Sales tax in Florida for med spas
Florida taxes goods and a short list of named services; medical and cosmetic services are not on it, so injectables, laser, microneedling and facials carry no sales tax. Retail does: 6% state plus a county surtax, in 2026 1.5% in Hillsborough and Duval, 1% in Pinellas, Miami-Dade and Broward, 0.5% in Orange, zero in Collier. The surtax follows the county where the item changes hands and stops at the first $5,000 of any single item.
There is no Texas-style Drug Facts exemption. Under Rule 12A-1.020, cosmetics and toilet articles sold to patients are taxable even with medicinal ingredients unless dispensed under a prescription, so medical-grade skincare and sunscreen are taxed. The same rule makes the practice the consumer of its supplies: gloves, masks, instruments and equipment taxable; prescription drugs and single-patient, non-reusable prescription products exempt. A laser bought out of state tax-free owes 6% use tax on the full price plus surtax on $5,000 of it.
Worked example in Tampa at 7.5%: a $600 neuromodulator visit, a $120 vitamin C serum and a $45 sunscreen on one ticket. Tax is $165 × 7.5% = $12.38; ticket total $777.38. Register on the Florida Business Tax Application (DR-1), file Form DR-15 (late after the 20th; monthly above $1,000 of annual tax) and e-file to keep the 2.5% collection allowance, capped at $30. Since October 1, 2025 commercial rent carries no sales tax. More in our med spa sales tax guide.
Who can own a med spa in Florida (clinic licensure and supervision, summarized)
This is a summary, not legal advice. Florida has no statute reserving ownership of a medical practice to physicians; nurse practitioners, RNs, estheticians and investors own Florida med spas, subject to two rules.
The first is the Health Care Clinic Act. An entity that provides health care services and “tenders charges for reimbursement” needs an AHCA clinic license, with a medical director legally responsible in writing, unless exempt. The main exemption, §400.9905(4)(g), covers an entity wholly owned by licensed health care practitioners, or by practitioners plus a spouse, parent, child or sibling, with a licensed owner supervising. A 2019 Senate staff analysis records AHCA’s reading that the Act reaches entities billing third-party payers, so cash-pay med spas have generally sat outside it; the line is contested, and an MSO deal that moves control can cost a practice its exemption.
The second is the fee-splitting rule in §458.331(1)(i): Florida MSO fees are usually flat monthly amounts, not a percentage of collections, and we book the fee exactly as the agreement reads.
On supervision: APRNs work under a written protocol with a supervising physician (§464.012); physician assistants under a physician’s “responsible supervision and control” (§458.347); and the Board of Nursing’s 2023–2024 declaratory statements let the petitioning RNs inject where a physician examined the patient, ordered the treatment and delegated it. Laser hair removal is physician work, or electrologist work under a physician’s direct supervision (Rule 64B8-56.002). Confirm all of it with a health-care attorney licensed in Florida.
State business taxes for a Florida med spa entity
Florida has no personal income tax, so a sole proprietor, partnership or S-corporation med spa files no state income return; profit flows to the owners’ 1040s. The 5.5% corporate income tax applies only to C-corporations and LLCs taxed as one, after a $50,000 exemption, on Form F-1120 due the first day of the fifth month after year end (May 1 for calendar years). An S-corporation files only if it owes federal tax at the entity level. There is no franchise, gross-receipts or minimum tax.
Two wrinkles bite. A C-corporation must add back federal bonus depreciation and recover it one-seventh a year over seven years, so a $90,000 laser expensed federally is spread out on the Florida return; in our practice almost every Florida med spa is an LLC, usually with an S election once profit justifies the payroll, because a C-corporation volunteers for a 5.5% tax its competitors do not pay. And every county levies tangible personal property tax on equipment, furniture and devices: Form DR-405 is due April 1 to the county property appraiser, the first $25,000 of assessed value is exempt once you file an initial return, and never filing costs a 25% penalty.
