File your taxes with confidence using our expertly curated resources. Below is the latest on Florida payroll taxes, rates, policies, and more.
Regarding payroll, in addition to federal guidelines, Florida businesses must meet specific local and state requirements. This guide will outline the payroll process for Florida-based businesses with employees.
Before registering with the state of Florida, businesses must have a federal Employment ID Number (EIN) and an Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS) account.
The application process for EINs is managed by the IRS. To apply digitally, follow the instructions below:
The application process for the EFTPS is managed by the IRS, To apply digitally, follow the instructions below:
After receiving your EIN and EFTPS account, your business must register with the Florida Department of Revenue before conducting business activities subject to Florida's taxes and fees. To register a new business, fill out the Florida Business Tax Application (online or paper form DR-1) and submit it to a Department of Record Service Center.
If you previously submitted a Florida Business Tax Application to the Department and hold an active certificate of registration or reemployment tax account number (if you have employees), you may use the Application for Registered Businesses to Add a New Florida Location (Form DR-1A) to register.
The Form DR-1 must be completed to register to collect, report, and pay the following taxes, surcharges, and fees:
ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT MS 1-5730
FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE
5050 W TENNESSEE ST
TALLAHASSEE FL 32399-0160
For more details on registering with the Florida Department of Revenue review, Instructions for Completing the Florida Business Tax Application (DR-1).
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requires any business that has employees and any partnership, corporation, nonprofit organization, trust (except certain revocable trusts), or estate to have a federal employer identification number (FEIN). You will need this number to register with the Department. For more information, visit the IRS website at irs.gov.
If you are a sole proprietor (individual business owner) or an individual who is the sole member of a limited liability company, you will need your social security number (SSN) to register with the Department of Revenue. If you are not eligible to obtain a social security number, you must provide a Visa number issued by the United States Department of State.
When you register with the Department of Revenue, you are issued a business partner number as a unique identifying number for your business. The number will be located on the back of your certificate of registration.
How a payroll is set up will differ by business and industry. The main decisions are:
To learn more about managing your company's payroll in-house or with a service, click here.
During onboarding, all new employees need to submit the following documents to confirm their eligibility to work in the US and to be compliant with state and federal employment regulations:
As Florida doesn't have a separate W-4 form, you can use the standard federal W-4 form to collect your employees' tax information.
Note: All employees must complete their I-9 verification no later than their first day of work. I-9 forms must be stored for three years after the hire date, one year after employment ends, or whichever is later.
For hourly and salary non-exempt employees, businesses must collect, review, and approve all timesheets within the appropriate time frame. Timesheets can be in paper or electronic forms.
To easily manage timesheets, businesses can utilize time and attendance solutions such as CAVU HCM.
Combining software and concierge services, CAVU's payroll solution eliminates errors and improves the employee experience without extra stress on your operation. Led by experts on all local, state, and federal policies and regulations, CAVU helps manage every part of your payroll process, including time and attendance, yearly filings, tax credit applications, and more.
To review pay period guidelines for the state of Florida, click here.
To pay employees for their timesheets, businesses must first calculate their payrolls. To calculate and pay your employees in Florida, follow the six steps below:
Note: Employers must classify their employees correctly according to the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") or risk costly compliance violations. Misclassifying employees as exempt from overtime (when they are non-exempt) is one of the most common Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) violations and a focal point for government enforcement.
Note: there is no state income tax in Florida.
To stay in compliance with federal and state tax laws, you must submit payment for payroll taxes regularly and file payroll tax documentation using the appropriate paper or electronic tax forms.
For more information on federal or state tax forms, click the appropriate link below:
For additional information, use the resources below.
For assistance on federal forms, employers can contact the IRS at 1-800-829-1040 or http://www.irs.gov.
For assistance on Florida state forms, employers can use the following methods:
Florida State Contact Information |
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Taxpayer Assistance |
1-850-488-6800 |
Property Tax Oversight Assistance |
1- 850-717-6570 |
Internet Address |
Link |
While Florida does not have specific laws or regulations regarding retaining payroll records, per the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), you must record, document, and store employee records for at least three years.
For each employee, the following information is required to be recorded and stored:
By January 31st of each year, employers in Florida are required to issue to employees and file W-2 forms, which summarize their total earnings and taxes paid over the course of that year. For contractors, you should issue and file a 1099 form, which summarizes your business earnings from that contractor.
W-2s for each employee are usually completed by the payroll software and show important information, including annual earnings, deductions, taxes withheld, and other information the employee needs to file their state and federal income tax returns.
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Unlike most other states, Florida does not have a personal income tax. Therefore, if you have a small business with employees who work in Florida, you won't need to withhold state income tax on their wages. However, you will still need to withhold Federal Income Tax for employee compensation, wages, and salaries.
