The Florida Department of Revenue issued (and mailed to taxpayers) a Tax Information Publication (known as a “TIP”) Number 24A01-02 on April 8, 2024, which informs the public that the state sales tax rate on the “total rent charged for renting, leasing, or granting a license to use real property…is reduced from 4.5 percent to 2.0 percent” effective June 1, 2024. This tax rate has been going down in recent years (it was 5.5 percent just a year ago). As of today, this tax rate is 4.5%, as a result of House Bill (HB) 7063, which reduced the Florida sales tax rates on such leases from 5.5% to 4.5%. The TIP indicates that the Florida sales tax rate on commercial leases will decrease from 4.5% to 2% as of June 1, 2024. The reduction will not apply to any local taxes imposed at the county level, which vary between 0.5% and 1.5%. A list of all 2024 county and local surtaxes is located in the Florida Department of Revenue’s Form Number DR-15DSS. You can check for your county and locality in this form to see the applicable total surtax (2.0 percent + surtax).
What does this mean? Rental charges paid on or after June 1, 2024, for rental periods prior to that date, are subject to the current 4.5% sales tax, plus any discretionary local surtax. Rental charges paid prior to June 1, 2024, for rental periods on or after June 1, 2024, are subject to the lower 2.0% sales tax, plus any discretionary local surtax. Basically, the sales tax for all rental periods on or after June 1, 2024, should go down.