On What Line Do I Report Tourist Development Tax on the Florida Sales Tax Return

TL;DR

• Tourist development tax (TDT) is reported on Line D (Transient Rentals) of Florida Form DR-15 — but onlyif your county's TDT is administered by the Florida Department of Revenue.
• Seven Florida counties self-administer TDT and require a separate filing directly with the county. State sales tax always goes on Line D regardless.
• The definitive reference is Form DR-15TDT — it lists every county and whether the DOR or the county collects the tax.
• Combined tax burdens on transient rentals range from 6% to 12% in 2026 depending on the county.
• The $5,000 discretionary surtax cap does not apply to transient rentals — the full surtax rate applies on every dollar.

Overview

If you collect rent from short-term accommodations in Florida — hotel rooms, vacation rentals, Airbnb units, condominiums, or any lodging for six months or less — you are dealing with at least two separate taxes: Florida's state sales tax and your county's tourist development tax.

The question of where to report them on the DR-15 is deceptively simple on the surface but trips up a surprising number of operators, property managers, and B2B hospitality businesses every filing cycle.

This guide answers the question directly, explains the state-versus-county distinction, walks through what belongs on Line D, and flags the most common filing errors that lead to penalties and audits.

What Is Tourist Development Tax?

Tourist development tax (TDT) — sometimes called a bed tax, resort tax, or local option transient rental tax — is an additional local tax that Florida counties can impose on short-term rentals under Florida Statute § 125.0104.

It applies to the same accommodations subject to state sales tax: hotels, motels, apartments, condominiums, vacation homes, mobile home parks, RV parks, rooming houses, and timeshare resorts rented for six months or less.

TDT is a local option tax — counties opt in and set their own rates up to the statutory maximum. Not every county imposes the same rate, and a handful of counties still impose zero or minimal rates (Calhoun, Lafayette, Liberty, Union).

The tax layers on top of Florida's 6% state sales tax and any applicable discretionary sales surtax. In high-tourism counties like Miami-Dade, Broward, or Pinellas, the combined burden reaches 11–12%.

Which Line on the DR-15?

The short answer: Line D — Transient Rentals.

Florida's Sales and Use Tax Return (Form DR-15) has separate lines for different categories of taxable sales. Line D is designated for transient rental income. Per the official DR-15 Instructions (Form DR-15N), state sales tax, discretionary sales surtax, and any local option transient rental taxes administered by the Department of Revenue are all reported together on Line D.

That last clause matters: you only include TDT on Line D if the Department of Revenue collects it for your county. If your county self-administers TDT, the TDT portion does not go on Line D — it gets filed separately with the county.

State-Collected vs. County-Collected

Florida's tourist development tax system creates two parallel tracks depending on your county.

DOR-administered counties— the Florida Department of Revenue collects TDT on the state's behalf. You report everything (state sales tax + surtax + TDT) on Line D of DR-15 and remit one payment to the DOR.

Self-administering counties — the county manages its own TDT collection. You file the TDT portion separately with the county tax collector. You still remit state sales tax and surtax to the DOR on Line D of DR-15 as usual.

The official reference document is Form DR-15TDT (Local Option Transient Rental Tax Rates). It lists every county alphabetically, shows the TDT rate, and clearly identifies whether the DOR or the county administers the tax. Check this form every year — administration arrangements can change.

Historically, DOR-administered counties appear without special designation in the form, while self-administering counties are marked distinctly (older versions shaded them in gray). The current version uses a clear "Administered By" column.

Counties That Self-Administer TDT

Based on current Florida tax practice guidance and the DR-15TDT form, the following counties self-administer their tourist development tax as of 2026:

If you operate in any of these counties, you have two separate filing obligations: DR-15 to the DOR for state tax, and a county-specific form for TDT. Failing to file both is a common audit trigger.

What Belongs on Line D

Line D captures the gross rental amount subject to transient rental taxes — not just the tax itself. The DR-15 form calculates tax due based on what you enter on Line D.

Here is what belongs in the Line D gross sales figure:

• Room rate or rental charge
• Cleaning fees
• Pet fees
• Traveler service fees charged by the host
• Any mandatory fees that are part of the rental consideration

What does not belong:

• Refundable security/damage deposits (not returned to the guest only if actual damage occurs)
• Optional travel insurance purchased separately
• Gratuities clearly identified as voluntary

Also note: the $5,000 discretionary sales surtax cap that applies to most tangible personal property sales does not apply to transient rentals. The full county surtax rate applies on every dollar of rental income on Line D.

If the TDT for your county is DOR-administered, the DR-15 Line D amount includes the TDT in the total tax calculated. You do not enter TDT separately on its own line — it flows through Line D as part of the combined remittance.

Combined Tax Burden by County in 2026

According to 2026 Florida transient rental tax rates, combined state + local tax rates on short-term accommodations range widely:

Miami Beach, Bal Harbour, and Surfside have municipal resort taxes layered on top — pushing effective rates above 13% in those jurisdictions.

