Florida State Department of Revenue - Do I need a Sales & Use Tax Certificate Number?

[Yann-and-Vanessa0]

Hi everyone, 

I recently began listing my property on Airbnb and obtained a Sales & Use Tax Certificate Number from the Florida Department of Revenue. However, I understand that Airbnb may remit these taxes on my behalf using their own certificate number. Could someone please confirm if this is correct? If so, should I close the Sales & Use Tax Certificate Number I obtained, especially since I recently received a letter from the Department of Revenue regarding unreported taxes under that certificate?

[Alex]

Hello @Yann-and-Vanessa0, 

I'm going to tag some members from Florida to see if they can help you with this question about Sales and Use Tax certificate number: @Maria22471, @Karen1, @Bradley181 and @Bryon48.

Thanks everyone in advance and hope this helps!

Best, 
Alex

[Lorna170]

@Yann-and-Vanessa0  I have a Tax ID number from NC. AirBnB collects the taxes for my property in NC; I do not receive them in my payout.  They purportedly send those taxes to the various agencies, but DO NOT report the tax IDs of the property owners and what portion of the taxes remitted should be applied to those owner accounts.

On the advice of my accountant, I file the required monthly, quarterly and annual tax returns with all of the agencies.  I file reports showing the earnings of the property, the amount of taxes for the agency that were collected by AirBnB and that ZERO additional taxes are owed by me as AirBnB is collecting and paying the tax "on my behalf".  It is a PITA to have to do this, but without this reporting paper trail I would be liable for the taxes on my earnings.  

[Bryon48]

Yes, Airbnb pays the 6.5% FL state sales tax. We had same issue. Had to get a sales & use tax certificate, but was later told to call DOR and deactivate it. If you leave it active, however, you must file a monthly or annual return with DOR, depending on how your account was set up. Even if Airbnb collects i remits the sales tax, you still need to file the returns and just put $0. Thankfully, DOR walked us through this and we got it 

[Karen1 · Accepted solution]

Hello, Yann and Vanessa.  Florida taxes are confusing so a few years ago I wrote a tutorial for Florida Hosts which you may find helpful:

https://community.withairbnb.com/t5/Community-Guides/Florida-Sales-Tax-Tutorial-Revised-April-2024/m...

Basically, you need a Florida license from the Dept of Business and Professional Regulation.  Also, you need an account with a tax ID from the FL Dept of Revenue.  But if you use only Airbnb to rent your property,  call the FL Dept Of Revenue and tell them to change your status to: Active, but not required to file. This is because Airbnb collects and remits the state sales tax for all Florida hosts. No need to report to the FL DOR unless you use multiple rental platforms.

Now, don't forget about getting your county's business license.  Your county's tax collector's office can walk you through that. You may or may not have to collect the tourist/bed tax from your guests depending on what county you rent in. Some counties allow Airbnb to collect that tax for you, other counties do not. I hope this makes sense.

Good luck, Karen