Florida has no personal income tax, but businesses operating in the state face a stack of obligations at the state and local level. Business taxes in Florida include corporate income tax at 5.5% on C-corporation earnings, a 6% state sales and use tax (plus local surtax), reemployment tax on employee wages, tangible personal property tax on business assets, documentary stamp tax on deeds and notes, a local business tax receipt, and an annual report fee to keep your entity active. Which ones apply depends on how you’re organized, whether you have employees, whether you sell taxable goods or services, and where you operate.
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 smaller corporations often owe nothing.2Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 220.14 – Exemption You still file Form F-1120 every year, even at zero.3Florida Department of Revenue. Instructions for Corporate Income/Franchise Tax Return
For a calendar-year corporation, the return is due May 1. A six-month extension is available on Form F-7004, but it only extends the filing deadline. Any tax owed is still due on the original date.4Florida Department of Revenue. Florida Corporate Income Tax Filers If you expect annual liability above $2,500, you must make quarterly estimated payments on Form F-1120ES.
S-corporations, partnerships, and most LLCs do not owe Florida corporate income tax. Their income flows through to owners’ personal returns, and Florida taxes no personal income. The one exception: an S-corporation becomes subject to CIT if it reports certain federal taxable income, such as built-in gains from a prior C-corp period or excess passive investment income.
Apportionment for Multi-State Businesses
A corporation doing business in Florida and elsewhere uses a weighted formula to determine the Florida share of its income: 50% sales factor, 25% property factor, 25% payroll factor.5Florida Department of Revenue. Florida Corporate Income Tax The double-weighted sales factor tends to favor companies that manufacture or operate in Florida but sell mostly to out-of-state customers.
Bonus Depreciation Add-Back
Florida starts from adjusted federal income but requires certain state-only adjustments. The most common is bonus depreciation. If you deducted accelerated depreciation under IRC Section 168(k) for assets placed in service before January 1, 2027, you add that amount back for Florida purposes and recoup it in equal installments over seven years.6Florida Department of Revenue. Tax Information Publication 25C01-01 The total deduction is unchanged, but the timing difference can affect early-year cash flow.
Sales and Use Tax
Sales and use tax is the obligation Florida businesses touch most often. 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 surtax of up to 2%, pushing the combined rate as high as 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 a single item of tangible personal property.
Use tax is the mirror image. If you buy something out of state without paying sales tax and bring it into Florida for business use, you owe use tax at the same rate. That covers equipment ordered online, supplies picked up on a trip, and anything else that came into the state untaxed.
Before collecting, register with the Florida Department of Revenue for a Certificate of Registration. Filing frequency ranges from monthly to annually depending on volume. Returns are due the first day of the month following each reporting period and become 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. File a day late and you lose the entire credit.7Florida Department of Revenue. Florida Sales and Use Tax
Commercial Rent Tax Is Repealed
Florida used to impose 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 it’s still showing up on your invoices, something needs correcting.
Remote Sellers and Nexus
You don’t need a Florida location to owe Florida sales tax. If your taxable remote sales into the state exceeded $100,000 in the prior 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 the 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 to registered dealers each November for the following calendar year; they expire December 31. You cannot use the certificate to buy things your business will actually use, like office furniture or computers. Using it that way means you owe use tax on the item, and misuse carries both civil and criminal penalties.12Florida Department of Revenue. Annual Resale Certificate for Sales Tax
Reemployment Tax
Reemployment Tax (formerly Unemployment Tax) funds Florida’s unemployment insurance system. It is entirely an employer cost and cannot be deducted from employee wages. You pay on the first $7,000 of wages per employee per calendar year.13Florida Department of Commerce. Florida Reemployment Tax Rate Information
New employers start at 2.7%. That rate stays in place until you’ve reported wages for 10 quarters, then it adjusts based on your experience rating, which depends largely on how many former employees have filed claims against your account.14Florida Department of Revenue. Reemployment Tax Rate Information The assigned rate can run up to 5.4%, and you receive a rate notice each year. Employers file quarterly on Form RT-6. Because there is no state income tax, you have no state withholding obligation, but 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 the exemption entirely.16Pinellas County Property Appraiser. Tangible Personal Property For a small business with modest equipment, that exemption often wipes out the tax bill on its own, which is why the deadline matters more than people realize.
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 filing at all lets the appraiser issue a discovery assessment, estimating your asset value and adding penalties. The tax bill itself arrives from the County Tax Collector, typically in November.
Documentary Stamp Tax
Documentary Stamp Tax applies when certain documents are executed or recorded in Florida. The two most common triggers are transfers of real property and written promises to pay money, both governed by Chapter 201 of the Florida Statutes.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 base rate of $0.60 per $100 plus a $0.45 surtax, for an effective rate of $1.05. There is no cap on the deed tax; a $2 million commercial sale outside Miami-Dade generates $14,000 in stamps.
For promissory notes and other written obligations to pay money, the rate is $0.35 per $100, capped at $2,450 regardless of loan amount.19Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 201.08 – Tax on Promissory or Nonnegotiable Notes and Written Obligations to Pay Money That cap matters on large commercial loans. The tax is typically paid to the Clerk of Court at recording, and failure to pay the stamp tax on a promissory note can prevent the holder from enforcing it in a Florida court.
Local Business Tax Receipts
Most Florida counties and municipalities require a local business tax receipt (still sometimes called an occupational license) before you operate. The amount is a flat fee set by local ordinance, not tied to income or sales.
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, rising 5% each additional month up to 25%. Operating without a receipt at all adds a separate 25% penalty on top of the tax owed. If the receipt remains unpaid 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 miss this one most often because they don’t think of themselves as needing a license.
Annual Report Filing
Every Florida LLC, corporation, and limited partnership files an annual report with the Division of Corporations (Sunbiz) to stay active. The report is due by May 1. Fees vary by entity type:
- For-profit corporation: $150.00
- LLC: $138.75
- Limited partnership: $500.00
- Nonprofit corporation: $61.25
Filing after May 1 adds a $400 late fee, which nearly quadruples the cost for a standard corporation or LLC.21Florida Department of State. Fees Not filing eventually leads to administrative dissolution or revocation. Reinstatement costs more than the annual report ever did and can leave gaps in your liability protection.
Audits and Voluntary Disclosure
The Florida Department of Revenue audits every tax type 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 unfiled or substantially incorrect returns in that window, it can reach further back. Sales and use tax audits are the most common and tend to focus on use tax on purchases, exempt sales documentation, and proper surtax collection.
If you discover unreported liability before the Department contacts you, the voluntary disclosure program can help. Eligible taxpayers who self-report get penalties waived in most cases, with the lookback limited to three years preceding the request. The exception applies when a business collected tax from customers but failed to remit it, which carries a 5% penalty absent reasonable cause.23Florida Department of Revenue. Voluntary Disclosure of Tax Liabilities Eligibility ends the moment the Department contacts you about the liability in question, so this only works as a proactive step.