“Florida has no income tax” is true for individuals and misleading for businesses. Orlando owners still face a corporate income tax, sales tax with a county surtax, a tax on commercial rent that exists almost nowhere else, tourist development taxes on short-term stays, and an annual property tax on business equipment.
What Florida does and does not tax
There is no Florida personal income tax, which is genuinely valuable — pass-through profits flow to owners without a state layer. But Florida does impose a corporate income tax on C corporations and on entities treated as corporations, so the “no income tax” shorthand fails the moment a business is structured or converts to a C corp. Entity choice in Florida is therefore a genuinely different calculation than in California or Oregon, and worth revisiting whenever the structure changes.
Sales tax, the Orange County surtax, and use tax
Florida’s state sales tax is layered with a county discretionary sales surtax, so the effective rate depends on where the sale is sourced — and Central Florida businesses selling across Orange, Seminole, Osceola, and Lake counties cannot use one rate for everything. Add use tax on equipment and supplies purchased out of state without tax, and resale-certificate discipline, and sales tax becomes the most common source of assessments we see for Orlando businesses.
The commercial rent tax nobody expects
Florida is one of the very few states that taxes commercial real property rentals. If you lease office, retail, warehouse, or industrial space, sales tax applies to the rent — and it reaches more than base rent, extending to charges the lease treats as additional rent, such as CAM. Two consequences: verify your landlord is charging the correct amount rather than assuming, and if you own your building through a separate entity and pay rent to yourself, that intercompany rent is generally taxable too. That last one catches owners constantly, and it is exactly the kind of structure we review before it becomes a five-year assessment.
Tourist development tax: Orlando’s specialty
Short-term rentals, vacation homes, and hotel-adjacent operations owe tourist development tax to the county on top of state sales tax on transient accommodations. Orange and Osceola counties administer and audit this seriously, and platform collection does not always cover every obligation — owners are often surprised to learn a marketplace remitted one tax but not another. If you own vacation-rental property in the Orlando market, this belongs in your compliance calendar; see real estate & hospitality.
Reemployment tax and hiring
Florida’s unemployment tax is called reemployment tax, with a taxable wage base and an experience rate that moves with claims history. New employers start at a standard rate; the rate then follows your record, which makes claims management a real cost lever rather than an HR footnote. Our payroll team handles registration, filings, and the multistate questions that follow the first remote hire.
Tangible personal property tax
Florida counties tax business tangible personal property — equipment, furniture, fixtures, signs, and leasehold improvements. An annual return is due to the county property appraiser, and filing on time preserves an exemption that keeps many small businesses at zero tax. Skip the filing and you can lose the exemption and get an estimated assessment instead. It is a small task with an outsized downside.
What the Orlando economy means for your books
Hospitality, construction, health care, professional services, logistics along the I-4 corridor, and a growing technology base each bring their own accounting themes: seasonality and tip reporting in hospitality, job costing and retainage in construction, provider compensation models in health care, and multi-state nexus for anyone selling beyond Florida.
An Orlando compliance calendar
- Monthly: sales tax and surtax filings; tourist development tax where applicable.
- Quarterly: federal estimates, reemployment tax, payroll filings.
- Annually: tangible personal property return, Florida corporate return if applicable, and the annual report with the state.
- Fall: projection, equipment timing, retirement plan design, entity check.
Questions we get from Orlando owners
Is rent on our office really taxable?
Yes — Florida taxes commercial real property rentals, and the tax can extend to charges treated as additional rent under the lease. If you pay rent to an entity you own, that rent is generally taxable as well, which is a frequent and expensive oversight.
We have no Florida income tax, so why do we need planning?
Because federal tax is still the larger bill, and Florida’s indirect taxes — sales and surtax, commercial rent, tourist development, reemployment, tangible property — are where assessments actually come from. Planning here is about structure, timing, and compliance rather than a state income return.
Does the rental platform handle all of our short-term rental taxes?
Not always. Platforms may collect state sales tax but not the county tourist development tax, or vice versa, depending on the county and the arrangement. We confirm what is actually being remitted before assuming you are covered.
Before you act: state and local rules change, thresholds are adjusted, and city taxes are added or amended between filing seasons. Confirm current rates, thresholds, and deadlines for your situation before relying on any figure here — the first consultation is free.
Work with an advisor in Orlando
Nisarg “Nick” Patel, CPA, and Nidhi Patel, CPA, lead the Orlando office, serving Winter Park, Kissimmee, Lake Mary, and Central Florida. Bring your last two returns to a free consultation and we will tell you plainly what is exposed and what is fine.