St. Lucie County tourist development tax

The St. Lucie County tourist development tax is a 5% charge on the rent from living quarters rented for six months or less, collected by the St. Lucie County Tax Collector on top of state sales tax (Tax Collector, Tourist Development).

The Tax Collector lists three other names for it, tourist tax, bed tax and resort tax, and says the charge is in addition to state sales tax, which the same page gives as 7% in St. Lucie County (Tourist Development; Tax Collector Services). Under the page's definition, living quarters cover rentals in an apartment, condominium, house, hotel, mobile home park, motel, recreational vehicle park or rooming house. The Tax Collector's FAQ adds beach houses and cottages, single-family dwellings, rooms in a hotel, trailers and even vacant land used for temporary living quarters (Tax Collector FAQs, resort facilities).

The state's own transient rentals tax works on the same six month line. Florida Statutes 212.03 sets the state levy at 6 percent of the total rental charged for transient living quarters, and treats a person who exclusively enters into a bona fide written agreement for a stay of more than 6 months at such a property as not exercising a taxable privilege (Florida Statutes 212.03). The Tax Collector page gives the sales tax as 7% in St. Lucie County, and the statute gives the state transient rentals levy as 6 percent; each figure is stated as its source prints it.

An owner or property manager renting St. Lucie County living quarters for six months or less registers with the Florida Department of Revenue if required, then opens a tourist tax account with the Tax Collector through TouristExpress (Tax Collector, registering a rental).

1. Get a sales tax identification number from the Florida Department of Revenue when required; the Tax Collector lists the FDOR number for the area as 772-429-2900.
2. Create a TouristExpress account and submit a tourist development tax application through it.
3. Watch for an email with the new tourist tax account number once the St. Lucie County Tax Collector approves the application.
4. File and pay monthly returns online through TouristExpress.

Each step is listed on the Tax Collector's Tourist Development page, which states that the Tax Collector is responsible for the collection, administration and enforcement of the tax (Tourist Development). According to the FAQ, all owners, rental agents or brokers collect the tax from their tenants or guests and send it to the Tax Collector's Fort Pierce office or the Port St. Lucie office, and one rental agent may collect and submit for several properties and act as the main contact (Tax Collector FAQ on who collects). Questions go to TouristTax@tcslc.com or 772-462-1650, and paper filings to the Tourist Development Tax Department, P.O. Box 308, Ft. Pierce, FL 34954-0308 (Tax Collector FAQs).

St. Lucie County tourist tax is due on the 1st of the month after it is collected and becomes delinquent if not postmarked by the 20th, per the Tax Collector FAQ (Tax Collector FAQ on remittance).

The table quotes the St. Lucie County Tax Collector FAQ and Tourist Development page (Tax Collector FAQs; TouristExpress collection allowance). A late return also loses the 2.5% collection allowance, and interest is added at a semi-annual rate set by the state, which the office gives by phone. The FAQ says the Temporarily Inactive Form applies to most seasonal renters; with it on file, no monthly coupon and no $0 coupon is required (Tax Collector FAQs).

Rentals longer than six months under a bona fide written lease are outside the St. Lucie County tourist tax, and Florida law also exempts certain military members, full-time students and migrant labor camps (Exemptions from Tourist Development Tax).

To claim an exemption, the St. Lucie County Tax Collector requires the landlord to keep sales tax exemption certificate v-14 on file (Claiming Exemptions). For a lease of more than six months, a copy of the written lease is sent to the Tax Collector's Tourist Development Tax Department in Ft. Pierce, and the FAQ points to Chapter 1-19.3-1 through 32 of the St. Lucie County code, which adopts Chapters 212 and 213 of the Florida Statutes, and to Rule 12A-1.061 of the Florida Administrative Code (Tax Collector FAQs, written lease).

The student and military exemption on the St. Lucie County list traces to Florida Statutes 212.03, which exempts full-time students enrolled in a postsecondary institution and military personnel on active duty who live in such facilities (F.S. 212.03(7)(a)). The same subsection lets the Department of Revenue decide what counts as acceptable proof of full-time enrollment (F.S. 212.03(7)).

Florida Statutes 125.0104 lets a county such as St. Lucie County levy the tax by voter-approved ordinance and spend it only on listed tourism, venue and beach purposes (Florida Statutes 125.0104).

The statute builds the rate that a county such as St. Lucie County may charge in layers. A county sets a base of 1 or 2 percent under paragraph (3)(c); it may add 1 percent under (3)(d) by referendum after the base has been in place at least 3 years; and further 1 percent levies under (3)(l) and (3)(n) can pay debt on professional sports or retained spring training franchise facilities, with another 1 percent under (3)(m) reserved for high tourism impact counties (F.S. 125.0104(3)).

Authorized uses under subsection (5) include building, operating or promoting publicly owned convention centers, sports stadiums, arenas and auditoriums; promoting tourism; funding convention and tourist bureaus; and financing beach park facilities and beach, channel, estuary or lagoon improvement, renourishment and erosion control (F.S. 125.0104(5)). Subsection (10) allows a county to collect and administer the tax locally by ordinance instead of through the Department of Revenue, and the St. Lucie County Tax Collector page states that it is the office responsible for collection (Tourist Development).

The nine member St. Lucie County Tourist Development Council reviews spending from the tourist development trust fund and recommends uses to the Board of County Commissioners (Tourist Development Council).

The council was created by Section 42-167 of the St. Lucie County Code, County Ordinance 83-10. Its seats follow the statute: the chair of the Board of County Commissioners or another commissioner the chair designates; two elected municipal officials, at least one from the most populous city in the county; and six people involved in the tourist industry, three or four of whom own or operate taxed hotels, motels, recreational vehicle parks or similar lodging (Tourist Development Council, membership; F.S. 125.0104(4)(e)). Members must be county electors, serve staggered 4-year terms and need five present for a quorum, and the council meets on the second Wednesday of every other month.

Under the purpose the county quotes from the statute, the council meets at least once each quarter, receives expenditure reports at least quarterly, and reports any spending it believes unauthorized to the Board of County Commissioners and the Florida Department of Revenue (Tourist Development Council, purpose). Last verified: October 22, 2026, against the St. Lucie County Tax Collector's Tourist Development, Services and FAQ pages, the county Tourist Development Council page and Florida Statutes 125.0104 and 212.03 for this county bed tax guide.