St. Lucie County Vacation Rental Compliance: DBPR, 5% Tourist Tax, Fort Pierce Registration

Key takeaways

St. Lucie County's tourist development tax is 5 percent on stays of six months or less, collected by the County Tax Collector and filed through TouristExpress.
The Tax Collector states plainly that Airbnb and Vrbo do not remit this tax on your behalf in St. Lucie County — registration and filing are the owner's responsibility.
Sales tax is 6 percent state plus a 1 percent county discretionary surtax, remitted separately to the Florida Department of Revenue.
Fort Pierce has its own registration program under Chapter 22, Article X of its code, with per-unit fees and active third-party enforcement.
Port St. Lucie does not publish a dedicated STR permit program, but a city business tax receipt is required to conduct business in the city.

St. Lucie County covers the Treasure Coast between Indian River and Martin counties: Fort Pierce, Port St. Lucie, the small incorporated Village of St. Lucie, and unincorporated areas including Hutchinson Island. Requirements differ meaningfully across those lines, and the boundary that matters is your parcel's jurisdiction — not your mailing address.

Educational information only, current as of September 8, 2026. This is not legal, tax, or accounting advice. County and city rates, fees, and ordinances change; verify each item with the agency named before relying on it. Florida Host Desk provides administrative compliance support and does not submit applications, registrations, or tax returns on your behalf.

The four layers that apply

Layer	Requirement	Agency
State licensing	Vacation rental license for transient rental of a dwelling	Florida DBPR, Division of Hotels and Restaurants
State tax	Sales and use tax plus 1% county discretionary surtax on transient rentals	Florida Department of Revenue
County tax	5% tourist development tax on stays of six months or less	St. Lucie County Tax Collector
Local	City registration where required, business tax receipt, zoning and code compliance	City of Fort Pierce, City of Port St. Lucie, Town of St. Lucie Village, or St. Lucie County

All four operate independently. Holding a DBPR license does not register you for tourist tax, and a tourist tax account does not satisfy a city registration.

State: DBPR vacation rental license

A dwelling rented to transient guests generally requires a vacation rental license from the Department of Business and Professional Regulation. Licenses are issued by unit type — single, group, or collective — and the classification affects both fees and inspection expectations.

Our DBPR vacation rental license guide walks through the application, and the license lookup guide shows how to verify a license on an existing property before you buy.

State sales tax and the county surtax

Transient rentals in Florida are subject to state sales tax, and counties may add a discretionary sales surtax. Per the Department of Revenue's published surtax table, St. Lucie County's discretionary sales surtax is 1 percent, producing a combined 7 percent rate. The St. Lucie County Tax Collector's own tourist development page likewise refers to Florida sales tax of 7 percent in St. Lucie County.

Sales tax and surtax are registered and remitted through the Florida Department of Revenue — not the Tax Collector. Most owners register on Form DR-1 and then file electronically. Rates are set by calendar year, so confirm the current figure on the Department's DR-15DSS surtax table before pricing a season.

County: the 5% tourist development tax

The St. Lucie County Tax Collector administers collection, administration, and enforcement of the county's tourist development tax.

Item	St. Lucie County
Rate	5% of the gross rental amount
Applies to	Living, sleeping, or housekeeping accommodations rented for six months or less
Who remits	Owners, rental agents, or brokers who collect the tax from guests
Registration	Online application with the Tax Collector; a Florida Department of Revenue sales tax identification number is generally obtained first
Filing platform	TouristExpress
Due date	Due the 1st of the month following collection; delinquent after the 20th
Collection allowance	2.5% of tax due, maximum $30, for online payments made by the 20th
Long-stay exemption	Rentals over six months require a bona fide written lease; a copy must be submitted to the Tourist Development Tax Department
Seasonal properties	A Temporarily Inactive Form removes the need to file zero returns while on file

The Tax Collector's Tourist Development Tax Department can be reached at touristtax@tcslc.com or 772-462-1650, with mail directed to P.O. Box 308, Ft. Pierce, FL 34954-0308.

Why "Airbnb handles my taxes" fails in St. Lucie County

Platform tax collection in Florida is uneven. A platform may collect and remit state sales tax while collecting nothing for a county that administers its own tourist tax — and St. Lucie County administers its own.

The Tax Collector states it directly on its tourist development page: if you rent through online rental services such as Airbnb or Vrbo, they do not pay the tax on your behalf, and it remains your responsibility.

