Requirements & Allowance
Tourist Development Tax Requirements For Polk County
The Polk County Board of County Commissioners has adopted a Tourist Development
Tax on each transient accommodation in Polk County. The Tourist Development Tax
is administered by the Tax Collector's Office.
Transient accommodations are living quarters or other accommodations in any hotel;
apartment hotel; motel; resort motel; apartment motel; rooming house; mobile home
park; recreational vehicle park; including site, rental house, or condominium, that
is rented for a period of six months or less.
The Tourist Development Tax rate is set at 5%. It is an add-on tax, like the state
sales tax, and is collected from the tenant at the time rent or accommodation charges
are collected.
The owners of the listed properties, as well as applicable property managers or
operators of such facilities, are responsible for collecting the tax from their
tenants and remitting said tax to the Polk County Tax Collector.
Tourist Development Taxes are remitted monthly, with payments due on the first of
the month following collection from tenants, and are considered delinquent if not
paid by the 20th of the month.
Rentals that generate less than $100 in Tourist Development taxes quarterly may
remit those taxes on a quarterly basis.
An application for a Tourist Development Tax Account may be obtained online from
the Tax Collector's Office.
Click here to access the application.
Related Requirements
Those seeking to rent or lease transient accommodations should also comply with
the following requirements:
Status Change Affidavit Form
The Status Change Affidavit Form is to be used by active Tourist Development Tax
accounts holders who are requesting changes to their account status.
To access the Status Change Affidavit Form, click here (in PDF)... |Get Adobe Reader|
Collection Allowance
Owners of rental properties receive a collection allowance as compensation for the
timely collection and remittance of Tourist Development Taxes.
The collection allowance is 2.5% of the first $1,200 collected per scheduled remittance
return to a maximum of $30 (providing the tax return is remitted on time).
Distributions
Tourist Development Tax dollars are distributed by the Tax Collector's Office
to the Polk County Board of County Commissioners for its Tourist Development Trust
Fund.
These tax dollars are used to advertise and promote tourism in Polk County, fund
special art and cultural events, sporting events, and capital improvements.
The Polk County Board of County Commissioners is required to appoint a nine member
advisory council. This council, the Polk County Tourist Development Council, makes
recommendations to the Board on the effective use of revenues as well as monitors
revenue expenditures by the Board.
For more information about tourist development in Polk County contact the Central Florida Visitors Convention Bureau and/or Polk County Sports Marketing.