Florida business license: what the state and your county require

Is there a Florida state business license?

No. Florida does not issue one general business license for the whole state. The state's business information portal, Open MyFlorida Business, says some businesses in Florida need neither a state business license nor a professional license to open and operate, and tells owners to check with their county and city government for the local licenses and permits needed to start a business.

The license most people mean is the local business tax receipt, which state law defines as the document issued by the county or city that bears the words “Local Business Tax Receipt”. It comes from a local governing authority, meaning the governing body of any county or incorporated municipality, so a home seller may need a receipt from both the county and the city.

What the state runs are registrations tied to what you sell and how you are set up: sales tax with the Florida Department of Revenue, LLCs and fictitious names with the Division of Corporations on its Sunbiz site, and state licenses from the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR), which licenses businesses and professionals such as cosmetologists, veterinarians and real estate agents. The state portal at OpenMyFloridaBusiness.gov builds a checklist of the licenses, permits and registrations needed to start a business in Florida.

How to get a business license in Florida

This order fits most people who make and sell things from home.

1. Register a fictitious name if you use one

   If you trade under a name other than your own legal name, register it with the Division of Corporations on Sunbiz first. When you apply for a business tax receipt under that name, the county or city asks for a copy of your current fictitious name registration.

2. Decide whether you want an LLC

   An LLC is optional for a small maker. If you form one on Sunbiz, it files a report every year; the fees are in the Sunbiz section below.

3. Apply for the county business tax receipt

   Apply with the tax collector for the county where the business is located. The county sets the fee and the form. If your trade is regulated by DBPR or another state agency, you must show an active state certificate, registration or license before the local receipt is issued.

4. Add the city receipt if you are inside city limits

   Cities levy their own business tax, so a home inside city limits may need a city receipt too. Check with the city whether your address is inside its limits before you apply.

5. Register with the Department of Revenue

   If you sell taxable goods, register with the Florida Department of Revenue before you begin conducting business. Register on the Department's website: the online Florida Business Tax Application uses an interactive wizard to work out which taxes you register for. You can also file a paper Florida Business Tax Application (Form DR-1).

Your county and city business tax receipt

State law describes the local business tax as the fee a county or city charges for the privilege of engaging in or managing any business, profession, or occupation within its jurisdiction. Under the county rule, a county may levy a business tax for the privilege of engaging in a business, profession or occupation in the county. A city can levy the same kind of tax on any person who maintains a permanent business location or branch office within the city.

Each county and city sets its own fee and business categories by resolution or ordinance, and the public notice for it must contain the proposed business classifications and rates. The tax collector sells receipts beginning July 1 each year. They are due on or before September 30 each year and expire on September 30 of the following year.

Late renewal carries a penalty of 10 percent for October, plus 5 percent for each later month until paid, capped at 25 percent of the business tax. Running a business without a receipt that is required brings a penalty of 25 percent of the tax due, on top of any other penalty.

Florida rules for a business run from home

Florida limits how a county or city can treat a business run from a home. Under the state's home-based business law, such a business may operate in an area zoned for residential use and may not be prohibited, restricted, regulated, or licensed in a manner that is different from other businesses in a local government’s jurisdiction. Chapter 205 is the local business tax law, and a home-based business is subject to only the chapter 205 business taxes of the county and city where it is located.

To count as home-based, the business has to meet the conditions in the statute. It may have up to two employees or independent contractors who do not live in the home working there, and it may not conduct retail transactions at a structure other than the home.

One limit matters for condos and planned communities: the home-based business law does not override condominium, cooperative or homeowners’ association declarations. Read your condo or homeowners' association rules before you start selling from home.

Florida sales tax certificate from the Department of Revenue

The Florida sales tax certificate, also called a sales tax license or sales tax permit, is the certificate of registration the Florida Department of Revenue issues to sales and use tax dealers. If your business sells taxable goods or services, you register before you begin conducting business. Businesses must register each location to collect, report and pay sales tax.

Florida's general state sales tax rate is 6%. On top of that, many Florida counties add a discretionary sales surtax (county tax) to most taxable transactions, and the county surtax rate applies to a taxable item delivered into a county that imposes a surtax.

Sellers based outside Florida with no physical presence in the state must collect and remit Florida sales tax if they made more than $100,000 in taxable remote sales into Florida in the previous calendar year. Under the marketplace rules, a marketplace seller with a physical presence in Florida, or with more than $100,000 in remote sales to Florida customers, must register online as a dealer and collect and remit tax on taxable Florida retail sales made outside the marketplace. When the marketplace certifies that it collects the tax, the marketplace seller may not collect the tax and must leave marketplace sales off its own return.

The application asks for the NAICS code for each of your business activities and the date of first taxable activity at the location you are registering. Under the Department's instructions, a sole proprietor, or the sole member of an LLC, registers with a social security number. After approval you receive a Certificate of Registration (Form DR-11) and a Florida Annual Resale Certificate for Sales Tax (Form DR-13). If you apply online, you can return to the website for your certificate number after three business days.

Once registered, returns and payments are due on the 1st and late after the 20th day of the month after each reporting period. You must file a return on time for each reporting period even if no tax is due. You may take a collection allowance when you file electronically and pay on time: it is 2.5% of the first $1,200 of tax due, up to $30 for each reporting location.

Florida sales tax permit and the annual resale certificate

The annual resale certificate is a separate document from the certificate of registration, and you do not apply for it on its own: businesses that register with the Department to collect sales tax are issued one. The certificate lets a business buy or rent property or services tax free when the property or service is resold or re-rented. For a maker, that covers items that become a component part of a product you sell, such as nails, fabric and wood in a chair.

Each certificate expires on December 31. The next year's certificate is available each November, for the following calendar year, on the Department's website. The Florida resale certificate guide covers how to give it to suppliers and which purchases do not qualify.

Florida cottage food rules

Florida's cottage food law lets people sell certain foods made in their home kitchen. A cottage food operation that follows the law is exempt from the state food permit requirement in s. 500.12 as long as it stays within $250,000 in annual gross sales of cottage food products. It may sell and take payment over the internet or by mail order, but it may not sell, offer for sale or deliver cottage food products at wholesale.

Every product needs a label that includes the statement “Made in a cottage food operation that is not subject to Florida’s food safety regulations.” Cities and counties cannot ban the operation itself: a local law, ordinance or regulation may not prohibit a cottage food operation. The operation still must meet the conditions for a home-based business in section 559.955, and tax rules still apply: the cottage food law does not exempt an operation from any state or federal tax law. The cottage food law guide for Florida covers which foods qualify.

Fictitious name and LLC filings on Sunbiz

If you trade under any name other than your own legal name, Florida's Fictitious Name Act applies. The name must be advertised at least once in a newspaper in the county where your principal place of business is located. Registration costs $50 and lasts 5 years, expiring on December 31 of the final year. Trading under an unregistered fictitious name is a misdemeanor of the second degree.

An LLC is optional. Forming one costs $100 for the articles of organization plus $25 for the registered agent designation. Every LLC then files an annual report for $138.75, by May 1. A late report adds a $400 fee, and reports must be in by the third Friday in September to avoid administrative dissolution. Neither filing replaces the local business tax receipt or the sales tax registration.

Where Nation fits

Questions about Florida business licenses