Florida sales & use tax for renters
 

This year we purchased a home in TV. As we are not ready to move yet we have been renting our house out quite successfully. My problem is paying the monthly taxes due to the Florida sales & use tax administrators. I have been in business for over twenty years and have never had any problem with filing my Mass. or Conn. sales tax, but the Florida system I found to be poorly set-up and administered. I found that the web site was not user friendly and I got conflicting and incorrect info from their "help" people. Particularly troublesome were the county taxes which get paid to the Florida DOR. I think I'm finally doing it right but it makes you wonder if it pays to be honest... Anyone else have this experience?

I would be surprised
 

I would guess that most homeowners do not pay tax on their rental incomes unless they use a rental agent which then creates a paper trail. But you are right; Florida is notorious for having dysfunctional administration.

I rented out my villa (privately) for over 4 years - I paid the sales and use tax online every month, not that difficult once it was set up. Why would you think most private landlords don't pay it?

That is quite admirable. Especially when those taxes come right on top of the state of residence income taxes and federal income tax. Also most private landlords are exempted from paying sales tax on residential rentals if they lease for more than six months.

It's not admirable - it's the law. I don't think I'm alone in paying the tax owed. It's deductible as an expense on Schedule C on your federal income tax return also. Maybe it's easy to dodge it (with the State of Florida) but I sure never wanted to find out the hard way. It's called tax fraud.

And most landlords rent seasonally and the occasional month/week. I never rented more than 3 mos. to one person, although I was asked. Those renting 6 mos. or more normally ask for/get a deal on the rent. OK if you just own it as an investment and want to rent it as much as possible, but part of the reason we bought it early was to enjoy vacations there as well.

Tax for renters
 

How do you go about paying them on line

Try this link
 

http://dor.myflorida.com/dor/eservic...pay.html#sutsw

But - the first time I paid them, I called them and they sent me a booklet and other stuff - however, that was almost 6 years ago - you can probably do it all online. I did it wrong the first time and they called me, explained how I goofed and how to correct it.

I'm an owner renting it myself and DO pay the taxes. I went to the tax office in Leesburg and set it up. I've got my coupon book but could have it set it up electronically. Ohiogirl's right, it's tax evasion or fraud or whatever. I can sleep at night and i get to deduct it on my income tax as well as a lot of other stuff. You think I want the tax people to see my deductions and wonder....hummmmm where's her FL transient rental taxes?