How to start a business in Florida: Sunbiz fees, taxes, deadlines and what young Florida businesses earn

The short answer

Fees and deadlines below were checked on October 6, 2026 against the Florida Statutes the Division of Corporations applies, the Florida Department of Revenue and the Florida Constitution, with links on every figure. The data comes from the Main Street Index, BigIdeasDB’s census of 84,900+ businesses-for-sale listings, of which 6,300+ are in Florida, the most of any US state. They are asking prices and stated earnings, not closed sales.

Eight steps, in order. The state filing is the cheapest part; the two that cost people money later are the newspaper ad for a fictitious name and the May 1 annual report.

LLC, corporation or sole proprietor: what each costs in Florida

A Florida LLC costs $125 to form and $138.75 a year to keep; a corporation costs $70 to form and $150 a year; a sole proprietorship costs nothing at the state level unless it trades under a made-up name. Those figures come straight from the fee statutes: the LLC filing is $100 plus $25 for the registered agent designation (s. 605.0213), the corporation filing is $35 plus $35 (s. 607.0122), and both annual reports carry an $88.75 supplemental corporate fee on top of the base report fee (s. 607.193).

• Sole proprietor. No Sunbiz filing if you trade as yourself. Your personal assets stand behind every debt and claim.
• LLC. The default for a one- or two-owner business. Taxed as a pass-through unless you elect otherwise, so Florida takes no income tax from the profit.
• Corporation. Cheaper to form, $11.25 a year dearer to keep. As a C corporation it pays Florida corporate income tax; as an S corporation it usually does not.

The structure decision is mostly about liability and federal tax, not Florida fees. Over five years an LLC costs $680 in state fees and a corporation $670, so the gap between them is $10. If you are still choosing what to build, our what business should I start guide comes first.

Filing Articles of Organization on Sunbiz

Florida forms companies through the Division of Corporations’ Sunbiz site. The Department of State lists the sequence on its Start a Business page: research, choose a structure, then file. For an LLC that means four things.

1. Search the name on Sunbiz before you print anything with it.
2. Appoint a registered agent: a Florida resident, or an entity authorized in Florida, whose business address is the registered office (s. 605.0113). An owner who lives in Florida can serve.
3. File the Articles of Organization online and pay $125. A certified copy is $30 extra and a certificate of status $5 (s. 605.0213). Neither is required; a bank may ask for the certificate of status.
4. Write an operating agreement. It is not filed with the state, but banks, landlords and any future buyer will ask for it.

The owners and managers you list become part of the public record. If you use a home address, it is searchable, which is why some owners use a business address or a registered agent service.

Fictitious names and the newspaper ad step

Trading under any name other than your legal name, or your LLC’s exact registered name, needs a fictitious name registration: $50, valid until December 31 of the fifth calendar year, renewable for $50 (s. 865.09). The step most guides leave out: before you file, you must advertise the name at least once in a newspaper in the county where the business is based, and certify on the application that you did.

“You are required to register a fictitious business name if you transact business in the state under any name other than your legal name.”r/legaladvice, on a Florida fictitious-name question

An LLC called “Smith Holdings LLC” that runs a pool service as “Gulf Coast Pools” needs one. A sole proprietor named Ana Diaz trading as “Ana Diaz” does not. Check name availability first with our guide to checking if a business name is taken.

May 1: the annual report and the $400 late fee

Every Florida LLC and corporation must file an annual report between January 1 and May 1, starting the year after it forms (s. 605.0212). The fee is $138.75 for an LLC and $150 for a corporation. File on May 2 and Florida adds a $400 late charge (s. 607.193). The statute makes it mandatory; the only exception is a company already dissolved that pays to reinstate. The Division of Corporations’ annual report page applies it to every for-profit corporation and LLC. That is almost three times the filing fee for a five-minute form.

“It’s wild how many people get hit with the $400 penalty when the actual filing only costs $138.75 and takes like 5 minutes if nothing changed.”r/llc_life, a Florida LLC owner

New owners miss it because nothing happens in the first calendar year. An LLC formed in November files its first report by May 1 of the following year, five or six months later, not twelve.

“I just set up my LLC in November and honestly had no idea you had to file an annual report.”r/business, on a late Florida annual report

Skip it entirely and the state can administratively dissolve an LLC that has not filed by 5 p.m. Eastern on the third Friday in September (s. 605.0714). Reinstatement is a $100 filing on top of what is owed (s. 605.0213). Put a recurring reminder in the first week of January, when filing opens.

Florida taxes for a new business: no income tax, but not tax-free

Florida’s Constitution bars a state tax on the income of natural persons (Art. VII, s. 5), so a sole proprietor, partner, S corporation shareholder or LLC member pays no Florida tax on business profit. Three taxes still apply to most new businesses.

• Corporate income tax, C corporations only. Corporations and LLCs taxed as corporations pay 5.5% on Florida net income after a $50,000 exemption and must file Form F-1120 every year, even with no tax due. A single-member LLC disregarded for tax does not file separately (Florida Department of Revenue).
• Sales and use tax. The state rate is 6%, plus a county discretionary surtax in many counties. Register each selling location before your first taxable sale (Department of Revenue). Florida also taxes some services, including interior cleaning of non-residential buildings and non-residential pest control, so a commercial cleaning start-up needs a sales tax account from day one.
• Use tax. Equipment bought out of state without Florida tax owes use tax when it arrives. That catches new owners who order a truck-mounted rig or a commercial oven online.