These rates matter for Line D calculations. A property generating $10,000/month in rental income in Broward County carries $1,200 in combined tax liability — $600 to the DOR and $600 TDT, all remitted through the DR-15 Line D because Broward is DOR-administered.

Common Reporting Mistakes

These are the most frequent errors Florida auditors find in transient rental tax filings:

1. Filing TDT only with the DOR when the county self-administers

If you operate in Orange, Lee, Escambia, or any other self-administering county and send everything to the DOR, the county never receives its TDT. You will face delinquency notices and penalties from the county separate from any DOR audit.

2. Omitting the TDT from Line D in DOR-administered counties

Some operators think TDT is always filed separately. In most Florida counties it is not — it flows through DR-15 Line D. Omitting it creates an underpayment that compounds with interest and a 10% per-month late penalty.

3. Applying the $5,000 surtax cap to transient rentals

The discretionary sales surtax cap does not apply to rentals. Operators who cap their surtax at $5,000 per transaction underremit on high-value rental periods, creating a running underpayment.

4. Not registering separately with the county for self-administered TDT

Self-administering counties require a separate registration — not just a DOR sales tax number. Operating without county registration exposes you to retroactive tax liability plus penalties from the date you began collecting rental income.

5. Assuming platform remittance covers everything

Platforms like Airbnb collect and remit some taxes in some Florida counties. But coverage is inconsistent. As the property owner or manager, you remain responsible for verifying that both state and county taxes are being correctly remitted. "The platform said they'd handle it" is not a defense in a Florida DOR audit.

6. Misclassifying long-term rentals

Rentals exceeding six months with a written lease executed before occupancy are generally exempt from both state sales tax and TDT. But the lease must be in writing and must be signed before the guest takes possession. Retroactive or verbal agreements don't qualify. See the B2B sales tax explainer for how exemption documentation works in Florida more broadly.

B2B and Property Management Implications

Individual vacation rental hosts face these filing complexities, but the stakes are higher for B2B operators: hotel management companies, property management firms, OTA platforms, and corporate housing providers.

Property management companies

A B2B property manager collecting rent on behalf of property owners is considered the dealer for Florida tax purposes. The manager is responsible for collecting and remitting both state sales tax and TDT — not the property owner. Contracts that purport to shift tax liability to owners are generally not recognized by the DOR.

Multi-county operators face the added burden of tracking which counties are DOR-administered vs. self-administered. A company managing properties across Hillsborough (DOR-administered) and Orange (self-administered) files two different ways for what are functionally identical transactions.

Corporate housing providers

B2B corporate housing companies that lease apartments to businesses for employee housing need to verify the six-month rule carefully. If a corporate tenant occupies a unit for exactly six months on a written pre-occupancy lease, the transaction may be exempt. Units rented month-to-month or on shorter terms are fully taxable even if the practical purpose is long-term housing.

Online platforms and marketplaces

Marketplace platforms facilitating Florida rentals have registration and collection obligations in many counties. However, not all counties have the same marketplace facilitator rules for TDT as the DOR has for state sales tax. B2B platforms operating in Florida should consult the county-specific requirements in DR-15TDT rather than assuming that state-level facilitator rules apply everywhere.

For broader context on B2B tax obligations in Florida, the guide on Florida services and sales tax covers the general nexus and registration framework.

For teams managing outbound sales and lead generation around the Florida hospitality sector, the B2B go-to-market strategy examples show how companies in compliance-heavy industries structure their GTM motion.

How SyncGTM Fits In

SyncGTM is not a tax filing platform — but the compliance overhead that comes with managing multiple county registrations, tracking which clients sit in self-administered vs. DOR-administered counties, and reconciling monthly remittances is fundamentally a data operations problem.

B2B property management firms and hospitality operators use SyncGTM to enrich their client and property databases, track account-level details like county jurisdiction and TDT administration type, and trigger reminders or workflow automation around monthly filing deadlines.

When your CRM knows which county each property sits in — and which filing method applies — your ops team stops looking up DR-15TDT manually every month. That kind of structured enrichment is where SyncGTM's waterfall data approach pays off for compliance-heavy B2B teams.

The B2B pipeline management guide covers how ops-driven B2B teams structure account data to reduce this kind of recurring manual lookup burden.

Conclusion

The answer to “on what line do I report tourist development tax on the Florida sales tax return” is Line D — with one critical condition.

Line D is the correct line for all transient rental state sales tax and surtax, always. TDT goes on Line D only when your county's tourist development tax is administered by the Florida Department of Revenue. If you operate in one of the seven self-administering counties — Orange, Lee, Escambia, Seminole, Indian River, Santa Rosa, or Walton — TDT gets filed separately with the county.

Check Form DR-15TDT before every filing period. Rates and administration arrangements update periodically. The form is the authoritative source — not what worked last year.

Get the county determination right, watch the surtax cap non-applicability, and verify platform remittances independently. Those three steps eliminate the most common audit exposures for Florida transient rental operators.