When people search for a "Florida business license", they usually expect one state license that covers everything. In Florida, what your business needs comes from up to three places: a state license if your work is regulated, a county business tax receipt, and a city business tax receipt if you're inside city limits. Many businesses only need the local receipts. Some need all three.
This guide explains each layer, with the official link for each, and ends with a short way to check exactly what applies to you. It's step 5 of starting a business in Florida, and it comes after you've registered the business on Sunbiz, if you're forming an LLC or corporation.
I build websites for small businesses and don't give legal advice. When in doubt, ask your county tax collector.
- State license?
- County receipt
- City receipt
- Other permits
Check the state license first, then the county receipt, then the city receipt, then any industry permits.
Layer 1: state licenses for regulated work
The state licenses specific professions and businesses. Most of them go through the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR), which covers fields like contractors, real estate, and food service and lodging. If your work is in one of those fields, you need the state license before you start.
Restaurants are a good example of how strict this is. Florida law requires owners of new food service or lodging establishments to get a license from DBPR's Division of Hotels and Restaurants before they start operating. The steps are a DBPR Online account, a plan review for food service, the application and fee, and a licensing inspection. The division's instruction is direct: don't serve food to the public until you have a satisfactory inspection and a license.
To see whether your field is licensed, or to check someone else's license, use DBPR's Verify a License search. If your field isn't there, it may be regulated by another state agency, or not licensed at the state level at all.
Layer 2: the county business tax receipt
This is the one most businesses need. Under chapter 205 of the Florida Statutes, counties can levy a local business tax, and the receipt they issue is your proof that you've paid it.
Each county runs its own process through its tax collector:
- Polk County (Lakeland, Winter Haven, Bartow): the tax collector says that all businesses operating in Polk County must have a county local business tax receipt.
- Miami-Dade County (Miami, Hialeah, Doral): receipts are issued by the Miami-Dade Tax Collector.
- Orange County (Orlando): Orlando's own page says all businesses must have both city and county business tax receipts.
- Hillsborough County (Tampa): new accounts and renewals go through the Hillsborough County Tax Collector.
Don't skip it. Chapter 205 adds a 25% penalty, on top of the tax owed, for anyone who does business without a required receipt.
Layer 3: the city business tax receipt and zoning
If your business is inside city limits, the city usually wants its own receipt too, on top of the county's:
- Lakeland: a business inside city limits needs receipts from both the City of Lakeland and Polk County. The city bases most of its fees on square footage, number of workers or type of profession.
- Orlando: businesses need both city and county receipts, plus a Certificate of Use, and the city suggests a zoning check to confirm your business can operate at your location.
Zoning is the part people forget. Before you sign a lease, or start seeing customers at home, ask the city whether your type of business is allowed at that address.
Receipts are renewed every year. In Orlando, for example, all business tax receipts expire September 30. Check your county and city for their dates.
Working in more than one county
If you serve customers across county lines, like a cleaner who works in both Polk and Hillsborough, the rules depend on where your business is based and how each county treats visiting businesses. Polk County, for example, exempts businesses temporarily operating in Polk County that already hold a valid receipt from another Florida county where their main business is located.
Don't assume every county works the same way. If you work regularly in a second county, ask that county's tax collector whether you need a receipt there too.
Home-based businesses
Working from home doesn't remove the local receipts, and your city may have rules about what you can run from a house. Ask the city's zoning office before you start.
Food is the special case. Florida's cottage food law lets you sell certain homemade foods without a state food permit, as long as gross sales stay under $250,000 a year, and it stops local governments from banning cottage food operations. It only covers food that is not time or temperature controlled for safety, so cooked meals and other foods that need refrigeration don't qualify. Products must be labeled as made in a cottage food operation, and they can't be sold wholesale.
Who may be exempt
Chapter 205 includes exemptions from the local business tax. Among them:
- Honorably discharged veterans and their spouses, and spouses of active duty military, under section 205.055.
- People with income below 130% of the federal poverty guidelines, also under 205.055.
- Some people with disabilities, and some people 65 and older with limited capital, under section 205.162.
Ask your tax collector how to claim one and what proof they need.
Other registrations that aren't licenses
A few more items often get lumped in with "the license":
- Sales tax registration with the Florida Department of Revenue, if you sell taxable goods or services. The state rate is 6%, and many counties add a surtax.
- A fictitious name on Sunbiz, if you do business under any name other than your legal name. Florida law says you must register it first.
- Your LLC or corporation on Sunbiz, if you form one. The Sunbiz registration guide covers it step by step.
How to check what you need
- Look up your field in DBPR's Verify a License search. If your profession appears there, you need the state license first.
- Call or visit your county tax collector's site. Tell them what you do and where. They'll tell you what the county receipt costs and what they need from you.
- Check whether you're inside city limits. If you are, contact the city's business tax office and ask about zoning.
- Ask about anything specific to your industry, such as health inspections for food, or signage and parking rules for a storefront.
Quick reference by type of business
| If you are | You'll likely need |
|---|---|
| A restaurant, caterer or food business with a kitchen | DBPR Hotels and Restaurants license, county receipt, city receipt if in city limits |
| A home baker selling non-perishable goods | Cottage food rules (no state food permit), plus whatever your county and city require |
| A contractor | DBPR license for your trade, county receipt, city receipt if in city limits |
| A real estate professional | DBPR license, local receipts as they apply |
| A consultant, designer or other unregulated service | County receipt, city receipt if in city limits |
Use this as a starting point. Your tax collector's office has the final word for your address.
After the paperwork
Once you're licensed, customers still need to find you. That starts with a Google Business Profile and a website that says what you do and where. Here's what to put on your website and what it costs. If you run a food business, here's what a restaurant website needs, and I meet clients in person in Lakeland and Polk County and in Miami and Hialeah.
For the full order of steps, from structure to getting online, see starting a business in Florida.
Questions people ask about Florida business licenses
Does Florida require a business license? It depends on the business. Most businesses need a local business tax receipt from their county, and from their city if they're inside city limits. Regulated professions also need a state license.
How much does a Florida business license cost? It depends on your county, your city and your business. Local fees are often based on the type of business, its size or its number of workers, so ask your tax collector for your exact amount.
What's the difference between a business license and a business tax receipt? In Florida, the local "business license" is a business tax receipt: proof you paid the local business tax. A state license, from DBPR for example, is permission to do regulated work.
Do I need a license to sell food from home in Florida? Not a state food permit, if you follow the cottage food rules and stay under $250,000 a year. Cooked meals and foods that need refrigeration aren't covered.
When do business tax receipts expire? Many expire September 30 each year. Orlando's do, for example. Check your county and city for their exact dates.
Sources
- DBPR Division of Hotels and Restaurants: Licensing
- DBPR: Verify a license
- Florida Statutes chapter 205: Local business taxes
- Polk County Tax Collector: Local business tax
- Miami-Dade Tax Collector: Local business tax receipt
- City of Orlando: Get a business tax receipt
- Hillsborough County Tax Collector: Business tax services
- City of Lakeland: Business tax
- Florida Statutes 500.80: Cottage food operations
- Florida Statutes 500.03: Definitions
- Florida Department of Revenue: Sales and use tax
- Florida Statutes 865.09: Fictitious name registration
