Florida · Short-Term Rental Accounting
Florida hosts and rental managers are paid by platforms, net of fees and sometimes of tax, while the state and the county each expect their share of every stay. We reconcile each Airbnb, Vrbo and direct-booking payout back to the gross rent, split the taxes the way they are owed, and keep a ledger for every property and every owner, by your TechBrot team, with every close reviewed by a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor.
Florida rule: section 212.03, Florida Statutes, taxes transient rentals at 6 percent of the total rental charged, added to the guest’s rent and due when the rent is received; in QuickBooks each booking splits into rent, state tax, county surtax and tourist development tax. Source: s. 212.03, Florida Statutes.
Bookkeeping & advisory · Fixed-fee · written scope in 3 days
They took something that felt overwhelming to me as a first-year business owner and made it simple.
What stood out the most was TechBrot Inc’s attention to detail.
Intuit QuickBooks Certification Level 2 and QuickBooks Workforce Certification, held by TechBrot’s senior reviewer (verification on request) · TechBrot, Inc. · Delaware corporation · est. 2023
Florida short-term rental accounting from TechBrot traces each Airbnb, Vrbo and direct-booking payout back to gross rent, then splits the taxes as owed: 6% state transient rental tax and county surtax to the Department, and the county’s tourist development tax, often paid to the county. Every property gets its own profit and loss; managers get owner ledgers.
A booked calendar can still hide a tax liability and a property that loses money. These are the three gaps we close first.
A platform deposit is rent minus the service fee, plus cleaning and guest fees, sometimes minus tax the platform collected, and often covers several stays. Booked as one income line, rent is understated, fees vanish, and the taxable total no longer matches the bookings.
The 6 percent state tax and the county surtax go to the Department of Revenue; in many counties the tourist development tax goes to the county. Posted to one liability account, no balance matches any return.
A manager collecting rent for owners carries the statute’s collection and record-keeping duties. Without a ledger per owner and per property, owner statements, management fees and the tax remitted for each owner cannot be shown.
Scoped to your properties, platforms and owners, in your own QuickBooks file, by your TechBrot team, with every close reviewed by a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor.
Each Airbnb, Vrbo, Booking.com and direct-booking payout traced to its stays: gross rent, cleaning and guest fees, service fees and platform-collected tax, matched to the bank deposit.
Florida bookkeeping services →The 6 percent state transient rental tax and the county discretionary sales surtax tracked as their own liability, figured on the total rental charged, ready for the Department of Revenue return.
Florida sales tax help →The county’s tourist development tax and any other local option tax tracked in a separate account per county, whether the county or the Department collects it.
Florida sales tax help →Rent, fees, cleaning, supplies, utilities, management and platform costs assigned to each property, so every unit carries its own monthly P&L.
Florida monthly bookkeeping →A ledger for each owner and property, management fees posted, rent and tax collected on the owner’s behalf shown, and owner statements that tie to the bank.
Property management accounting →Months of payouts booked as rent rebuilt stay by stay, the tax accounts restated, and the books brought to a balance that ties before the next return.
Florida cleanup & catch-up →We work from the reports your platforms and channel manager already produce: payout files, earnings reports and reservation exports, mapped into QuickBooks the same way every month.
Every Florida short-term rental engagement runs in the same order: platforms mapped first, the taxes separated second, then a monthly close by property.
A QuickBooks ProAdvisor reviews how your payouts are recorded and how the state, surtax and county taxes are tracked — at no cost.
A written scope and fixed fee within 3 business days: cleanup, setup or monthly.
Properties and owners set up as classes, payouts traced to stays, the three tax accounts separated by county.
A monthly close with a P&L for each property, owner statements for managers, and tax figures by county.
Once every payout ties to its stays and each tax sits in its own account, the questions turn to the portfolio: which property earns after cleaning and management, whether a nightly rate still covers the slow months, and when to add a unit or let one go.
That is where fractional-CFO advisory picks up, on cleaned-up books, coordinated with your CPA, who decides how the rental income is reported.
Checked against section 212.03, Florida Statutes and the Florida Department of Revenue’s local option tax page.https://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0200-0299/0212/Sections/0212.03.html" rel="noopener nofollow">section 212.03, Florida Statutes and the Florida Department of Revenue’s local option tax page. County rates and administration vary; confirm yours with the county and your CPA. TechBrot keeps the books and the figures and does not represent clients before the Department or a county. TechBrot does not prepare or file tax returns; we work with your CPA or EA, or introduce you to one.
The state page: services, industries, cities and the Florida tax terms in one place.
The national engagement this page is the Florida version of — same scope, same written fixed fee.
Also in Florida: Bookkeeping services · Monthly bookkeeping.
Florida cities: Fort Myers · West Palm Beach · Tampa — served remotely, in your own QuickBooks file.
Not sure where your file stands? Start with the free QuickBooks file review · how Florida compares: state-by-state tax quirks.
Florida hosts and managers start here
Call us, or book a call time, and tell us where the books stand; we recommend the engagement that fits.
If we miss you, we return your call within one business day. Written fixed-fee scope within 3 business days. No hourly billing.