Florida charges a 6.0% state sales tax on tangible goods sold in the state, and many counties add their own surtaxes on top of that. If you sell to Florida customers, you’re responsible for registering with the Department of Revenue, collecting the right combined rate at checkout, and filing a Form DR-15 on whatever schedule the state assigns you based on your sales volume.

Below, we’ll go over who’s required to register for Florida sales tax, how the tax works, and how to file it.

Key takeaways

• Businesses can establish a filing requirement through a physical presence in Florida or by exceeding the state’s economic nexus threshold in taxable sales.

• Once you’re registered, you collect the state rate plus the relevant county’s surtax at the point of sale (POS), based on where the customer takes delivery.

• Filing frequency is tied to how much sales tax a business collects on average each month.

What is Florida sales tax?

Florida charges a 6.0% state sales tax on the sale, lease, or license of tangible personal property, as well as a short list of specified services such as commercial real estate rentals. Most counties layer a discretionary surtax on top of that state rate, usually between 0.5% and 2.0%, although Citrus and Collier Counties don’t.

Who needs to file Florida sales tax?

You need to register for and file sales tax if you have nexus in Florida, a connection to the state substantial enough that it requires you to collect its tax. There are two ways to establish nexus:

• Physical nexus: Having an office, warehouse, retail location, employee, or inventory in Florida can create a filing obligation. A single trade show appearance can constitute physical nexus for that time period.

• Economic nexus: Remote sellers without a physical presence still have to register once they exceed $100,000 in taxable sales within Florida in the previous calendar year.

If you sell exclusively through a marketplace that collects and remits Florida sales tax once its own facilitated sales exceed that same $100,000 threshold, you typically don’t need to register separately for those transactions. Businesses that sell through a marketplace and their own websites or stores still need to register for the direct sales, and they need to track which transactions the marketplace already covered so nothing gets reported twice.

How does Florida sales tax work?

Once you’re registered, you collect the state rate plus your county’s surtax at the point of sale (POS), based on where the customer takes delivery rather than where your business is located.

A few rules shape the combined rate you charge and how you report it:

• Surtax cap: A county’s discretionary surtax applies only to the first $5,000 of a single item’s price.

• Destination-based sourcing: The combined rate you charge depends on the delivery address. A business that ships into several counties needs to track more than one rate.

• Resale exemption: If you’re buying inventory to resell, you can present an Annual Resale Certificate to your supplier instead of paying tax up front. Then, you can collect tax when you sell the item to your own customer. Florida reissues resale certificates every year, and it expects documentation that shows why a transaction was exempt whenever the certificate itself doesn’t cover it.

How do you register for a Florida sales tax permit?

Registration happens through the Florida Department of Revenue, and it doesn’t cost anything. You can apply for a Florida sales tax permit through the state’s online Florida Business Tax Application (Form DR-1), then follow these instructions:

• Gather your business details: You’ll need your federal Employer Identification Number (EIN)—or Social Security number (SSN) if you’re a sole proprietor—as well as your business’s legal name and structure, and your physical and mailing addresses. You’ll also need to provide a projection of your expected taxable sales.

• Submit your application: The department’s online portal usually processes registrations within a few business days, although a paper version of Form DR-1 exists for businesses that choose it.

• Receive your Certificate of Registration: This document carries your unique 13-digit sales tax number, and you’re required to keep it at your place of business.

• Receive your Annual Resale Certificate: This lets you make tax-exempt purchases of inventory you plan to resell.

• Set your filing frequency: The department assigns this based on your projected tax liability and can adjust it after your first year of filings.

What are the filing frequencies and due dates for Florida sales tax?

Florida assigns your filing frequency based on your average monthly sales tax liability. That assignment can shift year to year as your sales grow or shrink.

Here are the cadences:

• Monthly: Businesses with an average monthly liability above $1,000 file on this schedule.

• Quarterly: This frequency is assigned to businesses with an average liability between $501 and $1,000 a month.

• Semiannually: An average monthly liability between $101 and $500 qualifies your business for this less frequent schedule.

• Annually: An average liability of $100 or less a month means filing just once a year.

Every return, no matter the frequency, is due by the 20th of the month after the collection period. The deadline shifts to the next business day if the 20th lands on a weekend or holiday. Electronic payments need extra lead time since the funds transfer takes a day to settle: you’ll generally need to initiate payment by 5:00 p.m. ET on the business day before the 20th at the latest.

Filing late carries a real cost, with a minimum penalty of $50 or 10% of the tax due for every 30 days payment is late. The penalty is capped at 50% of the amount owed, plus interest at a rate the Department of Revenue adjusts twice a year. Businesses that file and pay on time can usually claim a small collection allowance of 2.5% of the first $1,200 of tax due up to a $30 cap, as an offset to the cost of collecting tax.

What are common mistakes when filing Florida sales tax?

Many filing mistakes come down to rate errors or missed deadlines rather than a fundamental misunderstanding of the tax itself. Here are some of the most common things to watch out for:

• Applying the wrong county surtax: A business that ships to multiple counties might sometimes apply its own county’s rate to every sale instead of the rate at the delivery address.

• Ignoring the $5,000 cap: On higher-priced items, applying the surtax to the entire sales price instead of just the first $5,000 overstates the tax owed.

• Skipping zero returns: Florida requires a return for every period you’re registered, even if there weren’t any taxable sales. Skipping it can lead to penalties and registration problems.

• Double-counting marketplace sales: Businesses that sell through both a marketplace and their own sites sometimes report sales the marketplace already collected and remitted, or they fail to report their direct sales at all.

• Missing the electronic payment cutoff: Initiating payment on the 20th itself, rather than the business day before, can result in a late filing even though the return went in on time.

How Stripe Tax can help

Stripe Tax reduces the complexity of tax compliance so you can focus on growing your business. Start collecting taxes globally by adding a single line of code to your existing integration, clicking a button in the Dashboard, or using our powerful application programming interface (API).

Stripe Tax helps you monitor your obligations and alerts you when you exceed a tax registration threshold based on your Stripe transactions. It can also register to collect tax on your behalf in the US, automate US filings in the Dashboard, and manage global filings through trusted partners. Stripe Tax automatically calculates and collects sales tax, value-added tax (VAT), and goods and services tax (GST) on:

• Digital goods and services in all US states and over 100 countries

• Physical goods in all US states and 42 countries

Stripe Tax can help you:

• Understand where to register and collect taxes: See where you need to collect taxes based on your Stripe transactions. After you register, switch on tax collection in a new state or country in seconds. You can start collecting taxes by adding one line of code to your existing Stripe integration, or add tax collection with the click of a button in the Stripe Dashboard.

• Register to pay tax: If you need to register for sales tax in the US, let Stripe manage your tax registrations. You’ll benefit from a simplified process that prefills application details—saving you time and simplifying compliance with local regulations. If you need help registering outside of the US, Stripe partners with Taxually to help you register with local tax authorities.

• Automatically collect tax: Stripe Tax calculates and collects the right amount of tax owed, no matter what or where you sell. It supports hundreds of products and services and is up-to-date on tax rules and rate changes.

• Simplify filing: Stripe Tax automates US filings in the Dashboard, powered by TaxJar. For global filings, Stripe Tax seamlessly integrates with filing partners, so your global filings are accurate and timely. Let our partners manage your filings so you can focus on growing your business.

Learn more about Stripe Tax, or get started today.

FAQs about how to file Florida sales tax