Most new dealers file quarterly. Returns are due on the 1st and late after the 20th of the month after the period, and the late penalty is 10% of the tax with a $50 minimum even when no tax is due. File a zero return if you had no sales. Filing and paying electronically on time lets you keep a collection allowance of 2.5% on the first $1,200 of tax, up to $30 per return. The Department’s New Business Start-up Kit collects the forms.

Hiring in Florida: reemployment tax, new-hire reports and E-Verify

Florida calls unemployment insurance “reemployment tax”. A new employer pays 2.7% on the first $7,000 of each employee’s wages a year, at most $189 per employee (Department of Revenue). You become liable once you pay $1,500 in wages in a quarter or employ anyone in 20 weeks of a year, and must register by the end of the month after that quarter.

• File Form RT-6 every quarter, by April 30, July 31, October 31 and January 31, even with no wages.
• Report each new hire to the state within 20 days of the start date.
• Use E-Verify for new hires once you are a private employer with 25 or more employees.

Sole proprietors and partners do not pay reemployment tax on their own pay. An S corporation’s officer salary is wages and does count. Register for reemployment and sales tax in one online application, after you have your free EIN from the IRS.

County and city business tax receipts

Florida has no general state business licence. Instead, counties and cities levy a local business tax and issue a business tax receipt (Florida Statutes chapter 205). If you are inside city limits you usually need both the county and the city receipt; in unincorporated areas, just the county. Each county and city sets its rates by business classification in a local ordinance.

Receipts go on sale July 1, are due by September 30 and expire September 30 the next year. Pay late and the penalty is 10% for October plus 5% a month, capped at 25% (s. 205.053). Zoning approval often comes first, so a home-based business should ask the city whether its use is allowed at the address before applying.

State licences: check before you sign a lease

Contracting, roofing and other regulated trades need a Florida licence held by a person, and the business cannot do licensed work without one. One roofer described the state exam this way:

“State licensing. 5 day test over everything from construction codes to ethics and banking laws. Without question the hardest roofing license in the country”r/Roofing, on starting a roofing company in Florida

If you do not hold the licence, the usual route is a licensed qualifier as a partner or employee. Pool service is a split case: cleaning and repair are licensed differently, which our pool route guide covers. The free Florida SBDC Network, with more than 40 offices, gives no-cost consulting on which licences apply.

What it costs to start a business in Florida

The state’s share is small. A first-year Florida LLC with a trade name pays $125 to form and $50 for the fictitious name, plus a newspaper ad and local business tax receipts; from year two it pays $138.75 a year. Everything else is the business itself: equipment, deposits, insurance, inventory and the months of your own living costs before revenue covers them. Our cost to start a business guide breaks those down by type, and starting with no money covers the low end.

Florida listing prices give a market check. Only 0.7% of the 6,100+ priced Florida businesses for sale ask $10K or less, 4.8% ask $50K or less and 15.7% ask $100K or less (Main Street Index, October 2026). A going business, even a small one, is rarely a five-figure purchase here.

Florida’s businesses for sale are unusually young

18.5% of Florida businesses for sale that state their age are 3 years old or younger, against 14.2% across the rest of the US (Main Street Index, 5,000+ dated Florida listings and 26,100+ elsewhere, October 2026). The median Florida listing is 10 years old; elsewhere it is 12. Florida founders reach a sellable business, and sell it, sooner.

We tested whether that is just mix. Florida has more cafes, salons and pool routes, which skew young everywhere. Weighting each Florida listing by its industry’s young share in the rest of the US predicts 14.7%; the actual figure on those 4,900+ industry-classified listings is 18.6% (18.5% on all 5,000+ dated listings). The gap also holds inside each of the two largest marketplaces (19.8% vs 14.9% on one, 16.9% vs 12.3% on the other), and after removing the single broker with the most young Florida listings (17.7%). It is not franchise churn either: franchise resales are 18.6% of young Florida listings against 23.4% elsewhere.

The gaps are widest in low-capital, consumer-facing trades: food trucks (62.9% young in Florida vs 29.7%), ice cream and dessert shops (48.0% vs 24.6%), pet services (40.3% vs 19.4%), spa and massage (40.3% vs 24.5%) and pool service (37.7% vs 22.6%). Fast food is the one large category that runs the other way (18.3% vs 23.2%).

What a young Florida business earns. Florida listings 3 years old or younger that state their figures ask a median $200K for $95.5K of owner earnings (SDE), or 2.31x (500+ listings). Florida listings 10 years or older state $174.7K (1,900+). Young Florida restaurants state $120K of SDE on a $299K ask (51 listings); young pool service businesses state $63.5K on a $72.4K ask (44 listings), in a category where 70.4% of Florida listings are routes of accounts. Every other industry has fewer than 30 young Florida listings with figures, so we withhold it.

