How to start a business in Florida

Get a federal EIN

Apply free on the IRS website and get the number immediately. You'll need it for the state tax registration, a business bank account, and payroll. Opening a new location? You already have one; the same EIN works in every state.

Sign an operating agreement

This internal document sets out who owns what, how decisions get made, and what happens if an owner leaves. It isn't filed with the state, but banks often ask for it, and it helps protect your liability shield. Single-owner LLCs need one too.

Open a business bank account

Bring your EIN letter, filed formation documents, and operating agreement or bylaws. Keeping business and personal money separate is one of the main things that protects your personal assets.

Check industry licenses and permits

Many businesses need a license or permit before opening, separate from registering the company. Check three levels: the state licensing board for your field, your city or county, and any federal agency that regulates your industry.

• Trades and construction: general contractors, electricians, plumbers, HVAC and roofers usually need a state or local license, and often a bond
• Personal services: salons, barbers, nail and esthetics shops need a shop license plus licensed staff; massage and tattoo studios are licensed too
• Professional services: accounting, engineering, architecture, law, real estate and insurance require state licenses for the people and sometimes the firm
• Child care, elder care and home care need a state facility or agency license and background checks
• Retail with restricted products: alcohol, tobacco and vape, cannabis, firearms (federal FFL), pawn and secondhand dealers
• Auto, transport and logistics: auto dealers and repair shops, towing, movers, and trucks that need a USDOT number
• Money and finance: lenders, mortgage brokers, debt collectors and money transmitters are licensed by the state, often through NMLS
• Local permits for almost everyone: city business license or tax registration, zoning or home occupation permit, sign permit and fire inspection

Decide on S corp tax treatment (optional)

If you want S corp taxation, file IRS Form 2553. The deadline is tight: generally within 2 months and 15 days after the start of the tax year you want it to apply. See Business basics for when it makes sense.

File Articles of Organization on Sunbiz

File online with the Florida Division of Corporations (Sunbiz). The fee includes the registered agent designation.

Name a Florida registered agent

A Florida resident or business with a Florida street address. Use a registered agent service if you have no one local.

Register a fictitious name if you use a different name

Only needed if you'll operate under a name other than your registered legal name. Registered on Sunbiz.

Register with the Florida Department of Revenue

One online application (DR-1) covers the state taxes you need. Florida has no personal income tax, so there's no state withholding.

• Reemployment tax (unemployment), once you have employees: register by the end of the month after the quarter you start paying wages
• Sales and use tax, if you sell taxable goods or services
• C corporations file Florida corporate income tax; most LLCs don't

Get a local business tax receipt

Most Florida counties and cities require a local business tax receipt (an occupational license). Check both the county and the city where your location is.

Register to collect sales tax

Florida calls it a Sales and Use Tax registration. Register with the Florida Department of Revenue through Florida Business Tax Application (online), or paper Form DR-1 before you make your first taxable sale in Florida. You'll collect tax from customers and send it to the state.

• State rate: 6%
• Local taxes: Many counties add a discretionary sales surtax, based on where the item or service is delivered, and it applies only to the first $5,000 of a single sale of tangible property. All surtax is reported to the Department of Revenue on the same return; county rates are published each November on Form DR-15DSS.
• The Annual Resale Certificate (Form DR-13) expires December 31 each year, and the new one is available online in mid-November.
• Most services are not taxed in Florida; the tax mainly applies to sales and rentals of tangible goods.

Buy items you resell tax-free with a resale certificate

Give your supplier Florida Annual Resale Certificate for Sales Tax (Form DR-13) so you don't pay tax on inventory you'll resell. The Department of Revenue issues it to registered dealers each year, and sellers can verify it online. The MTC certificate is accepted only if the seller also gets a resale authorization number from the Department using the buyer's Florida Annual Resale Certificate number. Keep certificates your own customers give you, too.

• Accepts the MTC Uniform Sales and Use Tax Resale Certificate

Selling into Florida from another state? Watch the threshold

Out-of-state sellers must register once sales into Florida pass $100,000 (previous calendar year), even with no office here.

• Counts taxable remote retail sales of tangible personal property delivered into Florida. There is no transaction-count test. Effective July 1, 2021.
• Marketplace providers (like Amazon and Etsy) with a Florida physical presence or over $100,000 in remote sales must collect state tax and surtax and certify this to their sellers, who then do not collect on those sales.