Withholding agents are responsible for their appropriate taxes, even if they fail to withhold from their employees.
The following section will overview the State of Florida's payroll and tax requirements, which all withholding agents must adhere to.
For more information, visit https://www.stateofflorida.com/taxes/
Established by the federal government under IRC section 3121(a), the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) requires all businesses to deduct federal taxes from employees' wages. Unlike individual taxes, FICA is paid by both the employer and employee, typically at 7.65% of taxable wages to the IRS.
Unless specifically excluded by statute, all forms of payment (cash, check, deposit, etc.) are considered taxable. The same rule applies to types of base pay, such as hourly, weekly, piecework, and more.
While nearly all forms of payment are included in FICA's policies, the following types of compensation are exempt:
The Social Security Administration establishes the maximum taxable wage for FICA each year. For 2023, this amount is $160,200, which is an increase of 13,200 from $147,000 in 2021.
Fortunately for Florida business owners and workers, Florida does not have a state income tax.
The reemployment tax is a payroll tax dedicated to funding the state's Unemployment Compensation Trust Fund, which provides temporary financial assistance through reemployment assistance benefits to eligible claimants.
Typically ordered on the state level, the federal government can administer unemployment insurance during periods of crisis, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. Similar to other taxes, all businesses contribute to funding unemployment insurance through their tax contributions.
In Florida, an employer is liable to pay reemployment tax if it meets any of the following conditions:
The initial tax rate for new employers is .0270 (2.7%), which is applied to the first $7,000 in wages paid to each employee during a calendar year. Any amount over $7,000 for the year is excess wages and is not subject to tax. For more information about the tax rate, review the Reemployment Tax Rate Information webpage.
Note: employers must post a notice regarding state unemployment claims in a shared space for all employees to see. The poster (Form RT-83), also available in Spanish (Form RT-83SP), provides basic information on filing an unemployment claim and the benefits available.
Incorrectly classifying a Florida-based employee as an independent contractor, freelancer, or intern can result in significant fines and penalties. Misclassification is a common mistake, especially for smaller employers who may be unfamiliar with the requirements of FICA, unemployment insurance, and reemployment tax.
To determine whether an employee should be classified as a W-2 employee, employers should consider the following factors:
If any of these factors indicate that the worker should be classified as an employee, employers are strongly encouraged to seek proper counsel to ensure that they comply with all applicable laws and regulations.
On September 30, 2022, Florida's minimum wage increased to $11.00 from $10, which is more than the federal minimum wage of $7.25. In November 2020, voters decided to raise the minimum wage gradually through 2026 to $15 an hour. The Florida minimum wage will increase to $12 in September of 2023. Each year will see a $1 increase until 2026, when the minimum wage will reach $15.
In addition to the minimum wage described above, the Federal Fair Labor Standards act defines special minimum wage rates applicable to certain types of workers. You may be paid under the Florida minimum wage if you fit into one of the following categories:
There are no current local minimum wage laws in Florida. However, in 2018, Miami Beach commissioners wanted to boost the city's minimum wage to $13.31 an hour by 2021. In 2019, two courts ruled against the city, and the state Supreme Court decided not to hear the case. Therefore, at this time, there is no local minimum wage law in effect.
Currently, no federal law requires businesses to provide pay stubs, leaving the regulations to each state. In Florida, employers are not required to provide employees with a pay stub detailing their hours worked, wages earned, taxes withheld, and other pertinent information.
Pay stub legislation in Florida instead defaults to federal laws under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). However, many employers in Florida choose to provide pay stubs for the convenience of their employees.
The state of Florida doesn't have any laws regulating when or how often an employer must pay employees their wages.
Thus, employers have the freedom to set their own payment schemes.
Here are the most common pay frequency schemes:
Regardless of frequency, pay dates must be consistent. Payment can be made via cash, check, direct deposit, or a payroll card account.
Florida doesn't have laws specifically regulating how overtime pay is calculated or paid. Instead, the federal standard applies throughout the state. Therefore, all nonexempt Florida employees must be paid one-and-a-half times their regular pay rate for any time worked past 40 hours in a workweek.
An important thing to know is who doesn't qualify for overtime pay. The state follows federal regulations on defining four very vague categories: professional, executive, computer employees, administrative employees, and outside sales. The Department of Labor (DOL) has a duties test that can help employers determine who meets these exemption criteria.
Another important thing to note is that you're not automatically exempt from overtime pay if you're a “salaried" employee. According to federal law, to stipulate that salaried employees who still qualify for overtime pay must:
Note: Highly-compensated employees own more than 5% of a company, and the $107,432 limit can be achieved through a weekly salary (at or above the $684 minimum) along with commissions, bonuses, and other compensation outside of their weekly base pay.