Practically, that means you register with the Tax Collector, collect 5 percent from guests (or absorb it out of your payout), and file monthly through TouristExpress. Our guide on what Airbnb actually collects in Florida explains how to read your payout reports so you know what has and has not been remitted, and how to file county tourist development tax covers the mechanics.

Unincorporated St. Lucie County

Properties outside the three municipalities — including much of Hutchinson Island and the areas west of Port St. Lucie — fall under county jurisdiction. St. Lucie County does not publish a dedicated citywide-style short-term rental permit program comparable to Fort Pierce's.

That does not make the property unregulated. The following still apply:

DBPR vacation rental licensing
Florida sales tax plus the 1 percent county surtax
The county's 5 percent tourist development tax
A county local business tax receipt under the county's Local Business Tax ordinance, administered by the Tax Collector
Land development regulations, zoning district provisions, parking, septic capacity, and coastal construction requirements for the specific parcel

Verify parcel-specific zoning and any supplemental use standards with St. Lucie County Planning and Development Services before assuming there is no local layer. A private HOA or condominium declaration can also impose minimum-stay rules that no government agency will tell you about.

Fort Pierce: the county's strictest program

In 2021 the Fort Pierce City Commission adopted Chapter 22, Article X of the Code of Ordinances, establishing standards, regulations, and enforcement for short-term and vacation rentals within the city. The adopting ordinance was 21-019, adopted July 19, 2021 and effective August 3, 2021; Ordinance 21-020 eliminated the prior conditional-use zoning process for dwelling rentals. The article was later amended, including by Ordinance 23-051 in September 2023.

Registration and fees

All short-term and vacation rentals of less than six months are required to register with the city. According to the City of Fort Pierce's official short-term rental page, registration and renewal fees were modified effective July 1, 2023 by Resolution 23-R39:

Fee	Amount	Notes
Initial registration	$350.00 per unit	Per the city's published fee schedule under Resolution 23-R39
Annual renewal	$200.00 per unit	Available only where a valid registration was held for the preceding twelve months
Business tax receipt	Not required for vacation rentals of less than 30 days effective July 1, 2024	Per the city's official page

Registration and renewals are submitted through the city's online self-service permitting portal. Questions go to the City Clerk's office. Because fee resolutions are updated periodically, confirm the current amount before you pay.

Enforcement

Fort Pierce contracts with Host Compliance/Granicus to identify unregistered short-term rental units, and operates a 24-hour complaint hotline and an online complaint portal. The city has publicly stated it is increasing enforcement to identify unregistered STRs. Owners who receive a notice should respond promptly — see what to do after a code violation notice.

The city also publishes helpful forms, including a parking calculation worksheet, an occupancy calculation worksheet, and a good-neighbor brochure. Read the ordinance itself — parking and occupancy math, not the fee, is what most applications get wrong.

Port St. Lucie

Port St. Lucie is the county's largest city, and it does not publish a dedicated short-term rental registration program of the Fort Pierce type. What it does require is a business tax receipt: section 111.15 of the city code requires all businesses within the city to obtain one before commencing business, under the authority of Chapter 205, Florida Statutes.

Beyond that, general provisions still apply — zoning district uses, occupancy limits based on floor area, parking, noise, and code compliance. Some online aggregators publish specific Port St. Lucie STR registration requirements such as insurance minimums and responsible-party rules; we could not verify those against a primary city ordinance, and the city's own materials describe no dedicated STR permit. Treat the city's own published requirements as controlling and call the city before relying on a third-party summary.

St. Lucie Village

The small Town of St. Lucie Village, north of Fort Pierce along the Indian River, adopted its own vacation rental regulations. Ordinance 2023-3 adopted vacation rental regulations and a registration requirement with an initial registration fee, with future fee changes to be set by resolution; the attached regulations define a vacation rental by reference to rental periods of less than 30 days. The Village's published ordinance index also shows a later ordinance addressing an annual renewal fee for vacation rentals.

The Village is small, and its requirements are published on its own site rather than in a large municipal code platform. Contact Village staff directly and confirm the current registration form, fee, and renewal cycle. Do not assume county-level answers apply inside Village limits.

