Florida Department of Health: Massage License Renewal

To complete a Florida massage license renewal, you must submit your application through the Department of Health’s MQA Online Services portal by August 31 of every odd-numbered year, with 24 hours of continuing education, a current background screening, and the renewal fee. Miss that date and your license goes delinquent the next day. There is no grace period.

When Your License Expires

Every Florida massage therapist license runs on the same two-year clock. Your renewal deadline is August 31 of each odd-numbered year — 2025, 2027, 2029, and so on — regardless of when you were first licensed.¹ The renewal option on the DOH portal typically opens about 90 days before expiration, so you can start around early June of the renewal year.

If you don’t complete renewal by August 31, your license automatically becomes delinquent. You can’t practice massage therapy anywhere in Florida while delinquent.²

The 24 Continuing Education Hours

You need 24 hours of Board-approved CE completed during the two-year cycle. The Board checks each category separately, so hitting the total isn’t enough if the breakdown is wrong.³

12 hours in massage therapy techniques, skills, and protocols, delivered in-person as hands-on classroom instruction. Up to 6 of those hours may come from qualifying distance-learning courses focused on massage techniques.
2 hours in prevention of medical errors.
2 hours in Florida laws and rules, covering Chapters 456 and 480 of the Florida Statutes and Rule 64B7 of the Florida Administrative Code.
2 hours in professional ethics.
1 hour in human trafficking awareness, covering both sex and labor trafficking, victim identification, reporting, and available resources.
5 hours of general electives on any Board-approved subject.

Extra hours in any mandatory category can count toward your general electives.³

The DOH tracks CE electronically through CE Broker. Most approved providers report completions directly, but verify your transcript well before the deadline. If a course is missing, you can self-report it through your CE Broker account.⁴ When you begin the renewal application, the portal cross-checks CE Broker against the requirements and blocks you from proceeding if the record is incomplete.

If This Is Your First Renewal

First-time renewals use a prorated formula. Your total CE is one hour per month (or partial month) beyond the first three months you were licensed. The only mandatory topics are two hours of prevention of medical errors and one hour of human trafficking awareness. Everything else is general electives.³

Background Screening

Florida now requires a national criminal history check at renewal. Under Section 456.0135, your fingerprints go to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, which forwards them to the FBI. FDLE retains the prints and enrolls them in a national arrest notification program, so any future arrests are flagged automatically during your licensure period.⁵

You pay the fingerprint processing and retention costs. As of July 1, 2025, every health care practitioner licensed before that date must complete this screening at their next renewal, and the DOH will not renew until it’s done.⁵ If your fingerprint retention is expiring during the current cycle, the retention fee is collected at renewal. You’ll also report any criminal history changes since your last renewal.

What Renewal Costs

Florida statute caps the biennial massage therapist renewal fee at $200, with the Board setting the actual amount at or below that cap.⁶ Miss August 31 and you owe a delinquency surcharge on top of the standard fee. By statute, that surcharge cannot exceed the biennial renewal fee itself.⁷

Additional charges may apply, including a fingerprint retention fee and a status change fee if you’re switching between active and inactive. Check the Board of Massage Therapy’s website for current amounts before you start, since fees can change between cycles. The portal calculates your total at checkout.

Renewing Online, Step by Step

Renewal runs through the DOH’s MQA Online Services portal. Log in with your license number and password, then work through the application:

Confirm your CE compliance. The portal pulls your CE Broker transcript and prompts you to enter any missing hours before you can move on.
Update your profile, including mailing address, contact information, and any demographic fields the Board requests.
Answer the required screening questions, disclose any criminal history changes, and confirm you meet all renewal requirements including professional liability coverage.
Handle your background screening if fingerprint retention is due this cycle.
Pay through the secure payment gateway. Once payment clears, you get a confirmation number and your status updates to active.

Don’t wait until late August. CE Broker verification is where renewals stall — a provider reports a course under the wrong category, or doesn’t report it at all — and fixing it takes time. Give yourself at least a month.

Going Inactive Instead

If you’re not practicing in Florida and don’t want to complete the full CE load, you can place your license on inactive status at renewal or at any point during the cycle.⁸ An inactive license keeps the credential alive but doesn’t authorize practice.

The inactive renewal fee can’t exceed the active fee, and you still have to renew by August 31 to avoid going delinquent.⁷ To come back to active practice, you must complete the CE that was due during each cycle you were inactive, pay the active renewal fee minus any inactive fee already paid, plus any reactivation and status change fees.

Stay inactive for more than two consecutive biennial cycles and the Board can impose extra reactivation conditions, including portions of a national exam or a competency assessment, though it cannot make you retake the full licensing exam.⁷

What Happens If You Miss August 31

Delinquent Status

Your license enters delinquent status in the following licensure cycle. You cannot legally practice while delinquent, and the DOH’s public license verification will show that status to anyone who checks.² To fix it, submit a complete renewal application, satisfy all CE and background screening requirements, and pay both the standard renewal fee and the delinquency surcharge.⁷

Null and Void

If you stay delinquent past the next odd-year August 31 deadline, your license becomes null and void automatically. No hearing, no additional notice.⁷ A null license cannot be reactivated. To practice again, you’d have to apply as a brand-new candidate, meeting every current initial licensure requirement, which may include re-examination and a fresh background screening.² Renewing on time — or even late with the surcharge — is far cheaper than starting over.

1
Legal Information Institute. Florida Code Fla. Admin. Code Ann. R. 64B7-28.0043 – Biennial Renewal of Massage Therapist License
2
Florida Department of Health. MQA Status Definitions
3
Florida Board of Massage Therapy. Licensed Massage Therapist
4
Florida Board of Massage Therapy. Continuing Education – CE/CEU
5
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 456.0135 – General Background Screening Provisions
6
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 480.044 – Massage Therapy Fees
7
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 456.036 – Licenses; Active and Inactive Status; Delinquency
8
Florida Board of Massage Therapy. Maintaining Your License