For a starter, read this two ways. First, a Florida business can reach roughly $95K of owner earnings within three years, which is a realistic target for a first plan. Second, plenty of founders sell at that point, so a buyer market for young businesses exists here if your plans change. Our buy vs start study shows which industries take longest to mature nationally.

Florida sellers retire less than you would expect

Florida is known as a retirement state, so you might expect retiring owners to dominate its sales. They do not. Retirement is the stated reason for 35.3% of Florida sellers against 40.0% in the rest of the US (Main Street Index, 4,700+ Florida and 26,900+ other stated reasons, October 2026). Even among businesses 10 years or older it is 53.4% in Florida vs 58.0% elsewhere. We expected the opposite and checked it at both ages before publishing.

Florida sellers cite relocation more often (12.5% vs 10.2%), and among young Florida businesses one seller in five (20.5%) says they are moving. That fits a population that arrives, starts something and moves on. For a founder it means competition from newcomers is constant, and that a business built to run without you is easier to sell when you leave. Seller financing is offered on 21.5% of Florida listings, a useful fact if you later sell to a buyer short of cash; our seller financing guide explains the terms.

What to start in Florida: where the state over-indexes

Florida holds about 13% of all US businesses for sale in our data, but 44.7% of the marine and boating businesses and 37.2% of the pool service businesses (Main Street Index, 6,300+ Florida listings, October 2026). It is also over-represented in beauty services (23.3% of US listings), hair salons (20.8%), childcare (20.1%) and landscaping (19.9%). Those are Florida’s structural trades: boats, pools, year-round outdoor work, a large personal-care market and young families.

Pool service is the clearest Florida start. It needs a truck, chemicals and accounts, and Florida pool businesses for sale ask a median $112.6K for $89.6K of owner earnings, 1.13x (120 listings with figures; 70.4% are routes, and one broker lists 57 of the 159, so read the median as route-heavy). That low multiple is a sign the business is mostly the owner’s labour. It is a good first business and a weak one to pay much for.

Childcare and landscaping are slower to build (15.7% and 7.8% of Florida listings are young) but sell as established businesses. Marine businesses are rarely young (11.1%) and usually need premises. For a wider shortlist, see our local business ideas by region and easiest small businesses to run.

Miami, Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville: what businesses cost by metro

Orlando is the cheapest large Florida metro to buy into and South Florida the dearest. Orlando listings ask a median $295K for $131K of owner earnings (2.51x); South Florida listings ask $485K for $181K (2.70x) (Main Street Index, 94 to 499 listings with figures per metro, October 2026). For a starter, the earnings column is the useful one: it is what an established local competitor makes.

Tampa Bay has the highest multiple (2.80x) on below-average earnings ($144.5K), so established competitors there are priced richly for what they make. Jacksonville and the Southwest Gulf coast sit between. Rent, wages and county surtax rates differ by metro too; use the Department of Revenue’s address lookup to find the surtax for your location.

Buy instead of start?

Florida is the easiest state to test the question, because it has the most listings: 6,300+ in our data and 27.1 per 100K residents, almost twice the US rate, as our best state to buy a business study shows. The median Florida business with figures asks $370K for $153.1K of owner earnings (2.65x, 3,900+ listings). A young one asks $200K for $95.5K.

Starting costs less cash and more time. Buying costs a down payment and a loan, and skips the years to $95K. If you would need three years to reach what a $200K business earns now, price both paths. Our how to buy a business guide covers the purchase steps, and the businesses by budget guide shows what each price band buys. Investors on an E-2 visa should read our E-2 business guide first: 74.3% of E-2-marketed listings with earnings are in Florida.

In the Main Street Index you can filter Florida listings by industry, metro, age and price, and read why each owner is selling. Look at the young listings in the trade you plan to start: they show what a founder like you built in three years, and what a buyer will pay for it.

What this data cannot tell you

• Asking, not closing. Prices are what sellers ask and earnings are what they state. Neither is audited.
• Listings, not all businesses. A young business for sale tells you about founders who sell, not about the survival rate of all Florida start-ups.
• Age is self-reported and missing on about one Florida listing in five.
• Metro is incomplete. 2,900+ Florida listings state no city, so metro rows cover about half of Florida’s listings.
• Legal notes are general. Fees are current as of October 6, 2026 under the statutes linked; your county, city and trade add their own rules. This is not legal or tax advice.

Methodology and sources

We read the Main Street Index with read-only SQL on October 6, 2026, keeping US listings quoted in US dollars and removing cross-site duplicates: 6,300+ in Florida. Business age uses the stated founding year or years in operation. The industry-matched test weights each Florida listing by its industry’s young share in the rest of the US (industries with 30+ dated listings). A templated look-alike screen (same industry, earnings and revenue on three or more listings in two or more states) flags 0.9% of Florida’s priced listings and moves the median multiple from 2.65x to 2.67x; we report the unscreened figure. Every median shows its n and any cut under 30 is withheld.

Sunbiz pages refuse automated requests, so each fee was checked against the statute the Division of Corporations applies, on the Florida Legislature’s site, and linked inline.

Frequently asked questions