Note this Florida sales tax rule

The state sales tax and surtax on commercial rent (s. 212.031, F.S.) were repealed effective October 1, 2025, not 2024; rent for periods through September 2025 is still taxable even if paid later.

Complete Form I-9 and W-4 for each hire

Form I-9 is never mailed to the government. You keep it in your own files and show it only if ICE or the Department of Labor asks for an inspection.

• The employee completes Section 1 by their first day of work
• You review their original documents and complete Section 2 within 3 business days of the start date
• Keep it for 3 years after the hire date or 1 year after employment ends, whichever is later
• Store I-9s together, separate from personnel files, so an inspection doesn't expose other records
• Remote hire? Have an authorized representative check documents in person, or, if you use E-Verify, use the DHS remote video inspection option
• Also collect a federal W-4 for withholding

Post federal workplace notices

Federal posters (minimum wage, EEO, FMLA if you have 50+ employees, and others) go alongside the state ones.

Set up reemployment tax

Florida's name for state unemployment tax, paid only by employers.

• New employer rate: 2.7% for your first 10 quarters
• Taxable wage base: first $7,000 per employee
• Rates then range from 0.1% to 5.4%
• File Form RT-6 quarterly

Buy workers' compensation insurance

Required at 4 or more employees for most businesses, but from the first employee in construction. LLC members and corporate officers count as employees unless they file an exemption.

Report each new hire

Report new and rehired employees to the Florida New Hire Reporting Center within 20 days. Online reporting is available through the Department of Revenue.

Use E-Verify if you have 25 or more employees

Since July 2023, Florida private employers with 25+ employees must run every new hire through E-Verify after completing the I-9, keep records 3 years, and certify compliance on their reemployment tax return. Repeated violations bring $1,000-a-day fines.

Pay rules: federal law applies

Florida has no state law on pay frequency or final paycheck timing, so federal rules apply: pay on a regular schedule, overtime after 40 hours a week. Florida also bars cities and counties from requiring paid sick leave, and has no state sick leave law.

Pay at least Florida minimum wage

$15.00 an hour since September 30, 2026, the last step of the increases in Florida's Constitution (Article X, Section 24); tipped cash wage $11.98. From now on the state recalculates the rate for inflation each September 30, and the new rate takes effect January 1, starting in 2028. FloridaCommerce posts the new rate by October 15. Update your minimum wage poster with each change.

Retirement plan: no state mandate

Florida doesn't require employers to offer a retirement plan or join a state program.

Adopt a harassment policy (training recommended)

Florida doesn't require harassment training for private employers. A written policy and a yearly refresher are still best practice.

Post Florida workplace notices

Florida minimum wage poster (updated each year by FloridaCommerce), Florida Law Prohibits Discrimination, the Reemployment Assistance poster (RT-83), and the workers' comp notice from your carrier.

Local sick leave laws here are no longer in force

Earlier local laws here are Orange County (preempted). Follow the state rules.

Collect a W-9 before the first payment

The W-9 gives you the contractor's legal name and tax ID for their 1099. Check the classification first: if you control how and when they work, they may legally be an employee.

Send Form 1099-NEC to contractors

File with the IRS and send the contractor a copy by January 31. For payments made in 2026 and later, the reporting threshold is $2,000 per contractor per year (it was $600 before).

Report contractors on the new hire report

Florida asks employers to report independent contractors paid more than $600 in a year to the New Hire Reporting Center.

Skip the FinCEN BOI report (U.S. companies are exempt)

FinCEN's final rule, effective August 14, 2026, permanently exempts companies formed in the U.S. from beneficial ownership reporting. Ignore letters or emails demanding a BOI filing fee; they're a common scam. Only companies formed outside the U.S. still file.

File the Sunbiz annual report

Due between January 1 and May 1 every year. A $400 late fee applies after May 1, and the state dissolves businesses that haven't filed by the third Friday in September.

File reemployment tax returns

File Form RT-6 with the Department of Revenue each quarter, by the end of the month after the quarter ends.

File sales tax returns on time

Frequency depends on annual tax collected: monthly over $1,000, quarterly $501 to $1,000, semiannual $101 to $500, annual $100 or less. Returns are due the 1st and late after the 20th of the next month. File a zero return if you had no sales; skipping it can bring penalties.