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In 1998, state and federal laws were passed requiring employers to report certain information about newly hired and rehired employees. For Florida employers, these reports are sent to the Florida New Hire Reporting Center (NHRC) with the Florida Department of Revenue.
In Florida, employers must submit new hire reports within 20 days after an employee is hired, rehired, or returns to work. If you have multiple new hires in a month and are submitting electronic files, these files must be submitted in two monthly transmissions, not more than sixteen days apart. In general, any employee that fills a W-4 should be reported. To be specific, employers must report the following types of new hires:
The Florida New Hire Reporting Center offers several options that make it easy for employers to report new hires. The options available are:
Register with the Florida Child Support Services for Employers and follow the instruction on their website to report new hires online, or:
Learn more about detailed instructions and electronic data transmission methods for creating electronic new hire reports.
If you are unable to export new hire information in electronic format, you can create a printed list containing your new hire data. The printed list should contain all the required information on the new hire reporting form and have the employer's name, Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN), and address clearly displayed at the top of the report.
You may download, print, fill out, and fax or mail us a new hire reporting form, W-4 Form. If you submit a W-4 form as a new hire report, please ensure that each W-4 is easily readable and has the employer's name, Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN), and address written at the top of each form.
Mail reports to:
Florida New Hire Reporting Center
P.O. Box 6500
Tallahassee, FL 32314-6500
Fax reports to:
(850) 656-0528
Toll-free: (888) 854-4762
Payroll Service
If you use a payroll or accounting service, consider asking the service provider to report your new hires. Leading payroll services report new hires electronically for thousands of employers.
Per Federal legislation, the State of Florida requires the following information to be reported:
Employers do not have to provide paid time off in Florida under state or federal law unless the employee was granted that right in a contract or employment policy. If employees are entitled to paid time off, failure to pay them as indicated in the contract or policy will constitute a breach of contract.
Employers can develop vacation leave policies that work best for their business and employees. Many employers offer paid time off to attract and retain quality employees and ensure that workers can take leave when needed.
Even if an employee gets PTO, no Florida state law requires private employers to pay out accrued paid time off when an employee leaves the job unless there is a contract or policy to the contrary. However, 24 states across the country have PTO laws that require the payment of accrued paid time off upon termination, which means there is a chance it may change for Florida in the future. Employers in Florida are also free to institute a "Use-It-or-Lose-It" policy, implying that PTO time can be forfeited if not used within a certain period of time.
Like in every state, employers in Florida are required to provide certain types of leave under federal, state, and local laws. For example, under the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), Florida employers with 50 or more employees are required to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for certain family and medical reasons, such as the birth or adoption of a child, or the care of a family member with a severe medical condition.
According to the Family and Medical Leave Act, all employees in the US are entitled to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave for certain family and medical reasons, such as serious injury or illness, to care for ailing family members, to prepare for a family member's military service, or to care for newborns or newly adopted children.
Employees are eligible for FMLA-related leave if:
Employees who use FMLA leave are entitled to continue their health insurance while on leave, as well as are entitled for reinstatement upon return.
In addition to the federal FMLA and the leave provided by your employer's discretionary policies on vacation time, sick leave, personal days, or paid time off (PTO), you may have a legal right to take time off work for specific reasons under federal and Florida laws.
In Florida, employers with at least 50 workers must allow eligible employees to take three days in a 12-month period as victims of domestic or sexual violence. Employees are also eligible for leave if a family member is a victim of domestic or sexual violence. Job protection requirements apply.
An employer must provide leave for a variety of activities connected with domestic violence issues:
An employee must have worked for the employer for three months or longer to be eligible for this leave, and this time off may be paid or unpaid at the employer's discretion. Employers must keep confidential and exempt from disclosure of all the information related to leave for domestic violence. Under this law, employees must provide advance notice of the need for leave unless prevented because of the danger to the health and safety of the employee or a family member.
According to the federal Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA), private employers must provide military leave to employees who have been called to active duty or are a reserve component of the Armed Forces.
In addition to USERRA, Florida law provides additional protections to Florida employees who are members of the U.S. armed forces, the National Guard, reserves, commissioned corps of the public health service, and any other category of a person called by the president in a time of war or emergency.
Employees who are not covered by COBRA (The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act) and whose employment is terminated while on active duty are entitled to a new 18-month benefit period starting when active duty or their employment ends, whichever comes later.
After serving in the National Guard, the employee has the right to return to work with the same seniority, rights, and benefits as if they had not taken military leave. The employer may not fire the employee without cause for one year.
Employers with 15 or more employees must provide up to 15 days of unpaid leave to Civil Air Patrol members.
