If you sell anything in Florida—whether you’re handling tangible products, taxable services, or both—you’re charging two layers of sales tax, not one. Most small-business owners know about Florida’s 6 percent state rate. What trips them up is the county surtax: a second layer that changes depending on which county your customer is in. Get the combined rate wrong, and you either underpay the state and owe penalties, or overcharge your customer and eat the difference. This guide walks you through how to find the exact rate for your county in 2026, how to apply it correctly on your DR-15 sales tax return, and the mistakes that catch most first-time filers.
Owner or CPA, the same problem shows up every quarter — messy transaction data. See how the platform organizes it automatically — free for your first period, no card needed.
Does this apply to your business in Florida?
Yes, if you collect sales tax in Florida. The combined rate—state 6 percent plus your county’s surtax—applies to all taxable sales: tangible personal property is universally taxable unless specifically exempt, and services are taxable only if listed in Florida Statute 212. Your Florida Department of Revenue website publishes the combined rate for every county and updates it when surtax rates change. You must use the rate in effect on the date of sale, not the date of payment or invoice.
How the rate works
Florida sales tax is not one number. It’s a structure: the state collects 6 percent of every taxable sale statewide. On top of that, your county collects a surtax—an additional percentage that funds local services. The surtax varies: some Florida counties have surtax rates significantly different from their neighbors. The combined rate is simply 6 percent plus whatever surtax your county charges.
Because surtax rates can change mid-year and vary by county, the Florida Department of Revenue maintains a current rate table. Before you file or bill any customer, confirm your county’s combined rate on that official site. Do not rely on last year’s rate or a rate you’ve memorized—surtax changes happen, and you’re liable for whatever rate was in effect on the sale date, not what you assumed.
How to file step by step
Filing your sales tax on the DR-15 (Sales, Use, and Other Taxes) return requires you to know and apply the correct combined rate. Here’s the process: you’ll log into your Florida Department of Revenue account online or use a third-party filing service. On the form, you report the total sales you made and the tax you collected. The DR-15 asks for your sales broken down by rate—that’s why you need to separate sales made at the state-only rate (if you made any) from sales made at the combined state-plus-county rate.
If all your sales happened in one county, you’ll calculate tax at that county’s combined rate. If you made sales across multiple Florida counties, you’ll need to split your sales by county and apply each county’s combined rate to its respective sales. The Florida Department of Revenue provides a calculator and detailed worksheets to help you organize this. The filing deadline is the 20th of the month following the month in which you made the sales—so April sales are due by May 20th. Late filings incur escalating interest and penalties.
The step-by-step process is walked through in detail here in our Florida sales tax basics course, which covers both the logic of the form and how to organize your transaction data before you file.
Common mistakes
Using last year’s rate for this year’s sales. Surtax rates change on January 1st and sometimes mid-year. If you file in March using February 2025 rates for sales made in February 2026, you’ll be out of compliance. Confirm the current rate on the Florida Department of Revenue website before filing each period. The fix is simple: check the rate table every time you file.
Charging one county’s rate across multiple counties. If you have customers in Hillsborough, Orange, and Duval counties, each county’s combined rate is different. Charging everyone your Hillsborough rate means you’ve underpaid for sales in the other counties. Keep a record of which county each customer is located in and apply that county’s rate. If you sell online and can’t always pin down a county, use the county where your business is located as the default—but document this assumption and review it annually with your CPA.
Forgetting to separate taxable and non-taxable sales. Not everything you sell is taxable. Services are taxable only if they’re specifically listed in Florida Statute 212—most services are not. Tangible goods are taxable unless they have a specific exemption. If you mix taxable and non-taxable sales on your DR-15, you’ll either overstate the tax you owe or understate it. The fix: categorize your sales correctly before you calculate tax. When in doubt, ask your CPA or contact the Florida Department of Revenue directly. Many small-business owners benefit from organizing their transactions with a platform that automatically categorizes sales by taxability—this is walked through step by step in our Florida sales tax course.
Not reconciling the combined rate to what you actually collected. You calculate what you owe, but then you compare it to what you actually collected from customers. If the two numbers don’t match, you’ve made an error somewhere—either you charged the wrong rate, or you missed a sale. Take 30 minutes before you file to reconcile: total sales × combined rate should equal total tax collected. If it doesn’t, investigate which transactions are out of sync and correct them on your return.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the difference between the state rate and the county surtax?
Florida’s state collects a flat 6 percent on all taxable sales. Your county then collects its own surtax on top of that—think of it as a second, smaller tax. The combined rate is what you charge the customer and what you owe the state and county together. For example, if your county’s surtax is 0.5 percent, your combined rate is 6.5 percent; if the surtax is 1.5 percent, your combined is 7.5 percent.
Where do I find the exact surtax rate for my county in 2026?
The Florida Department of Revenue publishes a current rate table showing the combined rate for every county. The combined rate is updated whenever a county’s surtax changes, which typically happens on January 1st but can happen mid-year. Visit the official site and search for “sales tax rates by county” or use their rate calculator. Do not rely on a printed rate chart or your memory—always check the live table before you file.
Do I charge the same rate to all customers in my county?
Yes, all sales in your county are subject to that county’s combined rate, regardless of who the customer is or what they buy (as long as the item or service is taxable). The one exception is sales to customers outside Florida—those are not subject to Florida sales tax. If a customer is in another state and you ship or deliver to them there, they owe sales tax to their own state, not Florida.
What happens if I charge the wrong rate?
If you undercharge tax, you owe the difference plus interest and potential penalties when you file or when the state audits you. If you overcharge tax, you’ve kept money that belongs to the state and county, and you’ll need to either refund the customer or remit the overcharge on your next return. The safest move is to verify your rate before the sale and reconcile what you collected against what you owe before you file.
Can I use the same rate for sales across multiple Florida counties?
No. Each county’s combined rate is unique and based on that county’s surtax. If you made sales in Orange and Polk counties, you must apply Orange’s combined rate to Orange sales and Polk’s combined rate to Polk sales. If you’re not sure which county a customer is in, use the county where your business is located as a default, but confirm with your CPA that this approach fits your business model.
This article is for general educational purposes and isn’t a substitute for advice from a licensed CPA or tax attorney. Rules vary by jurisdiction and change over time—always confirm current requirements with the Florida Department of Revenue or your advisor.
Getting your county surtax rate right is a one-time verification task that protects you every month you file. Take 10 minutes now to confirm the 2026 combined rate on the Florida Department of Revenue website, write it down, and use it consistently until it changes. If you want to go deeper into how sales tax categorization works and how to organize your data before you file, our Florida sales tax guide walks you through the whole process. The difference between guessing at a rate and knowing it exactly is the difference between a clean filing and a costly correction.
This article is for general educational purposes and isn’t a substitute for advice from a licensed CPA or tax attorney. Rules vary by jurisdiction and change over time — always confirm current requirements with the Florida Department of Revenue or your advisor.