Columbia County, FL Hotels & Lodging: Transient Occupancy Tax (2026)
Key Facts
- Base rate
- 2% (Sec. 106-261)
- Combined rate
- 5% (Sec. 106-264)
- Applies to
- rentals of 6 months or less
- Collected by
- the lodging operator
- Remitted to
- Florida Dept. of Revenue
- Failure to collect
- 2nd-degree misdemeanor (Sec. 106-263)
- 5% rate effective
- April 1, 2010
Summary
Columbia County imposes a tourist development tax on every hotel, motel, apartment motel, roominghouse, RV park, and condominium rental of six months or less anywhere in the county, including unincorporated Columbia County. Sec. 106-261 sets a base 2 percent rate; a later ordinance adds a further percentage point, bringing the combined countywide rate to 5 percent. Lodging operators collect the tax from guests and remit it to the Florida Department of Revenue.
(a)Imposed. There is hereby levied and imposed and set a tourist development tax throughout the county at a rate of two percent of each whole and major fraction of each dollar of the total rental charged every person who rents, leases or lets for consideration any living quarters or accommodations in any hotel, apartment hotel, motel, resort motel, apartment, apartment motel, roominghouse, mobile home park, recreational vehicle park, or condominium for a term of six months or less. ... There is hereby levied and imposed an additional one percent tourist development tax countywide for a total rate of five percent per dollar.
Full Breakdown
The tax is levied under Sec. 106-261 of the Columbia County Code, part of Article V, Tourist Development Tax, adopted by Ordinance No. 84R-1. The base rate is 2 percent of the total rental charged for any living quarters or accommodations rented for six months or less, and the person receiving the consideration for the rental, not the county, must charge and collect it at the time of payment. Ordinance No. 2009-16 later added an additional 1 percent countywide, and Sec. 106-264 confirms the combined rate reaches 5 percent per dollar; that increase took effect April 1, 2010, per Sec.
106-266. The operator remits the tax to the Florida Department of Revenue under the same procedures Florida dealers use for sales tax collections under F.S. ch. 212, including quarterly returns when the prior quarter's tax did not exceed $25. The department pays collections, minus administration costs, to the county monthly for deposit in the county tourist development trust fund. Under the Columbia County Tourist Development Plan, revenue funds facilities such as the Southside Recreation Complex and the Welcome Center/Hall of Fame Complex, plus statewide and national tourism advertising.
A nine-member Tourist Development Council, chaired by the chair of the Board of County Commissioners, reviews expenditures and reports any it believes unauthorized back to the board.
Violations & Fines
A lodging operator who fails or refuses to charge and collect the tax commits a second-degree misdemeanor under Sec. 106-263(d), punishable under Sec. 1-10, and remains personally liable for the unpaid tax on top of that. Advertising that the operator will absorb the tax or waive it for a guest is also a second-degree misdemeanor under Sec. 106-263(e). The tax further constitutes a lien on the lessee's or tenant's property under Sec. 106-263(f), collectible the same way mechanic's liens are collected under F.S. §§ 713.67-.69.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Columbia County's hotel occupancy tax rate?
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What happens if an operator does not collect the tax?
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Sources & Official References
Other rules in Columbia County
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