[GUIDE] Florida Sales Tax Tutorial

[Karen1]

To ALL Florida Hosts,

If anyone in the Tax Collector's Offices says that YOU are responsible for your state tax on Airbnb reservations, they are misinformed and giving you old information. Airbnb entered into an agreement with the State of Florida on December 1, 2015, which states that they will collect and remit Florida Transient Tax on all Florida reservations. This tax will be paid in a lump sum by filing one tax return per jurisdiction, with the total combined reservation revenue. Airbnb will not be filing individual forms (such as the DR-1C form) on behalf of hosts. Just know that there are still many people who do not know what Airbnb is, including staff in the local tax offices.  Even after two years, many are not aware of this agreement between the Department of Revenue and Airbnb.

Since there is a lot of confusion over the topic, I wrote a Florida Tax Tutorial.  This is accurate as of September 2017:

Basic Florida Tax Info:

The State of Florida taxes short-term rentals (housing rented for 182 days or less) with a Transient Tax. This amount varies per county and consists of the Florida base Sales Tax of 6% plus the county's Discretionary Surtax. Each county may or may not have a Discretionary Surtax. This tax ranges from .5 to 1.5%. The 2017 Discretionary Surtax by county is found here: 2017-Descretionary-Sales-Surtax-Rates-DR-15DSS.pdf

Additionally, each county may tax short-term rentals with Tourist Development Tax. As of June 2017, the Tourist Development Tax amounts were:

ALACHUA 5.0%, BAKER 3.0%, BAY 5.0%, BRADFORD 4.0%, BREVARD 5.0%, BROWARD 5.0%, CALHOUN none, CHARLOTTE 5.0%, CITRUS 5.0%, CLAY 3.0%, COLLIER 4.0%, COLUMBIA 5.0%, DESOTO 3.0%, DIXIE 2.0%, DUVAL 6.0%, ESCAMBIA 4.0%, FLAGLER 5.0%, FRANKLIN 2.0%, GADSDEN 2.0%, GILCHRIST 2.0%, GLADES 2.0%, GULF 5.0% Rate will return to 4% on 1/01/20, HAMILTON 3.0%, HENDRY 3.0%, HARDEE 2.0%, HERNANDO 5.0%, HIGHLANDS 2.0%, HILLSBOROUGH 5.0%, HOLMES 2.0%, INDIAN RIVER 4.0%, JACKSON 4.0%, JEFFERSON 2.0%, LAFAYETTE none, LAKE 4.0%, LEE 5.0%, LEON 5.0%, LEVY 2.0%, LIBERTY none, MADISON 3.0%, MANATEE 5.0%, MARION 4.0%, MARTIN 5.0%, MIAMI-DADE 6.0%, MONROE 5.0%, NASSAU 4.0%, OKALOOSA 5.0%, OKEECHOBE 3.0%, ORANGE 6.0%, OSCEOLA 6.0%, PALM BEACH 6.0%, PASCO 2.0%, PINELLAS 6.0%, POLK 5.0%, PUTNAM 4.0%, ST JOHNS 4.0%, ST LUCIE 5.0% Rate will return to 3% on 1/01/43, SANTA ROSA 5.0%, SARASOTA 5.0%, SEMINOLE 5.0%, SUMTER 2.0%, SUWANNEE 3.0% Rate will return to 2% on 7/01/21, TAYLOR 5.0%, UNION none, VOLUSIA 6.0%, WAKULLA 4.0%, WALTON 4.0%, WASHINGTON 3.0%

What tax does Airbnb collect and pay?

Tax is based on your nightly rate plus your cleaning fee. Each Airbnb confirmation email you receive will have the amount of tax collected for that reservation. To find a summary of the collected taxes, go to Hosting / Stats/ Earnings/ View Transaction History/ Gross Earnings and choose a date range.

For all Florida properties, Airbnb collects and remits the Transient Tax (the 6% plus your county's Discretionary Surtax).

Additionally, Airbnb collects the Tourist Development Tax in SOME counties because that tax is administered by the state for those counties. Currently the 24 counties are: Bradford, Citrus, Columbia, Desoto, Dixie, Flagler, Franklin, Gadsden, Gilchrist, Glades, Hamilton, Hardee, Hendry, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Levy, Madison, Okaloosa, Okeechobee, Pasco, Sumter, Wakulla, and Washington.

Recently, other counties entered into their own agreements with Airbnb. Tourist Development Tax is now also collected and remited for Brevard, Broward, Hernando, Hillsborough, Indian River, Lee, Leon, Miami-Dade*, Orange, Pinellas, Polk, Putnam, Santa Rosa, Sarasota, Taylor, and the city of Surfside.  *Note, there are exceptions to Miami-Dade county. See source below.