Public employees have the right to paid leave for up to 30 days without losing benefits, vacation, leave time, or efficiency rating.
Florida law gives employees the right to take unpaid time off work, without fear of retaliation, for the civic responsibility of serving on a jury. Florida law prohibits any employer from preventing a person from serving as a juror. Employees are provided job protection during their leave and may not be discharged or penalized. As proof of the requirement, employees must give their employer a copy of the jury summons.
While this time off is unpaid, special rules apply to exempt employees. Under federal law, employers typically cannot deduct an exempt, salaried employee's pay for time spent serving on a jury unless the employee did no work for the entire week.
Although most states also have laws that protect an employee's right to take time off work to vote, many of which require paid time off, Florida is not among them. It does, however, prohibit employers from firing or threatening to fire an employee for voting or not voting in an election, for a specific candidate, or a specific ballot measure. Voting leave is unpaid.
Bereavement leave is an employee's leave due to another individual's death, usually a family member.
No federal or Florida law requires an employer to provide employees with paid or unpaid bereavement leave or any time off to attend an immediate family member's funeral. In case an employer decides to provide bereavement leave for employees, they may be required to follow a bereavement policy they have in place.
Neither the state of Florida nor the federal government has laws requiring private employers to provide paid sick leave for their employees. As a result, employers can establish their paid sick leave policies and offer them as a benefit.
There's no state payout policy on Florida sick leave laws. Private companies may offer it as additional compensation; however, some state employees can use sick leave for:
Employees can use sick leave to treat illness, injury, or care for family members, and Florida employers may request a doctor's note for absences lasting longer than three days within 30 days. After ten days, the employee must seek medical verification.
Child labor laws on Florida and federal levels exist to prevent the exploitation of minors for labor and ensure that education is prioritized over work. Limitations on child labor vary by age and may include restrictions on the types of work that can be done, maximum hours that may be worked, and limitations on late or overnight work.
While some states require working minors to provide their employers with an age certification document, this is not required for minors who wish to work in Florida, where employment or age certificates are not required to hire minors. However, any minor's employers must obtain and record proof of the child's age. An age certificate issued by the district school board is one method of meeting the proof of age requirement.
Minors authorized to work in Florida are subject to restrictions on when they can work and how many hours they can work. The exact restrictions in effect depend on the age of the minor:
Minors Under 16: 8 hours of work per day, 40 per week, up to 6 days per week are permitted when school is out.
During a school day, only 3 hours are permitted when followed by another school day, except if enrolled in a vocational program. Up to 15 hours can be worked in a school week.
Minors Ages 16 and 17: 8 hours of work per day, 30 hours per week, up to 6 days per week are permitted during the school year.
Minors Under 16: Work is prohibited during these hours: 7 p.m. before the school day to 7 a.m. on a school day (9 p.m. during holidays and summer vacations to 7 a.m.)
Minors Ages 16 and 17: Work is prohibited during these hours: 11 p.m. to 6:30 a.m., before the school day.
Below is a list of relevant forms for the state of Florida. For a comprehensive list, click here. For information on filing W-2 and 1099 forms, click here.
2023 Forms – Florida |
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Form Name |
Description |
Additional Info |
Florida Business Tax Application |
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Registering Your Business |
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Application for Registered Businesses to Add a New Florida Location |
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Discretionary Sales Surtax Information for Calendar Year 2023 |
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Florida new hire reporting form |
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Florida Department of Revenue Employer’s Quarterly Report |
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Employer’s Quarterly Report Instructions |
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Below is a list of the most common requested federal payroll tax forms. For a comprehensive list, click here.
2022 Withholding (Payroll) Tax Forms – Federal |
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Form Name |
Description |
Additional Info |
Employee's Withholding Certificate |
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Estimated Tax for Individuals |
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Employer's Quarterly Federal Tax Return |
Instructions | |
Application for Employer Identification Number (EIN) |
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Request for Taxpayer Identification Number (TIN) and Certification |
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Wage and Tax Statement |
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Application for IRS Individual Taxpayer Identification Number |
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Request for Transcript of Tax Return |
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Installment Agreement Request |
Instructions |
Wages must be reported each calendar quarter. Electronic filing of wage data saves time and paperwork for most employers. An Employer's Quarterly Report (Form RT-6) is due the 1st day of the month following the end of each calendar quarter and is late if not postmarked by the last day of the month. However, if the last day of the month is a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the timely filing period is extended until the end of the next working day.
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IL UI Filing & Payment Due Dates |
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Quarter |
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Due Date |
Q1 (January-March) |
January-March |
April 30 |
Q2 (April-June) |
April-June |
July 31 |
Q3 (July-September) |
July-September |
October 31 |
Q4 (October-December) |
October-December |
January 31 |