The Monroe County tourist development tax is a 5% local tax on short-term rentals in the Florida Keys, charged on top of Florida’s 7.5% sales and use tax for a total of 12.5% that guests pay and operators remit. The 5% piece goes to the Monroe County Tax Collector. The 7.5% piece goes to the Florida Department of Revenue. You collect them together and send them to two different agencies.
Which Rentals Owe the Tax
The trigger is the length of the stay, not the type of building. Any rental of living quarters or sleeping accommodations in Monroe County for six months or less is subject to the tax, whether the property is a hotel, motel, resort, apartment, condominium, rooming house, mobile home park, RV park, or a single-family house listed on a booking site.
The one blanket carve-out at the state level is a bona fide written lease for continuous residence longer than six months. If that lease exists and covers uninterrupted occupancy, neither the state sales tax nor the local tourist development tax applies.
What Counts as Taxable Rent
The 5% applies to the full amount the guest is required to pay, not just the nightly rate. Mandatory charges that are part of the taxable total include:
- Cleaning fees, whether charged at checkout or built into the nightly rate
- Pet fees
- Resort fees and bundled amenity charges
- Processing fees, booking fees, and traveler service fees passed through to the guest
- Mandatory in-room extras such as cribs, rollaway beds, refrigerators, microwaves, and in-room safes
Damage deposits and optional travel insurance are not taxable, because neither is consideration for the rental itself.
Common Exemptions
Florida law exempts certain rentals from both the state tax and the local tourist development tax. The ones most likely to come up in the Keys:
- A guest who stays continuously at the same property longer than six months and paid the tax during the initial period stops owing it going forward, provided they don’t move.
- A signed lease for continuous residence longer than six months exempts the rental entirely.
- Federal employees on official travel and active-duty military on travel orders are exempt when they present orders and a sworn statement that the government is paying or reimbursing the charges.
- Florida state and local government employees are exempt only when the agency is billed and pays directly, not when the employee pays and seeks reimbursement.
- Foreign diplomats presenting a U.S. Department of State sales tax exemption card are exempt.
- Full-time students at a post-secondary institution residing in transient accommodations are exempt.
- Religious, charitable, educational, scientific, and veterans’ organizations holding a Florida consumer’s certificate of exemption are exempt when the organization pays the charges directly.
Keep the paperwork. A guest’s verbal claim won’t survive an audit; the exemption certificate, orders, or sworn statement needs to be in your file.
Registrations You Need Before Collecting Rent
Before a single dollar comes in, a Monroe County short-term rental operator needs separate registrations in place.
Florida Sales Tax Dealer Registration
Register as a sales and use tax dealer with the Florida Department of Revenue through its online portal. This is what lets you collect and remit the 7.5% state portion.
Monroe County Tourist Development Tax Account
Register with the Monroe County Tax Collector to open a tourist development tax account. The application asks for ownership details, the property address, and the type of dwelling. Without this account, there is no mechanism to remit the 5% county tax.
Local Business Tax Receipt
Monroe County requires a business tax receipt for all rental accommodations, whether rented daily, weekly, or monthly. The form asks for the business name, owner, mailing and physical addresses, phone number, and either an SSN or federal EIN. If the property sits inside a municipality, you need both the city license and the county business tax receipt.
DBPR Vacation Rental License
Florida law requires owners of vacation rentals to hold a license from the Division of Hotels and Restaurants within the Department of Business and Professional Regulation before operating. Vacation rentals are classified as transient public lodging establishments and are subject to DBPR safety and sanitation inspection.
Airbnb and VRBO Do Not Pay This Tax for You
This is where Keys hosts most often get caught out. The Monroe County Tax Collector has no agreement with Airbnb, VRBO, or any other booking platform. Those platforms do not remit the 5% tourist development tax to the county. The obligation sits entirely with the operator.
Some platforms do collect and remit the Florida state sales tax portion, which creates a false sense of security. A checkout screen that shows “taxes” being collected is not the same thing as the 5% county tax being paid. That piece remains yours no matter what the platform displays, and treating the platform’s collection as full compliance is the fastest way to a delinquency notice.
Monthly Filing and the Early-Pay Discount
The tourist development tax is filed monthly. Returns and payments are due on the 1st of the month after the reporting period and become delinquent if not paid or postmarked by the 20th. Rent collected in March, for example, is reported and paid between April 1 and April 20.
Every registered operator files every month, even when no rent was collected. Zero-dollar returns still have to be submitted. The county’s online system, Tourist Express, is the preferred filing method and lives at monroe.county-taxes.com/tourist. You need an active tourist development tax account to use it.
Filing and paying through Tourist Express by the 20th earns a 2.5% collection allowance on the first $1,200 of tax due, capped at $30. Small per return, but there’s no reason to leave it unclaimed across twelve months of filings.
What Happens If You File Late
Miss the 20th and penalties start the next day. The penalty is 10% of the tax due for each month or partial month the return is delinquent, with a minimum of $50 and a ceiling of 50% of the tax due. Interest also accrues on the unpaid balance at a variable rate; the current figure is available from the Tourist Development Tax Department at (305) 295-5058.
The $50 floor matters for small operators. A month in which you owe $30 in tax will still carry a $50 penalty if the return is late, so the penalty exceeds the tax. For hosts with multiple listings or heavy season revenue, the 10% monthly escalation can run up a serious balance before anyone notices. The same rules apply whether you file online or by mail.
Zoning Can Override the Whole Setup
Being registered and current on tax does not make a rental legal everywhere in the county. Monroe County zoning restricts vacation rentals (stays under 28 days) in certain districts, and in those districts it is unlawful to rent, advertise, or offer a dwelling for stays shorter than 28 days. Listings for properties in restricted zones must show a 28-day minimum and monthly rates. The advertising itself is a violation when the zoning prohibits the use, even if no booking ever happens. Confirm the zoning classification with the local Planning and Zoning Department before the listing goes live.