What tax do you have to collect and submit?

At minimum, nothing (depending on your county) and at maximum, your county's Tourist Development Tax.

If you rent your Florida property by using only Airbnb, you must delete your account with the Florida Department of Revenue. You only need the FL DOR account if you offer your property on other platforms where taxes are not paid for you.  If you keep an account, DOR will expect payment. Do not pay double taxes!

If your county is not listed as one where Airbnb accepts and pays Tourist Development Tax, then you need to visit your county's Tax Collector's Office. They may require you to apply for an Occupational License and they will instruct you on how to pay the Tourist Development Tax.

Also, just recently, Airbnb stopped rounding to the nearest dollar and is not calculating payments, taxes and fees to the dollar and cents.  Please let me know if you find any errors in this information.

Sources: https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/653/in-what-areas-is-occupancy-tax-collection-and-remittance-by-...

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/481/how-do-taxes-work-for-hosts

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/654/what-is-occupancy-tax--do-i-need-to-collect-or-pay-it

[Karen1]

@Christine1183, 

First, Occupancy Tax is a generic term that Airbnb uses. In Florida, it implies State Sales Tax, which is not the same as the county's Tourist Development Tax (aka, bed tax).

Airbnb collects and submits Florida Sales Tax for all hosts.  But it has agreements with only SOME counties to collect and pay the county's Tourist Development Tax.  Currently, your county does not have an agreement with Airbnb.

Here is the link to Airbnb's info on Florida county tax:  

https://www.airbnb.com/help/article/2301/occupancy-tax-collection-and-remittance-by-airbnb-in-florid...

You will need to contact your county's Tax Collector's office and ask how to set up an account to pay your Business Tax for short-term rentals. They can walk you through it and provide you with the monthly forms to submit the tax. 

I recently read that Airbnb will soon be giving us an option to collect this tax on the reservation, but that is not yet available. For now, you will need to calculate the bed tax and either ask for payment upon arrival or send an "altered reservation" to include the local tax. (You could absorb the tax in your nightly rate, but this means you're paying state tax on the local tax, and a higher Airbnb fee amount.)

Hope this is helpful, Karen

[Andrew886]

What about Palm Beach County Tourism Tax? I don't see that county listed. I live in Delray Beach and I'm trying to figure out if AirBnB collects all the necessary taxes for me or if I need to included the taxes within the rate and then resubmit taxes to Palm beach County. Thanks in advance!

[Karen1]

@Andrew886, No, from the Airbnb's Help site, Palm Beach county's Tourism Development Tax (aka, bed tax) is not currently collected by Airbnb.  You will need to contact the Palm Beach county's Tax Collector's office and ask how to set up an account to pay your Business Tax for short-term rentals. They can walk you through it and provide you with the monthly forms to submit the tax. 

I recently read that Airbnb will soon be giving us an option to collect this tax on the reservation, but that is not yet available. For now, you will need to calculate the bed tax and either ask for payment upon arrival, or send an "altered reservation" to include the local tax. (You could absorb the tax in your nightly rate, but this means you're paying state tax on the local tax, and a higher Airbnb fee amount.)

Hope this was helpful. - Karen

[Andrew886]

Thank you Karen. That is most helpful! There are certainly many hoops to jump through for Palm Beach County. I found more info as well that are necessary for running an AirBnb/VRBO

In Palm Beach County, FL, your tax rate is 13%. The licenses that you will need are:

-Florida Sales Tax Certificate
-Palm Beach County Tourist Development Tax Account
-Florida Resort Dwelling License
-Palm Beach Local Business Tax Receipt

[Andrew850]

Thanks Andrew for Palm Beach info - could you write which are required for only using Airbnb? Does the 13% calculation include sales tax that Airbnb alreqady collects and lump sum files for their listings? Thanks again!

[Yolanda197]

This is good information.  Thanks Andrew.

[Yolanda197]

Hi Karen and Andrew,

  I just signed up to host in Palm Beach County in September and I am seeing that they are remitting taxes on my behalf to Palm Beach County.  Airbnb is calling it an Occupancy Tax and I see that they are collecting the money.  Whether the county is getting it is another story.  Recently, Palm Beach County went to an electronic system where everyone has to create a profile and report their income for tourist taxes.  However, they are still working out the kinks because when I called the County this week, they were clueless about Airbnb remitting taxes on hosts behalf.  I'm currently in the process of applying for a local buisness tax receipt which depending upon your business requires additional forms that I can only seem to get by emailing the wrong forms to the right people.   

