Florida has no personal income tax, but business taxes in Florida are a different story. Depending on how your company is organized and what it does, you may owe corporate income tax, sales and use tax, reemployment tax on employee wages, tangible personal property tax on business assets, documentary stamp tax on certain documents, a local business tax receipt, and an annual report fee to keep your entity active. Each has its own rate, form, and deadline, and the penalties for missing them often cost more than the tax itself.
Corporate Income Tax
Florida’s corporate income tax applies to C-corporations and any entity that elects corporate treatment for federal purposes. The rate is a flat 5.5% on the Florida portion of adjusted federal income.1Florida Department of Revenue. Florida Tax and Interest Rates The first $50,000 of net income is exempt, so corporations earning below that threshold generally owe nothing.2Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 220.14 – Exemption You still have to file Form F-1120 every year, even when the math comes out to zero.3Florida Department of Revenue. Instructions for Corporate Income/Franchise Tax Return
For a calendar-year corporation, the return is due May 1, which is the first day of the fifth month after the tax year closes.3Florida Department of Revenue. Instructions for Corporate Income/Franchise Tax Return Form F-7004 buys you six more months to file, but any tax owed is still due on the original date.4Florida Department of Revenue. Florida Corporate Income Tax Filers If you expect to owe more than $2,500 for the year, you must also make quarterly estimated payments on Form F-1120ES.
S-corporations, partnerships, and most LLCs do not owe this tax, because their income passes through to the owners’ personal returns and Florida has no personal income tax. An S-corp becomes subject to the corporate income tax only in narrow cases, such as built-in gains on assets held from a prior C-corp period or excess passive investment income.
If your corporation does business in Florida and elsewhere, you apportion income to Florida using a weighted formula: 50% sales, 25% property, 25% payroll.5Florida Department of Revenue. Florida Corporate Income Tax One adjustment catches many filers off guard: if you took federal bonus depreciation under IRC Section 168(k) on assets placed in service before January 1, 2027, you must add it back for Florida and recoup it in equal installments over seven years.6Florida Department of Revenue. Tax Information Publication 25C01-01 The total deduction is the same; the timing is not.
Sales and Use Tax
Sales tax is the tax Florida businesses encounter most often and get wrong most frequently. The state rate is 6% on sales of tangible personal property and certain services.7Florida Department of Revenue. Florida Sales and Use Tax Most counties add a discretionary sales surtax of up to 2%, which can push the combined rate to 8%.8Florida Department of Revenue. Discretionary Sales Surtax Information for Calendar Year 2026 The surtax applies only to the first $5,000 of the sales price on any single item of tangible personal property.
Use tax is the mirror image. If you buy equipment or supplies out of state without paying sales tax and bring them into Florida for business use, you owe use tax at the same combined rate.
Before collecting any tax, you must register with the Florida Department of Revenue and receive a Certificate of Registration. Filing frequency depends on your volume and runs from monthly to annually. Returns are due the first day of the month following the reporting period and are delinquent after the 20th.9Florida Department of Revenue. Instructions for DR-15 Sales and Use Tax Return File and pay on time and you keep a collection allowance of 2.5% of the first $1,200 in tax due, capped at $30 per reporting location.7Florida Department of Revenue. Florida Sales and Use Tax One day late and the entire credit is gone.
No More Sales Tax on Commercial Rent
For years, Florida was one of the only states that charged sales tax on commercial rent. That tax was repealed effective October 1, 2025. No state sales tax or discretionary surtax applies to rent or license fees for commercial property when the rental period begins on or after that date.10Florida Department of Revenue. Tax Information Publication 25A01-04 – Sales Tax on Commercial Rentals Repealed If you are a tenant still seeing it on invoices or a landlord still collecting it, something needs correcting.
Out-of-State Sellers
You don’t need a physical location in Florida to owe sales tax here. If your taxable remote sales into Florida exceeded $100,000 in the previous calendar year, you must register, collect, and remit.11The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 212.0596 – Remote Sales Sales through a marketplace facilitator like Amazon or Etsy generally don’t count toward your threshold, because the marketplace collects on those transactions. Non-taxable sales and wholesale or resale transactions are also excluded.
Resale Certificates
If you buy inventory to resell, you can purchase it tax-free by giving your supplier a current Florida Annual Resale Certificate. The Department of Revenue issues these certificates to registered dealers each November for the following calendar year, and they expire December 31. You cannot use a resale certificate for things your business will actually use, like office furniture or computers. Buy something tax-free on a resale certificate and then use it yourself, and you owe use tax on it. Misusing a resale certificate carries both civil and criminal penalties.12Florida Department of Revenue. Annual Resale Certificate for Sales Tax
Reemployment Tax
Florida’s reemployment tax, once called unemployment tax, funds the state’s unemployment insurance system. It is entirely an employer cost and never comes out of employee wages. You pay the tax on the first $7,000 of wages per employee per calendar year.13Florida Department of Commerce. Florida Reemployment Tax Rate Information Once an employee’s wages cross that line, no further tax is due on them until the next year.
