Homestead, FL Filming & Production: Location Permits (2026)

Section 16-40 is the schedule that fixes every local business tax in Homestead, organized by NAICS code. Under NAICS 512110, Motion Picture and Video Production, the schedule prints two separate lines. The ordinary production company classification costs $145.00. A second line, labeled "(film permit)," costs $100.00. The code defines the film permit line by that label alone, so the dollar amount is the only operative term in this section, and it sits in the tax schedule, not in a standalone location-shooting article. Chapter 16 contains no per-shoot application form, no day rate and no filming insurance requirement.

Subsection (b) charges $100.00 to any business or occupation the table does not list, and subsection (c) adds an economic development fee equal to ten percent of each fee in subsection (a), payable annually with the fee itself. The current schedule comes from Ord. No. 2026-03-07, adopted March 18, 2026, so the printed figures are in force today.

The tax receipt rules around the table decide when and how a producer pays. Section 16-17 requires the receipt before the business starts and annually on or before October 1, and § 16-23 makes every receipt expire on the thirtieth day of September, never issued for more than one year. Section 16-26 requires the full tax for each classification when an occupation falls into more than one, so a company that also operates a recording studio pays both lines separately. Section 16-25 ties a receipt to one place of business. Before a receipt issues, § 16-35 requires the building and community development, planning and zoning departments to approve the location for compliance with zoning and other regulatory laws, and § 16-23(b) bars issuance when the applicant or the property owner owes money to a city department, including utility and solid waste bills. An applicant refused on that ground has ten days after notice to appeal to the city council.

Filming on city-owned ground is a separate gate. Section 16-1(a) makes it unlawful to provide a service for compensation, or transact business for profit, on any property or facility owned or operated by the city without a written permit, concession, lease or other authorization approved by the city council or signed by the city manager. The same subsection states that a city local business tax receipt does not authorize those activities on city property.