Behind on Florida Sales Tax (DR-15)? How to Catch Up

The short answer: File a Form DR-15 for every reporting period you missed, one return per period and oldest first, including periods with no sales. Each late return can carry a penalty of 10% of its tax, at least $50, unless Florida settles it automatically, plus interest on any tax paid late at a floating rate that can change on January 1 and July 1. If the tax was collected from customers and never sent in, take it to a Florida tax attorney; if the business never registered at all, read about voluntary disclosure before you register.

Do you have to file for periods with no sales?

Yes. Once a business holds a Florida sales tax certificate of registration, a return is due for every reporting period on the account, whether or not anything was sold. The Florida Department of Revenue’s instructions add that the $50 minimum penalty still applies to a late return with no tax due.

That’s why a quiet stretch gets expensive. A monthly filer that let a slow year go by without filing can owe up to $600 in penalties on twelve empty returns ($50 each), without a dollar of tax involved. It’s “up to” because Florida settles some penalties on its own, as the next section explains.

What does each late return cost?

One penalty per return: 10% of the tax on that return, with a floor of $50. Filing late and paying late on the same return doesn’t double it; section 212.12(2)(a) of the Florida Statutes allows only one penalty when both happen.

Section 213.21(10) then settles the penalty automatically, with no written request, in these cases:

No other late return or late payment in the previous 12 months, and nothing unresolved from an earlier one (monthly and quarterly filers).
For monthly filers only: one earlier late event in those 12 months, as long as the current return is filed and its tax and interest are paid within 30 days after the Department’s notice, and no earlier late return or payment is left unresolved.

A monthly filer with two or more late events in the previous 12 months owes the penalties, loses the collection allowance and is reported to a credit bureau, unless it shows the late filing was due to extraordinary circumstances: events beyond its control, such as the death of the taxpayer, a natural disaster or a fire. A quarterly filer with any late event in the previous 12 months gets no automatic settlement, and the automatic settlement doesn’t cover semiannual or annual filers.

Read together, these rules mean a business that missed a run of periods can expect to owe the penalty on most of them, because each missed period counts against the ones after it. The settlement covers the penalty only; interest is still owed.

Separately, the Department may settle a penalty when the late filing was due to reasonable cause and not willful neglect (section 213.21(3)). That takes a request from you or an authorized representative, and the decision is the Department’s.

How is the interest rate set?

By formula, twice a year. Section 213.235 ties the rate to the prime rate banks charge large businesses, rounded to the nearest full percent, plus 4 percentage points. The Department recomputes it for the six months ending September 30 and March 31; if the result differs from the current rate, the new rate takes effect on January 1 or July 1.

The rate for July 1, 2026 through December 31, 2026 is 11% a year (Tax Information Publication 26ADM-02). Interest is figured daily on tax paid late, including county surtax, from the day the return became late until the day it’s paid. Each stretch of the late period is charged at the rate in effect for it, so a return that has been late for years is charged at several rates; the TIP lists past rates and daily factors. Filing without paying doesn’t stop the interest; only paying the tax does.

How do you catch up missed DR-15 returns?

List every period the account should have filed. Start from the registration date or the last return you know went in. If you aren’t sure what was filed, the Department sends copies of past returns on request with Form DR-841.
Rebuild the sales for each period. Invoices, point-of-sale reports, merchant and marketplace statements and bank deposits show what came in. Split taxable sales from exempt ones, and keep the resale and exemption paperwork that supports the exempt ones.
Work out the tax at the rates in effect then. That’s the 6% general state rate (a few items, such as electricity, are taxed at other rates) plus the surtax for the county each sale was delivered to (more below).
File one return per period, in order. The Department asks dealers not to skip periods or roll a missed period into a later return, and to use the correct return for each period.
Pay the tax, penalty and interest with each return, or as soon as you can, since interest keeps running on anything unpaid.
Stay on time from here. Returns are due on the 1st and late after the 20th of the month after each period; when the 20th falls on a weekend or holiday, the return has until the next business day. An electronic payment is stricter: it has to be started, and a confirmation number received, by 5 p.m. Eastern on the business day before the 20th. If the business closes, or temporarily suspends operations, notify the Department. It also offers due-date reminder emails.

