St. Johns County Tourist Development Tax: Filing and Penalties

The St. Johns County Tourist Development Tax is a 5 percent “bed tax” on short-term rentals of six months or less, collected from the guest by the property owner or manager and remitted monthly to the St. Johns County Tax Collector.¹ It sits on top of Florida’s 6 percent state sales tax on transient rentals, so a guest’s combined tax on a stay runs at least 11 percent. The current 5 percent rate took effect October 1, 2021, when County Ordinance 2021-43 added one point to the previous 4 percent.²

Which Rentals the Tax Applies To

Florida Statute 125.0104 authorizes the tax on any living accommodation leased for six months or less, which sweeps in hotels, motels, resort condos, timeshares, apartments, mobile home and RV parks, and single-family vacation homes.³

Six months is the dividing line. A seven-month lease is outside the tax. A five-month winter rental or a long-weekend booking is inside it. Every owner renting a qualifying property has to collect and remit, no matter how few nights get booked in a given month.

What the 5 Percent Applies To

The 5 percent is calculated on the total rent the guest pays for the accommodation. Refundable security deposits are not rent and should not be included in the base. Other charges that genuinely fall outside the rental payment are also excluded. The tax applies only to the consideration received for actual use of the accommodation.

Owners sometimes forget that the TDT does not replace state sales tax. Florida’s 6 percent transient rentals tax is handled separately through the Department of Revenue. Both apply to the same booking.

What You Need Before You Can Collect

Registering for the Tourist Development Tax is one step inside a larger licensing stack. Each rental unit also needs a St. Johns County short-term vacation rental registration, renewed every 12 months, and the application requires several supporting documents:⁴

A Transient Public Lodging Establishment license from the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.
A Certificate of Sales and Use Tax from the Florida Department of Revenue.
A Local Business Tax Receipt from the St. Johns County Tax Collector, which requires zoning approval for the property’s location.
A sample rental agreement showing maximum occupancy, maximum vehicles, 24-hour contact information for the owner or manager, and an acknowledgment that the county may inspect the property.
The registration fee and an executed affidavit on the first page of the application.

Multiple units in the same building get registered separately. Line up the DBPR license and state sales tax certificate first, because the county application asks for copies of both.

For the TDT account itself, you register through the St. Johns County Tax Collector. You will need the legal owner name, the physical address of the rental, contact information, and either a Federal Employer Identification Number or Social Security Number. The parcel identification number speeds things up. Your Florida Department of Revenue sales tax number is a prerequisite, so finish that registration before submitting the county TDT application.¹

Monthly Filing and the 20th Deadline

Returns are filed every month. Tax collected during a given month is due on the first day of the following month and becomes delinquent if not postmarked by the 20th. If the 20th falls on a weekend or legal holiday, the deadline shifts to the next business day.¹

File every month even if nothing was booked. A skipped month is a violation on its own, and the minimum penalty for a missed filing kicks in whether you owed anything or not. The county’s online portal at stjohnstax.us handles filing and payment electronically.

The Collection Allowance for On-Time Returns

If you file correctly and on time, you keep a small piece of the tax as a collection allowance: 2.5 percent of the first $1,200 due, capped at $30 per filing period. You have to deduct it yourself when you submit the return. The Tax Collector processes what you send and will not issue a retroactive credit if you forget.¹

Late returns and incorrect payments lose the allowance entirely. Filing a few days early each month protects it.

Renting Through Airbnb or Vrbo

Using a platform does not take you out of the registration or filing system. You still need the county short-term vacation rental registration, the state licenses, and a TDT account. The county’s application also requires a statement from the platform documenting which taxes it collects and remits on your behalf.⁴

Platform coverage varies. A service may collect and remit the state sales tax while leaving the county TDT to you, or it may handle both. Assuming the platform covers everything without checking is a common and expensive mistake. Look at the platform’s tax documentation for St. Johns County specifically, and confirm with the Tax Collector if anything is unclear. If a tax goes unpaid, the owner is liable regardless of what a platform promised.

Penalties for Late or Missed Filings

Missing a deadline escalates quickly:

A 10 percent penalty on the tax due, with a $50 minimum even when actual tax owed is less.
An additional 10 percent for each 30-day period (or fraction) that the tax remains unpaid, capped at 50 percent of the total due.
Interest of 1 percent per month on the unpaid balance, starting the 21st day of the month following the month the tax was due.
Loss of the 2.5 percent collection allowance for the delinquent period.

These are the enforcement provisions under Florida Chapter 212.⁵ Beyond the money, knowingly failing to file six consecutive required returns is a third-degree felony, and a false or fraudulent return filed to evade payment carries penalties ranging from a second-degree misdemeanor up to a first-degree felony depending on the amount involved.

The practical takeaway: file the zero return in slow months. The $50 minimum penalty for a missed filing is entirely avoidable.

Where the Money Goes

Florida law restricts TDT revenue to tourism-related purposes listed in the statute, including tourism promotion, beach renourishment and shoreline protection, publicly owned convention and performance venues, museums, aquariums, and tourist information centers.³ The county cannot divert it to general government operations. In St. Johns County, the revenue funds beach cleanups and renourishment, dune walkover repairs, beachside parks, boat ramp maintenance, and cultural programming including the St. Augustine Amphitheatre and local arts organizations.⁶

1
St. Johns County Tax Collector. Tourist Development Tax
2
St. Johns County. TDC Budget and Tax
3
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 125.0104 – Tourist Development Tax; Procedure for Levying; Authorized Uses; Referendum; Enforcement
4
St. Johns County. Short Term Vacation Rentals
5
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 212.12 – Dealer’s Credit for Collecting Tax; Penalties for Noncompliance
6
St. Johns County. Community and Destination Development