Alachua County, FL Hotels & Lodging: Transient Occupancy Tax (2026)
Key Facts
- Total tax rate
- 5% (2% + 1% + 1% + 1%)
- Applies to
- stays of six months or less
- Collected by
- Alachua County Tax Collector
- Due / delinquent
- due 1st, delinquent 21st of month
- Late penalty
- 10% per 30 days, capped at 50%
- Records retention
- 3 years, open to inspection
- Admin fee retained
- up to 3% of collections
Summary
Alachua County levies a 5% tourist development tax, stacked as 2%, 1%, 1% and 1% increments, on rentals of six months or less in any hotel, motel, apartment hotel, roominghouse, tourist camp, trailer camp or condominium. The Alachua County Tax Collector administers collection, remittance and enforcement countywide.
(a)There is hereby levied, imposed, and set a tourist development tax throughout Alachua 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, tourist camp, trailer camp or condominium for a term of six months or less... (m)The taxes imposed by this Section shall become County funds at the moment of collection and shall for each month be due to the Alachua County Tax Collector on the first day and is delinquent on the 21st day of the month following, unless otherwise provided for by Subsection (f).
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 63).
Full Breakdown
01 builds the tax in four layers: a base 2% under subsection (a); an additional 1% added by Ordinance No. 92-43 effective the first day of the second month after adoption; and two further 1% increments, both effective May 1, 2010, under Ordinance No. 10-06 and 10-07, a combined 5% on the total rental charged for any hotel, apartment hotel, motel, resort motel, apartment, apartment motel, roominghouse, tourist camp, trailer camp or condominium let for a term of six months or less. ch. 212. 00, and may retain up to 3% of total collections for administrative costs.
Tax due each month is payable on the 1st and delinquent on the 21st. Net proceeds are remitted monthly to the Alachua County Clerk of the Circuit Court for deposit into the Alachua County Tourist Development Trust Fund, and interest earned is remitted quarterly to the same fund. Dealers must keep complete rental and gross-receipts records for three years, open to Tax Collector inspection in the county even if the records are physically kept elsewhere in Florida. The Tax Collector must give a dealer 30 days' written notice before an audit begins, except for taxpayer-requested emergency audits.
Violations & Fines
Late filing or nonpayment draws a 10% penalty per 30-day period the failure continues, capped at 50% of the unpaid tax, with a $10 minimum penalty for late returns under F.S. § 212.11(1)(b) or $5.00 under § 212.11(1)(c)/(d). A dealer who fails or refuses to collect the tax is personally liable for it and guilty of a first-degree misdemeanor under F.S. §§ 775.082 and 775.083, as is anyone who advertises that they will absorb or refund the tax. The unpaid tax becomes a lien on the lessee's, customer's or tenant's property, and the county may seek a mandatory injunction in circuit court to compel a dealer's records for inspection.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Sources & Official References
Other rules in Alachua County
Florida rules heatmap·Compare Alachua County to another location·View the Florida hotels & lodging overview
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