Which filing schedule applies?

The one assigned to the account, not one you pick on the return. The Department sets it from the sales tax a business collects in a year:

Monthly: more than $1,000
Quarterly: $1,000 or less
Semiannual: $500 or less
Annual: $100 or less

The Department says most new businesses start out filing quarterly. So a January sale is due with the January return (late after February 20) on a monthly account, or with the January–March return (late after April 20) on a quarterly one. If sales have dropped, a business that qualifies can ask the Department to move it to a less frequent schedule.

Where does the county surtax go?

On the same return. Most Florida counties add a discretionary sales surtax, and it’s reported on the DR-15 alongside the state tax: the tax-due column includes it, and line 15(d) shows the surtax total on its own.

The rate follows the county where the item or service was delivered, not where the business sits, so a business that delivers across county lines can owe more than one surtax rate in a single period. The Department publishes the rates each year on Form DR-15DSS, updated every November; for an old period, use the list for that year. On a single sale of tangible goods, only the first $5,000 is subject to surtax; the limit doesn’t apply to services or transient (short-term) rentals.

What if the tax was collected but never sent in?

This is the case that needs legal advice. Under section 212.15, sales tax becomes state money the moment it’s collected. Keeping it with intent to deprive the state is theft of state funds, graded by amount from a misdemeanor up to a first-degree felony, and the amounts can be added together. Separately, section 212.12(2)(c) makes it a felony to willfully skip six consecutive returns to evade the tax.

Whether there was intent is a legal question, so speak with a Florida tax attorney before the returns go in. The missed periods still have to be rebuilt from the records; ask the attorney how, and by whom, that work should be done before it starts.

What if the business never registered?

Then there are no “missed” returns on an account, but the tax on Florida taxable sales is still owed. This is where the Department’s voluntary disclosure program fits:

Who can use it: a business with a liability for any tax the Department administers, including sales tax and surtax, that the Department hasn’t contacted about that liability.
What it offers: once the tax and interest are paid, penalties are waived, except a 5% penalty on tax that was collected and not remitted, unless there’s reasonable cause.
How far back: the three years before the postmark date of the request. Without it, the Department says it can hold a business to the longer limitation periods. The statute’s look-back limit doesn’t apply to tax that was collected but not remitted.
How to apply: a written request from you or your representative. A business that needs to register completes Form DR-1 as part of the process; the Department asks applicants not to register online.

The program isn’t open to missing returns the Department would bill for routinely anyway, so a registered business that simply stopped filing usually catches up the ordinary way described above.

Where does this fit with the rest of the catch-up?

If sales tax is behind, check the other filings for the same years: the federal return, a C corporation’s Florida corporate income tax return (Form F-1120, due even with no tax), and the Sunbiz annual report; how to find every unfiled business return walks through the full list, and reinstating a dissolved Florida company covers Sunbiz.

Cayde rebuilds the books for the missed periods and gets the DR-15 returns filed in order, alongside the federal returns, with the sales tax work added to the same written quote before anything starts. See how sales tax sits with the other Florida filings a corporation catches up.

Quick answers

Can several missed months go on one sales tax return?

No. Each reporting period gets its own return, even when several are filed on the same day, and each late return carries its own penalty and interest.

Which surtax rate applies to a sale from a few years ago?

The rate that was in effect then for the county the sale was delivered to. Use the Department’s DR-15DSS for that year rather than the current list.

Does Florida’s automatic penalty settlement cover interest?

No. Section 213.21(10) settles the penalty only. Interest on tax paid late is still owed at the floating rate for each stretch of time the tax went unpaid: 11% a year for July 1, 2026 through December 31, 2026, and other rates for earlier periods.

How can I see which sales tax returns the business already filed?

Ask the Department for copies with a Request for Copy of Tax Return (Form DR-841). Compare them with the filing schedule on the account to list the periods still missing.

Sources

General information, not advice for your situation. Updated October 31, 2026.

Behind on Florida sales tax? How to catch up missed DR-15 returns