Business and Legal Insights

Effective October 1, 2025, Florida has repealed § 212.031, Florida Statutes, eliminating the state sales tax, including any discretionary local surtaxes, on the rental of commercial real property.

What This Means

Commercial landlords and tenants will no longer have to collect or pay any sales tax on rent or related charges for occupancy periods beginning on or after October 1, 2025. Rent attributable to periods before October 1, 2025 remains taxable, even if paid after this effective date. To clarify, sales tax on rental periods before this date, such as for September 2025 rent, is still due and might be remitted in October 2025.

Other Leases Still Subject to Sales Tax

The repeal applies only to the rental of commercial real property. Other types of leases and rentals remain taxable, including:

• Residential or transient accommodations of 6 months or less
• Parking or vehicle storage
• Boat docking or storage
• Aircraft tie-down or hangar space
• Self-storage units
• Leases of equipment or tangible personal property

Action Items for Business Owners

• Landlords: Update invoicing systems and lease forms to remove sales tax charges for commercial rent starting with rental periods as of October 1, 2025.
• Tenants: Review invoices carefully to ensure tax is not charged on commercial rent for periods after October 1, 2025.
• Business owners: If you own your own building through an affiliate entity and have been remitting sales tax on lease payments, speak with your finance team (internal bookkeeper, controller or CFO, or your external CPA). If sales tax on October 2025 rent has already been remitted, you might be eligible for a refund.

Background

For decades, Florida has been the only state to expressly charge a sales tax on commercial leases, and one of only a few states to impose any type of surcharge on leases. Although this sales tax rate has been reducing over the past few years, it is now eliminated as of October 1, 2025.