Anyone collecting rent on living quarters for six months or less in Pinellas County owes the Tourist Development Tax (TDT), commonly called the bed tax, on top of state sales taxes. This covers hotels, motels, vacation rentals, apartments, houses, condos, bed and breakfasts, RV parks, beach houses, timeshares, and permanently docked houseboats.
The rates. Pinellas County's TDT is 6%, levied under FS 125.0104 and collected locally by the county rather than the state (confirmed on the Florida Department of Revenue's DR-15TDT county table). Separately, transient rentals owe 6% state sales tax (FS 212.03) plus the 1% Pinellas discretionary sales surtax, reported to the Department of Revenue on Form DR-15. Total tax on a short stay: 13%. unverified
Registering and filing. Register a tourist development account with the Pinellas County Tax Collector (email [email protected] for an application) and register with the Florida DOR for sales tax. Returns are due even for months with no rental activity (zero returns). Timely online TDT filers receive a collection allowance (2.5%, up to $30 per return, per Tax Collector guidance). unverified
Platforms collect some of it, but verify. For Pinellas bookings, Airbnb has collected and remitted the TDT since December 1, 2015 and HomeAway/Vrbo since October 1, 2018; several smaller platforms also participate. The Tax Collector's warning is blunt: if the agent fails to collect and pay the tax, the owner is held liable. Owners taking direct bookings must collect and remit everything themselves, and even platform-only hosts should confirm which of the three taxes each platform actually remits, since sales tax and TDT go to different agencies.
Exemptions. Guests exempt from state sales tax (for example, certain governmental or long-term arrangements) are exempt from the TDT as well. A bona fide written lease longer than six months makes the stay non-transient and non-taxable.
What the money funds. Florida's tourist development tax statute directs proceeds to tourism promotion, beach renourishment, and tourism-related facilities.
Failure to register is one of the most common compliance mistakes new short-term rental owners make in Pinellas; the TDT account is required even when Airbnb remits on your behalf, because you may owe on off-platform bookings and must keep records subject to audit.