Does Florida have a state income tax?

The limit is in Florida’s constitution. Article VII, section 5 says no tax on the income of natural persons who are residents or citizens of the state may be levied beyond amounts that could be credited against or deducted from a similar federal or other-state tax. The Department of Revenue cites that section when it answers the question: Florida does not impose a personal income tax, so there are no filing requirements.

Capital gains are not taxed either. The Department says that because Florida has no income tax for individuals, it has no capital gains tax for individuals. Lifting the limit would take a constitutional amendment: approval by at least 60% of those voting on it, or by two-thirds of everyone voting in that election if the amendment itself imposes a new state tax.

So there is no Florida income tax return for individuals. The federal return is separate and still applies; the IRS says most U.S. citizens and permanent residents who work in the United States have to file one. Businesses are where Florida’s filing duties fall: it taxes corporate income, collects sales tax through sellers and charges employers reemployment tax.

Florida’s general state sales tax rate, as of 2026, is 6%, set in section 212.05 of the Florida Statutes. The Department of Revenue lists three exceptions: 3% on retail sales of new mobile homes, 4% on amusement machine receipts and 6.95% on electricity. On top of the state rate, most counties levy a discretionary sales surtax. The seller collects it at the rate of the county where the item or service is delivered; for motor vehicles and mobile homes, the buyer’s home address sets the rate.

For 2026, 65 of Florida’s 67 counties levy a surtax, at rates from 0.5% to 2%, and Citrus and Collier levy none. The surtax applies only to the first $5,000 of a single item of tangible personal property, a cap that does not apply to services, admissions or transient rentals. Rates can change from year to year as county surtaxes begin, expire or are renewed. The Department posts each year’s table, Form DR-15DSS, every November, and its address lookup gives the rate for a specific Florida address.

The state itself levies no property tax; Florida’s constitution forbids state property taxes on real estate and tangible personal property. Property taxes are levied locally, by counties, cities, school districts and some special districts. The county property appraiser values each property as of January 1 and mails a notice of proposed taxes in August. The tax collector sends the bill in late October or November, and it is due by the following March 31.

The homestead exemption lowers the taxable value of the home you live in. If you own the property and make it your permanent residence, or that of a dependent, on January 1, the first $25,000 of its assessed value is exempt from all property taxes, including school taxes. A second exemption covers assessed value above $50,000, for non-school taxes only. It began at $25,000 and has risen with inflation since 2025, to $25,722 for 2025 and $26,411 for 2026. The value between $25,000 and $50,000 stays taxable.

The Department of Revenue describes the total as up to $50,000. With the inflation adjustment, a homestead can take up to $25,000 off its assessed value for school taxes in 2026 and up to $51,411 for all other property taxes. On a home assessed at $300,000 with no other exemptions, $275,000 stays taxable for school taxes and $248,589 for the rest.

Save Our Homes limits how fast a homestead’s assessed value can rise. After the first year with the exemption, the assessment can go up each year by no more than 3% or the change in the Consumer Price Index, whichever is lower: 2.9% for 2025 and 2.7% for 2026. The assessed value can never exceed market value. The cap ends when the home changes hands, and the property is reassessed at market value the following January 1.

If you move from one Florida homestead to another, portability lets you carry all or part of that Save Our Homes difference to the new home, up to $500,000. You must establish the new homestead within three years of January 1 of the year you gave up the old one, and file Form DR-501T with the homestead application by March 1. It applies only to moves between Florida homesteads.

Amendment 3 on the November 3, 2026 ballot would change these rules. It would raise the homestead exemption for non-school taxes to $150,000 of assessed value in 2027 and $250,000 in 2028, adjusted for inflation after that, while school taxes keep the $25,000 exemption. People who are not Florida residents on December 31, 2026 would get the existing exemption first and the larger one from their fifth year of exemption, to the extent the U.S. Constitution permits. It would also cut the 10% annual cap on assessment increases for non-homestead property to 5%. It needs at least 60% of the vote and, if approved, takes effect January 1, 2027.

Florida does tax business income, but only of corporations. The rate is 5.5% for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2022, which includes 2026. The tax starts from federal taxable income with Florida adjustments, and a $50,000 exemption comes off before the rate applies. A corporation that also does business outside Florida usually apportions its income to Florida by a formula that weighs sales at 50% and property and payroll at 25% each. The constitution sets a ceiling of 5% of net income, which a three-fifths vote of each house of the Legislature can raise.

C corporations file Form F-1120, or the short Form F-1120A if they qualify, every year, even when no tax is due, and so do LLCs taxed as corporations. Individuals do not pay this tax: the code is not meant to tax a person in business as a sole proprietor, a partner or a member of an LLC taxed as a partnership. An LLC taxed as a partnership files an information return, Form F-1065, only when one of its owners is a corporation. A single-member LLC disregarded for federal tax files no return of its own; if a corporation owns it, its income goes on the corporation’s return. An S corporation files only if it has federal taxable income.

The return is generally due by the later of two dates: the first day of the fifth month after the tax year ends (the fourth month for a June 30 year-end), or 15 days after the federal return’s due date without extensions. For a calendar year, the first of those is May 1. Estimated payments are required when the year’s tax will be more than $2,500. Employers also pay reemployment tax, formerly called unemployment tax, once they have $1,500 of payroll in a quarter or employ at least one worker for some part of a day in 20 weeks of a calendar year.

Florida has no estate tax for anyone who died after December 31, 2004; the Department of Revenue says a federal change eliminated it. Since July 1, 2023, an estate no longer has to file the Affidavit of No Florida Estate Tax Due. The Department’s guide for new residents adds that Florida does not impose inheritance, gift or intangible personal property taxes.

The federal estate tax still applies. For deaths in 2026, the IRS requires an estate tax return when the gross estate, plus adjusted taxable gifts and specific gift tax exemption, is more than $15,000,000. The figure was $13,990,000 for 2025.

The state you leave applies its own rules to the year you move, including whether you file a part-year resident return there, and it may keep taxing income that comes from there afterward. New York’s rules show how far this can reach.

Other states set their own tests and forms, so look up the rules of the state you are leaving before you file for the year of the move.

The Department of Revenue says you are a Florida resident when your true, fixed and permanent home and principal establishment is in Florida. Filing a declaration of domicile, qualifying for the homestead exemption or registering to vote in Florida can establish residency. Getting a Florida driver license only indicates an intent to establish it.

A declaration of domicile is a sworn statement, signed before an official authorized to take affidavits and filed with the clerk of the circuit court in the county where you live. It says you live in that county and intend to keep your home there permanently. If you also keep a home in another state, it says your Florida home is your predominant and principal home.

When you apply for the homestead exemption, the property appraiser decides whether you have made Florida your permanent residence. Florida law lists facts it may weigh, and no single one decides it: a recorded declaration of domicile, voter registration at the home’s address, a Florida driver license or ID card and the surrender of other states’ licenses, a Florida license plate, where your children are registered for school, where you work, when your previous residency ended, the address on your federal income tax returns, where your bank accounts are, and utility bills paid at the property.