Florida sales tax in 2026
Florida's state sales tax rate is 6%, applied statewide. Most counties add a discretionary sales surtax of 0.5% to 2% on top of it, so the combined rate you actually pay runs from 6% (in the handful of counties with no surtax) to about 8% (Hamilton County). One rule catches almost everyone by surprise: the county surtax applies only to the first $5,000 of most single items, so on a big purchase like a car or furniture, the surtax stops accruing after $5,000 even though the 6% state tax keeps applying to the full price.
Estimate the sales tax on a purchase in Florida
Enter a purchase amount to estimate the sales tax at Florida's rates. The local rate defaults to the state average; enter your own for an exact figure, or use the official lookup below. See the full sales tax calculator to compare any state.
defaults to Florida's average local add-on; enter your own for an exact figure
| State tax | $6 |
|---|---|
| Local tax (average) | $0.98 |
| Total sales tax | $6.98 |
| Total with tax | $106.98 |
For the exact local rate at a specific address: Florida official rate lookup.
Florida state rate verified against its Department of Revenue; average local rate from the Tax Foundation (2026). The local portion depends on the delivery address, so this is an estimate; use the official lookup for the exact combined rate.
What is the Florida sales tax rate?
Florida charges a general state sales and use tax rate of 6% on most sales, leases, and rentals of taxable goods and services. That 6% applies the same way in all 67 counties. Two narrow exceptions carry different state rates: amusement machine receipts are taxed at 4%, and electricity is taxed at 6.95%. Almost every everyday purchase, retail goods, meals out, rentals, falls under the standard 6%.
What is the discretionary sales surtax?
The discretionary sales surtax is a local add-on tax that individual Florida counties may choose to levy on top of the state's 6%. It is sometimes called a "local option county tax." Counties use it to fund specific local projects (school construction, transit, infrastructure), and each surtax is tied to a start date and, usually, an expiration date set when voters or county commissioners approved it. Not every county has one: as of 2026, Citrus and Collier counties impose no surtax at all, so shoppers there pay only the 6% state rate.
The surtax is collected by the selling dealer based on where the item is delivered, not where the dealer is located. A store in a no-surtax county still has to charge the buyer's county surtax rate if it ships the item into a county that has one.
Does my county have a surtax, and how much?
Rates vary widely by county, and they can include more than one layered surtax (for example, a school-capital surtax stacked on a transportation surtax). The table below shows the 2026 total surtax and combined rate for the state's four most populous counties, plus the statewide range.
| County | State rate | County surtax | Combined rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Miami-Dade | 6% | 1% | 7% |
| Broward | 6% | 1% | 7% |
| Orange | 6% | 0.5% | 6.5% |
| Hillsborough | 6% | 1.5% | 7.5% |
| Lowest in the state (e.g. Citrus, Collier) | 6% | 0% | 6% |
| Highest in the state (Hamilton) | 6% | 2% | 8% |
Source: Florida Department of Revenue, Form DR-15DSS, "Discretionary Sales Surtax Information for Calendar Year 2026."
Florida law caps how high a county surtax can be set at 2.5%, but no county is at that ceiling in 2026. New surtax rates take effect January 1 and, if voters set an end date, expire December 31 of a specified year, so the county table is rebuilt every year. If you are collecting tax for a business, check the current DR-15DSS before you file, not last year's rate.
What is the surtax cap, and how does it work?
The discretionary sales surtax applies only to the first $5,000 of the sales amount on the sale, lease, rental, or license to use a single item of tangible personal property (anything you can see, weigh, or touch, including things like electric power). Above $5,000, the county surtax stops, but the state's 6% keeps applying to the full price. This is why a $30,000 car and a $6,000 car can owe the exact same dollar amount of county surtax.
The cap also covers a group of items sold together at the same time to the same buyer, if they qualify as one of: multiple units of something normally sold in bulk, a set that only works complete, an integrated unit used together in a business, or component parts that only function once assembled. You cannot bundle unrelated items just to claim the cap.
The $5,000 limit does not apply to everything, though. Florida's Department of Revenue lists several categories where surtax is due on the full amount, no cap: admissions, services, service warranties, prepaid calling arrangements, transient (short-term) rentals, and parking, boat dock, or aircraft tie-down space. For motor vehicles, mobile homes, aircraft, and boats, the cap applies specifically to the first $5,000 of the total sales price, based on the buyer's registered address (or delivery location for boats and aircraft).