Payroll in Florida for injectors and front desk
No state income tax means no Florida withholding and no state W-4. Florida’s only state payroll tax is reemployment tax (unemployment insurance), run by the Department of Revenue. Liability starts at $1,500 of quarterly payroll or an employee in 20 weeks of a year; register on the same DR-1. The new-employer rate is 2.7% on the first $7,000 of each employee’s wages, held for ten quarters before experience rating moves you into the 2026 range of 0.1% to 5.4%, so a full-time injector costs $189 a year plus $42 of federal FUTA. Form RT-6 is due each April 30, July 31, October 31 and January 31.
Florida has no paid-leave or disability payroll program and no local payroll taxes, and overtime follows the federal FLSA. Two headcount rules: at four employees, counting owners who are officers or LLC members, you must carry workers’ compensation (owners may exempt themselves); at 25, Florida requires E-Verify, certified on your first RT-6 of the year.
Injectors are W-2 under the IRS common-law test: the practice sets the schedule, protocols, products and prices, and paying a nurse injector on a 1099 to save $189 is a poor trade against back payroll taxes. See how we structure injector pay.
Registrations, filings and deadlines checklist for a Florida med spa
Fees checked on agency sites in October 2026; licensing rows summarize only.
| Item | Where | Fee / due date | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Form the entity (LLC; Chapter 621 PLLC or PA for a practitioner-owned clinical entity) | Sunbiz | LLC or PLLC $125 ($100 + $25 registered agent); profit corporation $70 | Sunbiz fee schedule |
| Annual report, every entity | Sunbiz | May 1; LLC $138.75, corporation $150; $400 late fee | Sunbiz |
| Sales tax and reemployment tax accounts | Florida DOR, Form DR-1 online | No fee shown; DR-15 late after the 20th; RT-6 quarterly | Florida DOR |
| Tangible personal property return | County property appraiser | DR-405 by April 1; $25,000 exemption | Florida DOR |
| Workers’ compensation | Florida CFO, Division of Workers’ Compensation | Four or more employees; owner exemptions available | myfloridacfo.com |
| Health care clinic license or certificate of exemption | AHCA | License unless wholly practitioner-owned or outside the Act; exemption certificate optional, biennial | §400.9905; Rule 59A-33.006 |
| Salon license; facial specialist registration | DBPR Board of Cosmetology | Registration covers facials; injecting and lasers are outside it | DBPR |
The federal side (EIN, Form 2553, medical-director 1099s) is in our opening checklist.
How we work with Florida med spas from Tampa
Florida is home, so the forms are familiar: the county line on the DR-15, Sunbiz’s May 1, the DR-405. Onboarding is remote for most clients: a 20-minute fit call, then read-only access to the bank, processor and POS. We pull Boulevard, Zenoti, Aesthetic Record, Vagaro, Mindbody, Nextech or PatientNow exports into QuickBooks Online, split treatment revenue from taxable retail, and close by the tenth business day. Tampa Bay practices can meet in person when a cleanup or year-end review warrants.
We file the DR-15, RT-6, DR-405, Sunbiz annual report and federal returns for every entity in an MSO structure. You keep the Florida health-care attorney, the AHCA decision, the workers’ comp policy and signing what we prepare. Monthly engagements start at $1,500; see pricing, the med spa service page or request a fit call.
A Florida example
Illustrative only: a single-location Tampa practice (Hillsborough, 7.5%), an S-corporation LLC, $1,500,000 of revenue, six employees.
- Sales tax. Retail is $180,000, all taxable since Florida exempts neither skincare nor sunscreen: $180,000 × 7.5% = $13,500 for the year ($10,800 state, $2,700 Hillsborough surtax). Tax on $1,320,000 of treatments: $0. E-filing on time earns a $30 monthly collection allowance.
- Use tax. A $90,000 laser bought from an out-of-state vendor that charged no tax goes on the DR-15 at $90,000 × 6% = $5,400 plus surtax on the first $5,000 only ($75), $5,475 in all.
- Entity tax. As an S-corporation: no Florida income tax, just the $138.75 annual report by May 1. As a C-corporation with $200,000 of Florida net income: ($200,000 − $50,000) × 5.5% = $8,250.
- Reemployment tax. The first injector, paid $80,000, costs 2.7% × $7,000 = $189 plus $42 of federal FUTA; all six employees, $1,134 of state tax.