Effective as of January 1, 2020, the Florida state sales tax rate applicable to the lease of commercial real property has decreased from 5.7% to 5.5%. Therefore, the state will levy a 5.5% sales tax on all rent collected from commercial properties in Florida.
This new state sales tax rate, however, does not impact county surtax rates. Because individual counties may impose a discretionary sales surtax, the surtax rate of the county where the rental property is located must be factored in when calculating the total sales tax rate. For example, in Miami-Dade County the surtax rate is 1%. Therefore, the combined sales tax rate on rent collected from commercial properties in Miami-Dade County is 6.5% (5.5% state sales tax + 1% Miami-Dade County surtax).