What's exempt from Florida sales tax?
Two exemptions matter most to everyday shoppers: groceries and prescription drugs.
Groceries. Under Florida law, food products for human consumption, whether raw, processed, cooked, or canned, are exempt from sales tax. That covers the bulk of what is in a grocery cart: meat, produce, dairy, bread, cereal, and similar staples. The exemption does not extend to food meant for immediate consumption: restaurant meals, hot prepared food, ready-to-eat sandwiches, food sold for on-premises eating, candy, and soft drinks in individual containers are all taxable, even when sold inside a grocery store.
Prescription drugs and certain medical items. Medicine dispensed by prescription is exempt, along with items like hypodermic needles and syringes, diagnostic test kits, artificial limbs, orthopedic shoes, hearing aids, and dentures. Cosmetics and toiletries are not exempt, even if sold in a pharmacy.
How do I calculate the combined tax on a purchase?
Add the state rate and the applicable county surtax rate to get the total tax rate, then multiply that by the taxable sale amount. The Department of Revenue's own worked example shows how the surtax cap interacts with the state rate on a big-ticket item:
A furniture store sells and delivers a $7,000 dining room set to a county with a 1% surtax.
- State tax: $7,000 x 6% = $420
- County surtax: $5,000 (capped) x 1% = $50
- Total tax due: $470
Notice the surtax is calculated on $5,000, not the full $7,000, while the 6% state tax is calculated on the full $7,000. On an everyday purchase under $5,000, there is no cap to worry about: you simply add the two rates and apply them to the full price.
When does a business have to collect Florida sales tax?
Any business making retail sales, taxable services, or short-term rentals in Florida must register with the Department of Revenue and collect sales tax and any applicable surtax before it begins doing business in the state. That includes brick-and-mortar retailers, restaurants, equipment renters, and businesses providing specific taxable services like nonresidential pest control or cleaning.
Out-of-state and online sellers with no physical presence in Florida still have to register and collect once they cross an economic nexus threshold: more than $100,000 in taxable remote sales delivered into Florida during the previous calendar year. Sales made through a registered marketplace facilitator (for example, a listing on a platform that itself collects and remits Florida tax) do not count toward that seller's own $100,000 threshold, because the marketplace is treated as the collecting dealer instead.
Registration is done through the Department's online portal or by filing a paper Florida Business Tax Application (Form DR-1). Once registered, a business gets a Certificate of Registration to display and a Florida Annual Resale Certificate for buying inventory tax-free when it intends to resell the goods. Businesses that want to know whether their specific activity needs a permit should start with our guide on whether you need a sales tax permit.
The flat truth on Florida sales tax
Florida's sales tax is simpler than most states' in one respect (no local income tax, no city-by-city sales tax patchwork the way some states have) and more layered in another: the rate you owe depends on your county, and on big purchases, that county rate stops applying past $5,000. Budget on 6% state tax, no exceptions, plus whatever your delivery county's current surtax is, up to that first $5,000 of a single item. Groceries and prescription drugs stay untaxed either way. Everything else, check the current year's county table before you assume last year's rate still holds.
For the bigger picture on how state and local taxes fit together, see our taxes hub.
Sources
- State sales tax rate of 6%, and the 4% amusement-machine and 6.95% electricity rates: Florida Department of Revenue, "Florida Sales and Use Tax" (GT-800013, R. 10/25).
- Discretionary sales surtax mechanics, the $5,000 cap and its exceptions, the statutory 0.5%-2.5% county range, and the worked dining-room-set example: Florida Department of Revenue, "Discretionary Sales Surtax" (GT-800019, R. 10/25).
- 2026 county-by-county surtax rates, including Miami-Dade, Broward, Orange, Hillsborough, Citrus, Collier, and Hamilton: Florida Department of Revenue, Form DR-15DSS, "Discretionary Sales Surtax Information for Calendar Year 2026".
- Food-product and prescription/medical exemptions: Florida Statutes, Section 212.08 (2025).
- $100,000 economic nexus threshold for remote sellers and the marketplace-facilitator carve-out, and who must register to collect tax: Florida Department of Revenue, "Sales and Use Tax".