New employers start at 2.7%. That rate stays until you have reported wages for 10 quarters, at which point your rate adjusts based on your experience rating, which is driven mostly by former-employee claims against your account.14Florida Department of Revenue. Reemployment Tax Rate Information The rate can run as high as 5.4%, and you receive a rate notice each year.
You file a quarterly report, Form RT-6, to report wages and remit the tax. Because Florida has no personal income tax, you have no state income tax withholding to run on payroll. That is an administrative advantage, but it leads some owners to assume they owe no state payroll tax at all. Reemployment tax is still mandatory.
Tangible Personal Property Tax
If your business owns physical assets like furniture, computers, machinery, or fixtures, you owe tangible personal property tax. This is a local tax assessed by your county Property Appraiser based on the value of those assets as of January 1 each year. It is separate from real estate property tax.
File Form DR-405 with your county property appraiser by April 1.15Florida Department of Revenue. Florida Form DR-405 – Tangible Personal Property Tax Return Filing on time qualifies you for a $25,000 exemption on assessed value. Miss April 1 and you lose that exemption entirely.16Pinellas County Property Appraiser. Tangible Personal Property For a small business with modest equipment, that exemption can wipe out the entire bill, which is why the filing deadline matters more than the paperwork suggests.
Late filing triggers a penalty of 5% of the total tax for each month overdue, capped at 25%.17The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 193.072 – Penalties for Late Filing Never file at all and the property appraiser can issue a discovery assessment, estimating your assets and adding penalties. The actual bill arrives from the County Tax Collector later in the year, typically in November.
Documentary Stamp Tax
Florida’s documentary stamp tax hits certain documents when they are executed or recorded. The two most common triggers are transfers of real property and written promises to pay money. Chapter 201 of the Florida Statutes governs it.18Florida Department of Revenue. Florida Documentary Stamp Tax
For deeds transferring an interest in Florida real property, the rate is $0.70 per $100 of consideration or any fraction of $100. Miami-Dade County uses a lower base of $0.60 per $100 but adds a $0.45 surtax, making the effective rate there $1.05 per $100.18Florida Department of Revenue. Florida Documentary Stamp Tax There is no cap on the deed tax, so a $2 million commercial sale generates $14,000 in documentary stamps outside Miami-Dade.
For promissory notes and other written obligations to pay money, the rate is $0.35 per $100, capped at $2,450 regardless of the loan amount.19Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 201.08 – Tax on Promissory or Nonnegotiable Notes and Written Obligations to Pay Money The tax is paid to the Clerk of Court when the document is recorded. Failing to pay stamp tax on a promissory note can prevent the holder from enforcing the note in a Florida court.
Local Business Tax Receipts
Most Florida counties and municipalities require a local business tax receipt, sometimes still called an occupational license, before you operate. It is not based on sales or income. It is a flat fee set by local ordinance that varies by location and business type.
Receipts go on sale July 1 and must be renewed by September 30, expiring the following September 30. Miss the deadline and penalties start at 10% in October, growing by 5% each additional month, up to 25%. Operating without a receipt triggers a separate 25% penalty on top of the tax. If you still haven’t paid 150 days after the initial notice, you face civil action including court costs, attorney fees, and an additional penalty of up to $250.20Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 205.053 – Business Tax Receipts, Dates Due and Delinquent, Penalties Home-based businesses and sole proprietors who don’t think of themselves as needing a “license” are the ones who most often get caught here.
Annual Report and Entity Fees
Every Florida LLC, corporation, and limited partnership must file an annual report with the Division of Corporations (Sunbiz) to keep its active status. The report is due by May 1 each year. Fees vary by entity type:
- For-profit corporation: $150.00
- LLC: $138.75
- Limited partnership: $500.00
- Nonprofit corporation: $61.25
File after May 1 and a $400 late fee tacks on, which nearly quadruples the cost for a standard corporation or LLC.21Florida Department of State. Fees Keep ignoring it and your entity faces administrative dissolution or revocation. Reinstating costs more than the annual report ever did and can leave gaps in your liability protection, so this is a deadline worth putting on the calendar early.
If You Fall Behind
The Florida Department of Revenue audits all tax types it administers, and the standard lookback is three years.22Florida Department of Revenue. What to Expect from a Florida Sales and Use Tax Audit If the Department finds you failed to file or filed substantially incorrect returns, it can extend the audit further back. Sales and use tax audits are the most common, usually focused on use tax on purchases, exempt-sales documentation, and surtax collection.
If you discover unreported liabilities before the Department contacts you, the voluntary disclosure program is worth a look. Eligible taxpayers who self-report get penalties waived in most cases, with the lookback limited to three years before the request. One exception: if you collected tax from customers and failed to remit it, a 5% penalty still applies unless you can show reasonable cause.23Florida Department of Revenue. Voluntary Disclosure of Tax Liabilities You lose eligibility the moment the Department contacts you about the liability in question, so once an audit letter arrives, it is too late.