Tourist Development Tax in Indian River County — Indian River County, Florida

Anyone who offers accommodations in Indian River County for short term rental, meaning six months or less, must collect the 5% tourist development tax from the guest (Indian River County Clerk).

The Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller states that the property owner or the owner's agent collects the tax and remits it to the Indian River County Clerk of Court (Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller). State law defines the taxable privilege broadly: hotels, motels, apartments, rooming houses, mobile home parks, recreational vehicle parks, condominiums and timeshare resorts rented for a term of 6 months or less all fall within section 125.0104 (Florida Statutes 125.0104). The statute says the tax is charged by the person receiving the rent and collected from the guest at the time of payment.

Compensation other than cash counts. The Indian River County Clerk treats rent taken from friends or relatives, or any other compensation accepted in lieu of rent, as taxable on its amount or fair market value. When a property manager in Vero Beach or Sebastian handles the bookings and fails to pay, the Clerk holds the owner ultimately responsible (Indian River County Clerk).

A state license is a separate step. The Florida Division of Hotels and Restaurants requires a vacation rental license when an entire unit is rented more than three times in a calendar year for periods of less than 30 days or 1 calendar month, whichever is less, and notes that the business may still answer to city or county rules (Florida DBPR), which for owners in Sebastian, Vero Beach or Indian River Shores means checking with that city as well.

City limits do not change the rate. A rental in Sebastian, Vero Beach, any other Indian River County city or town, or outside city limits, falls under the same county levy, because the Clerk applies the 5% to anyone who offers accommodations for short term rental, and Form DR-15TDT lists one county rate with no municipal variation (DR-15TDT).

A short-term stay in Indian River County carries 12% in combined taxes: the county's 5% tourist development tax plus 7% sales tax made up of the 6% state rate and the 1% Indian River County surtax (Clerk, DR-15DSS).

The state piece on a Vero Beach or Sebastian rental comes from section 212.03, which levies a tax equal to 6 percent of the total rental charged for transient accommodations (Florida Statutes 212.03). The Department of Revenue lists the Indian River County discretionary surtax at 1%, in effect since Jun 1, 1989 with an expiration of Dec 31, 2034, on its calendar year 2025 surtax chart (Florida Department of Revenue). The Clerk adds that cleaning fees required to rent the unit are taxable and belong in taxable receipts.

The dollar column is arithmetic on a $1,000 example: 5% of $1,000 is $50, 6% is $60 and 1% is $10, for $120 in total. The rates come from the Indian River County Clerk, section 212.03 and Form DR-15DSS.

The Indian River County rate matches several counties around it. On the Department of Revenue rate chart revised in October 2026, Brevard and St. Lucie also charge 5% collected by the county, Osceola charges 6% collected by the county, and Okeechobee charges 3% collected by the state (Form DR-15TDT).

Owners register with the Indian River County Clerk using its Tourist Tax Registration Form, then file a return with the Tourist Tax Payment Coupon by the 20th of the month after the rent was collected (Indian River County Clerk).

The Clerk's deadline rules are exact. A return must be remitted or postmarked on or before the 20th; when the 20th falls on a weekend or holiday the due date moves to the next working day; and the post office postmark, not a postage meter date, counts as the payment date (Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller). An account that is active all year files a zero return in a month with no rentals. An owner who knows the unit will sit empty can ask the Indian River County Clerk in writing to mark the account inactive for those months.

Late filing costs money. Citing Florida Statute 212.12, the Indian River County Clerk assesses penalties of 10% or $50.00, whichever is greater, with a minimum of $50.00, and charges interest at a market rate reset every six months on January 1 and July 1 from the due date until payment (Indian River County Clerk).

Collectors are compensated and must keep records. Owners or agents may retain 2.5% of the tax they collect as a collection allowance, capped at $30. Guest checks, general ledgers, tax payments and federal income tax returns must be kept for three years and made available for audit, and an owner who sells or stops renting must notify the Indian River County Clerk of Court and the Florida Department of Revenue in writing immediately (Clerk).

Indian River County tourist tax goes to the Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller, whose tax page lists the courthouse at 2000 16th Avenue, Vero Beach, and a Sebastian Office at 1921 U.S. Highway 1 (Indian River County Clerk).

Sales tax does not go to the same place. The Department of Revenue states that for counties not shaded on its chart, Indian River among them, the local transient rental tax is reported and remitted directly to the county, while sales tax and discretionary sales surtax on transient rentals are always reported and remitted to the Department (Form DR-15TDT). An owner in Fellsmere, Vero Beach or Sebastian therefore files one return with the Clerk and a separate sales tax return with the state.

The split traces to state law. Section 125.0104(10) lets a county levying the tax be exempted, by adopting an ordinance, from remitting it through the Department of Revenue first (Florida Statutes 125.0104). The Indian River County Clerk lists Ordinances 87-11 and 90-20 and Resolutions 86-102, 89-9 and 92-57 among the rules that govern the tax locally (Clerk).

The tourist tax is a Clerk function, not a Tax Collector function. The Tax Collector's Main Office at 1800 27th Street, Building B, lists motorist services, driver license, property tax and local business tax among its services (Indian River County Tax Collector), while the Indian River Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller page names the Clerk of Court as the office that receives tourist development tax returns (Clerk). The two offices do share a Sebastian address: the Tax Collector's Sebastian office sits at Sebastian Corners, 1921 U.S. Highway #1, the same street number the Clerk gives for its Sebastian Office on U.S. 1.

Renters with a bona fide written lease of more than six months, no-lease renters who have paid the tax for their first six months at the same location, and holders of a State of Florida Sales Tax Exemption Certificate are exempt (Indian River County Clerk).

The Indian River County Clerk states that a renter without a lease who has paid the tax for the first six months becomes exempt in the seventh month and stays exempt while living at the same location, but no refund is issued for the first six months already paid (Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller).

The state sales tax follows a similar line. Section 212.03 states that a person who enters into a bona fide written agreement for continuous residence longer than 6 months is not exercising a taxable privilege (Florida Statutes 212.03). Timeshares in Indian River County have their own timing: section 125.0104 says the tax on a regulated short-term timeshare product is collected on the last day of occupancy within the county (section 125.0104). Last verified: October 12, 2026, on the tourist development tax page of the Indian River County Clerk website.