Florida enjoys a very robust tourism industry with its beaches, fishing, diving, and a seemly endless supply of good restaurants, theme parks, and yes – hotels. Long before my time on earth, Florida's legislature realized there was a fantastic revenue generating opportunity for the state by taxing our out of state guests when staying in a hotel or other sleeping accommodation in Florida. So, the state legislature implemented a sales tax on sleeping accommodation, with an exemption for stays exceeding 6 months in length, which coincidently happens to be the magic amount of time it takes to become a resident of Florida as well. Before long, the county governments realized that they wanted to partake in this robust source of tax review imposed on people that usually don't vote in local elections. So the counties began imposing local "bed taxes," as it has been commonly called. The state and local tax rate on a poor, unsuspecting (non-voting) tourist can reach 13% when the state 6% sales tax rate is combined with the local rate of up to 7%. Below is a chart of the 2015 state and local tax rates imposed on sleeping accommodations by county, which inter-county exceptions provided at the end of the list.
COUNTY | AMOUNT OF TAX DUE ON LIVING/SLEEPING ACCOMMODATIONS | OTHER TAXABLE TRANSACTIONS | |||||
11 ALACHUA | 11.00% | 6.00% | |||||
12 BAKER | 10.00% | 7.00% | |||||
13 BAY** | 11.50% | 6.50% | |||||
14 BRADFORD | 11.00% | 7.00% | |||||
15 BREVARD | 11.50% | 6.50% | |||||
16 BROWARD | 11.00% | 6.00% | |||||
17 CALHOUN | 7.50% | 7.50% | |||||
18 CHARLOTTE | 12.00% | 7.00% | |||||
19 CITRUS | 9.00% | 6.00% | |||||
20 CLAY | 10.00% | 7.00% | |||||
21 COLLIER | 10.00% | 6.00% | |||||
22 COLUMBIA | 11.00% | 7.00% | |||||
23 DADE** | 13.00% | 7.00% | |||||
24 DE SOTO | 10.50% | 7.50% | |||||
25 DIXIE | 9.00% | 7.00% | |||||
26 DUVAL | 13.00% | 7.00% | |||||
27 ESCAMBIA | 11.50% | 7.50% | |||||
28 FLAGLER | 11.00% | 7.00% | |||||
29 FRANKLIN | 9.00% | 7.00% | |||||
30 GADSDEN | 9.50% | 7.50% | |||||
31 GILCHRIST | 9.00% | 7.00% | |||||
32 GLADES | 9.00% | 7.00% | |||||
33 GULF | 12.00% | 7.00% | |||||
34 HAMILTON | 10.00% | 7.00% | |||||
35 HARDEE | 7.00% | 7.00% | |||||
36 HENDRY | 10.00% | 7.00% | |||||
37 HERNANDO | 11.00% | 6.00% | |||||
38 HIGHLANDS | 9.00% | 7.00% | |||||
39 HILLSBOROUGH | 12.00% | 7.00% | |||||
40 HOLMES | 9.00% | 7.00% | |||||
41 INDIAN RIVER | 11.00% | 7.00% | |||||
42 JACKSON | 11.50% | 7.50% | |||||
43 JEFFERSON | 9.00% | 7.00% | |||||
44 LAFAYETTE | 7.00% | 7.00% | |||||
45 LAKE | 11.00% | 7.00% | |||||
46 LEE | 11.00% | 6.00% | |||||
47 LEON | 12.50% | 7.50% | |||||
48 LEVY | 9.00% | 7.00% | |||||
49 LIBERTY | 7.50% | 7.50% | |||||
50 MADISON | 10.50% | 7.50% | |||||
51 MANATEE | 11.50% | 6.50% | |||||
52 MARION | 8.00% | 6.00% | |||||
53 MARTIN | 10.00% | 6.00% | |||||
54 MONROE | 12.50% | 7.50% | |||||
55 NASSAU** | 11.00% | 7.00% | |||||
56 OKALOOSA** | 11.00% | 6.00% | |||||
57 OKEECHOBEE | 10.00% | 7.00% | |||||
58 ORANGE | 12.50% | 6.50% | |||||
59 OSCEOLA | 13.00% | 7.00% | |||||
60 PALM BEACH | 11.00% | 6.00% | |||||
61 PASCO | 9.00% | 7.00% | |||||
62 PINELLAS | 12.00% | 7.00% | |||||
63 POLK | 12.00% | 7.00% | |||||
64 PUTNAM | 11.00% | 7.00% | |||||
65 ST. JOHNS | 4% or 6%** | 6.00% | |||||
66 ST. LUCIE | 11.50% | 6.50% | |||||
67 SANTA ROSA | 11.50% | 6.50% | |||||
68 SARASOTA | 12.00% | 7.00% | |||||
69 SEMINOLE | 12.00% | 7.00% | |||||
70 SUMTER | 9.00% | 7.00% | |||||
71 SUWANNEE | 10.00% | 7.00% | |||||
72 TAYLOR | 10.00% | 7.00% | |||||
73 UNION | 7.00% | 7.00% | |||||
74 VOLUSIA** | 12.50% | 6.50% | |||||
75 WAKULLA | 11.00% | 7.00% | |||||
76 WALTON** | 11.50% | 7.50% | |||||
77 WASHINGTON | 10.00% | 7.00% | |||||
** St Johns County rate is 4% or 6% in the World Golf Villiage area. | |||||||
BAY Living/Sleeping Accommodations only: the 11% rate only applies to Zip Codes 32410 (Mexico Beach), 32407, 32408, and Bay's part of 32413. | |||||||
DADE Living/Sleeping Accommodations only: | |||||||
Surfside & Bal Harbour Tax Rate is 11%; Miami Beach is 14% and the rest of the County is 13%. | |||||||
NASSAU Living/Sleeping Accommodations only: the 10% rate applies to Amelia Island only (zip code 32034). | |||||||
OKALOOSA Living/Sleeping Accommodations only: the 11% rate only applies to Voting Precincts 19, 20, 21, 22, 24, 27, 30, 33, 35, 38, 41, 42 and 44. | |||||||
VOLUSIA Living/Sleeping Accommodations only: | |||||||
Halifax and West Volusia Advertising Districts, and Southeast Volusia Advertising District is 12.5%. All areas outside these Districts is 9.5%. | |||||||
COMPLEMENTS OF THE FLORIDA DEPARMENT OF REVENUE - JANUARY 2015
IF YOU ARE LOOKING FOR HISTORICAL SALES TAX RATES BY COUNTY, SEE THE ARTICLE BELOW:
FLORIDA HISTORICAL SALES TAX RATES, November 8, 2012, by James Sutton, CPA, Esq.