Penalties and deadlines that matter

Obligation	Deadline	Consequence of missing it
County tourist development tax return	Due the 1st, delinquent after the 20th of the following month	Loss of the 2.5% collection allowance; 10% penalty on total tax collected for each 30 days or fraction, up to 50%, and never less than $50; interest at a state-set semi-annual rate
Temporarily Inactive Form	On file before a period with no rentals	A $50 penalty applies for failure to file the form where required
Florida sales tax return	Per the Department of Revenue's filing frequency assigned to your account	State penalty and interest
DBPR license renewal	Per the license's renewal cycle	Operating on an expired license
City registration or renewal (Fort Pierce, St. Lucie Village)	Per the ordinance and fee resolution	Code enforcement action and loss of the renewal fee rate in Fort Pierce

The county also notes that fraud is prosecuted under section 125.0104, Florida Statutes, the statute that authorizes the tourist development tax.

St. Lucie County compliance checklist

Confirm the jurisdiction of your parcel — unincorporated county, Fort Pierce, Port St. Lucie, or St. Lucie Village. This determines everything local.
Obtain or verify the DBPR vacation rental license for the property.
Register with the Florida Department of Revenue for sales and use tax; confirm the current 1 percent county surtax on the DR-15DSS.
Register for the county's 5 percent tourist development tax with the St. Lucie County Tax Collector and set up TouristExpress.
Set a monthly reminder for the 20th, and use TouristExpress online payment to keep the 2.5 percent collection allowance.
File a Temporarily Inactive Form if the property will be offline for a stretch, rather than skipping returns.
If the property is in Fort Pierce, register with the City Clerk and complete the parking and occupancy worksheets accurately.
If the property is in St. Lucie Village, contact Village staff for the current registration form and fee.
If the property is in Port St. Lucie, obtain a city business tax receipt and confirm zoning treatment in writing.
Obtain a county or city local business tax receipt where applicable.
Keep written leases for any stay over six months and submit copies to the Tourist Development Tax Department for the exemption.
Review the operating side with our Florida STR compliance checklist and, if you rent remotely, the out-of-state owner guide.

Frequently asked questions

What is the tourist development tax rate in St. Lucie County?

5 percent of the gross rental amount on living, sleeping, or housekeeping accommodations rented for six months or less. It is administered by the St. Lucie County Tax Collector and is in addition to state sales tax.

Does Airbnb pay St. Lucie County tourist development tax for me?

No. The St. Lucie County Tax Collector's own tourist development page states that if you rent through online rental services such as Airbnb or Vrbo, they do not pay the tax on your behalf and it remains your responsibility. You must register with the Tax Collector and file returns yourself.

What is the total tax on a short-term stay in St. Lucie County?

Roughly 12 percent: 6 percent Florida state sales tax plus a 1 percent St. Lucie County discretionary sales surtax (7 percent combined, remitted to the Florida Department of Revenue), plus the 5 percent county tourist development tax remitted to the St. Lucie County Tax Collector. Confirm current rates before you set pricing.

When are tourist development tax returns due?

Tax is due on the 1st of the month following the month of collection and is delinquent if not postmarked by the 20th. TouristExpress filers who pay online by the 20th receive a 2.5 percent collection allowance capped at $30. A Temporarily Inactive Form can be filed for seasonal properties so that zero returns are not required.

Does Fort Pierce require a separate registration?

Yes. Fort Pierce adopted Chapter 22, Article X of its Code of Ordinances in 2021 (Ordinance 21-019), establishing standards and registration for short-term and vacation rentals within the city. Registration and renewal are handled through the City Clerk and the city's online permitting portal.

What does Fort Pierce registration cost?

The City of Fort Pierce's official short-term rental page states that registration and renewal fees were modified effective July 1, 2023, via Resolution 23-R39: an initial registration fee of $350.00 per unit and a renewal fee of $200.00 annually per unit, with the renewal rate available only where a valid registration was held for the preceding twelve months. Confirm current amounts with the City Clerk before applying.

Does Port St. Lucie have a short-term rental ordinance?

The city does not publish a dedicated short-term rental permit program. Section 111.15 of the city code requires a business tax receipt before commencing business in the city, and general zoning and occupancy provisions still apply. Because city codes change, confirm current requirements directly with Port St. Lucie before listing.

Do I need a written lease to be exempt from the tourist tax on a long stay?

The Tax Collector's guidance states that rentals of more than six months require a bona fide written lease to be exempt, and that a copy of the lease must be submitted to the Tourist Development Tax Department. Keep the lease with your records.

Is there a St. Lucie County registration separate from the tax account?

The county's short-term rental obligations center on the DBPR license, the tourist development tax account with the Tax Collector, and a local business tax receipt where applicable. Verify with St. Lucie County Planning and Development Services whether any land development regulation applies to your specific parcel.

St. Lucie County Vacation Rental Compliance Guide