Collier County Rental Tax: Rates, Registration, and Filing

If you rent out property in Collier County for six months or less at a time, you owe a combined 11% in taxes on every booking: a 5% county Tourist Development Tax and a 6% Florida state sales tax, both calculated on the gross rent your guest pays. The Collier County rental tax most people hear about is just the 5% local piece. The state sales tax is equally mandatory and goes to an entirely different agency on a separate return.

Which Rentals Are Covered

Both taxes apply to any living accommodation rented for six months or less. That includes hotels, motels, condominiums, single-family homes, townhouses, mobile homes, and RV parks.¹ Renting a single room inside your primary home counts. A one-time rental counts.²

A lease longer than six months is exempt, but the stay has to be continuous. Three separate two-month bookings back-to-back do not qualify, because none of them individually crosses the threshold. The exemption applies only when the guest signs a written lease for a single unbroken stay of more than six months.¹

How the 11% Breaks Down

The 5% Tourist Development Tax goes to the Collier County Tax Collector. The 6% state sales tax goes to the Florida Department of Revenue.² Some Florida counties add a discretionary sales surtax; Collier’s surtax is 0%, which is how the combined rate lands at 11%.³

The two taxes have separate registrations, separate returns, separate filing portals, and separate schedules. Registering for one does not register you for the other. Overlooking the state side while handling the county side is one of the most common mistakes new hosts make.

Registering With the County

You must register with the Collier County Tax Collector before you collect your first dollar of rent. The application asks for the property’s physical address, your Social Security Number or Federal Employer Identification Number, and the date rental activity started or will start.⁴

Download the application from the Tax Collector’s website, then submit it by email to TouristTax@colliertax.com or by fax at 239-920-5864. The office assigns you an account number by mail or email once your application is processed. For questions, the Tourist Tax staff line is 239-252-8829.⁴

If you’d rather not use your Social Security Number, you can get a free EIN from the IRS. The online application issues one immediately; fax takes about four business days, mail about four weeks.⁵ If the property is held in an LLC, the entity has to be registered with the state before you apply for the EIN.

Registering With the State

Separately, register as a sales and use tax dealer with the Florida Department of Revenue. That registration authorizes you to collect and remit the 6% state tax. You can register online through the Florida Business Tax Application or submit a paper Form DR-1.⁶ After processing, you receive a Certificate of Registration and an Annual Resale Certificate.

State sales tax is reported on Form DR-15 (Sales and Use Tax Return), using Line D for transient rentals. That return goes to the Department of Revenue, not to the county.³

Calculating What You Owe

Both taxes are calculated on gross rent. Gross rent includes the nightly rate plus mandatory charges like cleaning fees, deposits, and prepayments. Optional charges a guest can decline, such as a guided tour or a bike rental, generally fall outside gross rent. Anything baked into the price of the stay is taxable.

Say a guest pays $1,000 for four nights plus a $150 cleaning fee. Gross rent is $1,150.

Tourist Development Tax at 5%: $1,150 × 0.05 = $57.50, paid to Collier County.
State sales tax at 6%: $1,150 × 0.06 = $69.00, paid to the Florida Department of Revenue.
Total tax on the booking: $126.50.

You have to charge the tax to the guest. Florida law prohibits advertising that you will absorb the tax or shield the guest from paying it.⁷ The two taxes should appear as separate line items on the guest’s receipt or booking confirmation.

What Airbnb and Other Platforms Collect

If you list on Airbnb, the platform collects and remits the 5% Collier County Tourist Development Tax on your behalf for reservations of 182 nights or shorter. You still have to register your own account with the Collier County Tax Collector and file returns, with the platform’s remittance reflected on your return so nothing is paid twice. Confirm with your specific platform exactly which taxes it collects. Coverage varies, and some platforms handle the county tax but not the state sales tax.

Whatever a platform handles, the legal responsibility to make sure the tax is paid stays with you as the property owner. If a platform remits incorrectly, the county pursues the owner.

Filing Schedules

County Returns

The Collier County Tax Collector assigns one of four filing frequencies based on your rental volume:⁷

Monthly, the standard for active businesses, with returns due by the 20th of the month following the collection period.
Quarterly, for accounts with limited activity.
Semi-annual, for owners who rent in both summer and winter, with reports due in October (summer) and April (winter).
Annual, for seasonal-only owners who rent during the winter season, with payment due April 20th.

File and pay through the county’s TouristExpress online portal, or by mailing a paper return and check. You must file a return for every assigned period even if you collected no rent. A blank return is still required, and skipping a zero-dollar return triggers the same penalties as skipping a return with tax due.⁷

State Returns

Form DR-15 for the 6% state sales tax follows a separate schedule set by the Department of Revenue, typically monthly for active rental operators. One benefit of filing electronically and on time: Florida gives a collection allowance of 2.5% on the first $1,200 of state tax due per period, capped at $30.⁸ Small per filing, but it adds up.

Penalties for Late or Missed Returns

Late filing carries a penalty of 10% of the unpaid tax, with a $50 minimum per return. If you stay delinquent beyond 30 days, another 10% is added for each subsequent 30-day period, up to a 50% ceiling on the unpaid tax.⁹ Interest also accrues on the balance, and the collection allowance is forfeited on any period filed late.

The Tax Collector can issue a warrant that creates a lien against your property. Willfully refusing to collect or remit the tax is a first-degree misdemeanor under Florida law, carrying up to one year in jail and a $1,000 fine.⁷ Prosecution is rare, but the county does pursue it against operators who ignore notices or hide rental income.

Records to Keep

Hold onto every booking confirmation, guest receipt, cleaning fee invoice, platform payout statement, and tax return confirmation for at least three years from the date you file. That is the IRS minimum for federal audit purposes, and Collier County can audit your tourist tax records as well.¹⁰ Electronic records are fine. Save PDFs of your platform reports and bank statements rather than trusting a platform to keep your history available indefinitely.

Other Obligations the Rental Tax Does Not Cover

Tax registration is not the only step before you list. If you rent an entire dwelling unit more than three times in a calendar year for stays under 30 days, or advertise it as regularly available for short stays, Florida’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation requires a vacation rental license, issued either as a Vacation Rental – Condominium or a Vacation Rental – Dwelling.¹¹ Renting just a room within a larger home generally does not need this license.

Rental income is also subject to federal income tax, which is a separate filing from the state and county taxes described above. And standard homeowners insurance policies typically exclude or limit coverage when a paying guest is injured on the property, because many insurers treat short-term rentals as a home-based business outside the single-family residence risk profile.¹² Contact your insurer before listing to confirm what is actually covered.

1
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 212.03 – Transient Rentals Tax
2
Collier County Tax Collector. Taxable Accommodations
3
Florida Department of Revenue. Local Option Transient Rental Tax Rates
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Collier County Tax Collector. Collier County Tourist Tax Registration Application
5
Internal Revenue Service. Employer Identification Number
6
Florida Department of Revenue. Account Management and Registration
7
Collier County Tax Collector. Tourist Tax FAQ
8
Legal Information Institute. Florida Administrative Code Rule 12A-1.056 – Tax Due at Time of Sale
9
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 212.12 – Dealer’s Credit, Penalties, Interest
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Internal Revenue Service. IRS Audits
11
Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation. Guide to Vacation Rentals and Timeshare Projects
12
National Association of Insurance Commissioners. Renting Out Your Home – You Need Insurance Coverage for Home-Sharing Rentals