try from the top only, the vibration may make the whole piece come loose anyway....