[Karen1]

Yolanda, there are so many different taxes thst Airbnb lumps them all into one term: Occupancy Tax. Here is a summary:

In Palm Beach County, the local Tourist Development Tax (aka Bed Tax) rate is 6%. Airbnb does not collect this for your county. You must either collect it from your guests, or absorb it in your rate. You are required to submit this tax monthly to your county's tax collector and their office will supply the forms.

Airbnb does collect and submit for you 7% (the Florida's 6% Sales Tax AND the 1% Discretionary Sales Surtax which Palm Beach requires). If you rent only through Airbnb, you do not need an account with the Florida Dept of Revenue.  Altogether, these taxes  add up to 13% tax on each short-term stay in your county.

Good luck, Karen

[David3363]

Hi Karen,

I live in Palm Beach County and have been paying aproximately 11-12% in taxes to teh State of Florida via AirBnB.

According to everything I've read in this thread, I should only  be paying 6-7% given I pay the Palm Beach County tax directly. 

AirBnB will not provide me with an accounting of the taxes they collect and pay on  my behalf. Suggestions for figuring this out?

Thank you,
David

[Karen1]

David,

Palm Beach county adds on a 1% Discrectionary Sales Surtax to the state sales tax, so the combined  rate that Airbnb should be collecting from your guests is 7%.  To verify the total they collect, go to your Transaction History and look at your Gross Earnings.  You can download this info into a spreadsheet, if you wish.  Look for the "Occupancy Taxes" collected. (Note: this is a general term that Airbnb uses. In your case, this is state sales tax and does NOT include the Palm Beach county's bed tax. )

The sales tax is calculated on the totaly nightly rate plus any extras, like your cleaning fee. So for example, my nightly rate for two nights plus the cleaning fee is $215. Airbnb collected $13.98 from my guests.  To find this percentage, take the tax collected and divide it by the gross earnings and then multiply by 100. (13.98 / 215) x100 = 6.5 %, which is the state sales amount that my county, St Johns, requires.  I hope this helps. - Karen

[Olivia240]

I am in Jacksonville Fl Duval county, in an historic overlay area.  I know that Airbnb collects the State tax. Should I worry about anything else? How on earth would I pay if I do have something else?

Thanks!

[Karen1]

Hi, Olivia. Since you are in an historic area, your Airbnb may be legal. Currently, the City Council is opposed to home sharing in most of Jacksonville. See the link below for a March 2018 article.

You definitely need to collect and pay your county's Tourist Development Tax. You'll  need to submit a Tourist/ConventionTax registration form to the tax collector's office. On the form where it asks for your FL sales tax ID, just put "NA, Airbnb remits this tax".

Here is the link to COJ: http://www.coj.net/departments/tax-collector/convention-tourist-development-tax

And the article: http://www.jacksonvillemag.com/2018/03/28/thinking-of-becoming-an-airbnb-host-city-of-jacksonville-s...

Good luck. Karen

[Juan81]

Good Day Karen, Please help me . I am a host in Miami Beach Fl, I understand airbnb collects a 10% tax from the guest , however since Transient tax is 6%  what is exactly the other  4% , is that the local  tax paid to the city of miami beach also known as BTR? 

Any guidance is greatly appreciated . 

Thanks 

[Karen1]

Hi, @Juan81. 

Airbnb should be collecting 7% from your guests (the state's 6% sales tax, plus Miami-Dade's 1% Discretionary Sales Surtax) but that is on the total nightly fee plus housecleaning and other fees. 

I don't think Airbnb collects local tax for you, because according to the Airbnb website, Miami Beach has its own set of rules. In general, the city does not allow short-term rentals. Here is a June 4, 2018 article about Miami Beach and short-term rentals: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/04/miami-beach-proposes-major-crackdown-on-short-term-rental-platforms....

Please be careful because the city will fine you heavily if you are not legal.  To be sure you are in an approved area, look at this map: https://www.miamibeachfl.gov/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/Short-Term-Rentals-3.pdf 

If you are in an approved area, call the Customer Service number for Miami Beach: https://www.miamibeachfl.gov/business/vacation-short-term-rentals/ and ask how to get a Business License and how to collect and submit Tourist Development Tax. 

Good luck! - Karen

[Juan81]

Thank you Karen.

Our property is located in one approved area, from what i noticed airbnb is collecting 10% taxes .  

My confusion is due to fact that the city is requesting us to pay 4 % tax 

1- dont know if that is already paid by airbn

2- in order to register with the city i have to provide them with my transient tax ID filed with state, if i file one on my own im charge double , in the othder hand airbnb cant provide me with that tax id in the case they are nopaying.

Do you know how can i clarify that with in airbnb, customer services staff are not faamiliar with this subject.

Any guidance is appreciated.