Florida was a holdout. After the Supreme Court's 2018 decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair opened the door for states to require out-of-state sellers to collect sales tax based on economic activity rather than physical presence, most states moved quickly. Florida waited until 2021.
That delay created a window in which many remote sellers either assumed they had no Florida obligation or chose to wait and see. That window closed on July 1, 2021. Since then, remote sellers above Florida's $100,000 threshold have owed tax on every taxable sale made into the state. For businesses that have been growing their Florida customer base without collecting, the exposure is not theoretical. It is calculable and it compounds every quarter.
Florida's threshold is $100,000 in taxable remote sales into the state in the prior calendar year. There is no transaction count trigger. Only the revenue figure applies.
The threshold is measured against the prior year. A business that crossed $100,000 in Florida taxable sales during 2024 had a collection obligation from January 1, 2025, not from the date the threshold was crossed in 2024. This trailing measurement is where many businesses miscalculate their start date.
Economic activity is not the only way nexus is established. Physical presence still creates an independent obligation.
Florida has not enacted click-through nexus legislation. A referral agreement alone, without additional affiliate activities defined in state statute, does not independently trigger nexus.
FBA sellers should pay particular attention to inventory nexus. Owning goods stored in a Florida Amazon warehouse creates a physical presence nexus obligation independently of the economic nexus threshold. A seller below $100,000 in Florida revenue who stores inventory in a Florida fulfillment center still has nexus.
Effective July 1, 2021, registered marketplace facilitators are required to collect and remit Florida sales tax on taxable sales they facilitate for marketplace sellers. If all Florida sales run through a registered facilitator, the platform handles collection on those transactions.
This does not eliminate the nexus analysis entirely. Direct sales made outside the platform still count toward the economic nexus threshold. Inventory stored in a Florida warehouse creates physical nexus regardless of whether the sales are facilitated. Sellers with a mix of marketplace and direct sales need to evaluate both exposure types independently.
Florida uses destination-based sourcing. Remote sellers collect the sales tax rate that applies to the buyer's location in Florida, not the seller's home state or the state where the order originates.
A seller in Texas shipping to a customer in Palm Beach County applies the Palm Beach County combined rate. Applying a flat 6% state rate to all Florida sales understates tax in counties with a discretionary surtax, which is most of them. For remote sellers managing multi-county Florida transactions, accurate address-level rate determination is required for every sale.
Remote sellers who exceeded Florida's threshold without registering have an outstanding obligation. Florida's assessment statute of limitations is generally three to four years, meaning historical exposure from 2021 onward remains within the audit window.
Two resolution paths are available.
A voluntary disclosure agreement (VDA) allows the business to come forward, disclose the unregistered obligation, and negotiate a limited lookback period -- typically three years -- with penalties waived. Interest treatment varies. A VDA produces a defined, negotiated resolution and avoids the penalty exposure that comes with a state-initiated audit.
Retrospective registration without a VDA exposes the full lookback period and carries no penalty relief. It resolves the prospective obligation but leaves historical exposure to the state's discretion.
The direction is consistent: addressing an unregistered Florida obligation before an audit surfaces it produces a better outcome than waiting. Every quarter of inaction adds another quarter of assessable exposure.
Remote sellers above Florida's threshold who have not registered are in a common position. The question is not whether the obligation exists, it is how to resolve it on the best available terms before an audit removes that choice. CereTax helps businesses quantify the exposure, assess the right resolution path, and get into compliance without making the process larger than it needs to be.
👉🏻 Talk to a CereTax Specialist to evaluate your Florida nexus position.
Read next in this series: Florida Annual Resale Certificate Guide
