Payroll in Florida

Payroll services for Florida businesses.

Visory provides payroll services for Florida businesses with staff across the state. A dedicated Payroll Specialist runs each pay run remotely in your own payroll platform, applying the $15.00 minimum wage, reemployment tax on the first $7,000 of wages, and the report every new hire needs. Delphi AI takes the repetitive parts, overseen by the team. You approve each run before anyone is paid. One flat monthly fee.

  • A dedicated team you know by name
  • Florida rules in every pay run and close
  • One flat monthly fee for the agreed scope
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Payroll in Florida

What every Florida pay run covers.

A dedicated team prepares each pay run, checks it, and sends it to you to approve before anyone is paid. Six things are right every time.

  • Withholding, every run Federal withholding, and state and local taxes where they apply, worked out in every run from each employee’s own forms.
  • Filed on schedule Quarterly and annual payroll tax filings prepared from the same runs and filed on schedule by your payroll platform, so nothing is rebuilt at the deadline.
  • Unemployment insurance Florida contributions worked out on each employee’s wages, up to the state’s taxable wage base.
  • Leave that adds up Paid leave accrued in the file to your own leave policy, so balances are right when someone asks.
  • Paid on the right day Pay frequency and final pay set to the state’s rules, and every run approved by you before anyone is paid.
  • New hires, set up properly New employees reported to the state and set up before their first pay run.

Florida rules

The Florida rules every pay run works to.

Six rules set by Florida, each with the law that sets it and what it does to your month. Your team works to them every pay run and every close.

Payroll is simpler, the entity is not.

No state withholding means one less deposit each pay run, but a business taxed as a corporation still owes 5.5% on Florida income above the $50,000 exemption, so the tax estimate belongs in the monthly numbers.

Set by Florida Constitution, Article VII, Section 5

Article VII, Section 5 of the Florida Constitution bars a state tax on the income of residents who are natural persons beyond what may be credited against federal tax, so Florida has no income tax on wages and employers withhold federal income tax only. Corporations, including entities taxed federally as corporations, pay Florida corporate income tax instead: 5.5% of Florida net income, the income left after a $50,000 exemption, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2022.

Florida Constitution, Article VII, Section 5; constitutional limit adopted 1971; 5.5% corporate rate for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2022.

The cost lands early in the year.

Tax stops once an employee’s wages pass $7,000, so most of the year’s reemployment tax accrues on January to March wages and is paid with the first-quarter RT-6 by April 30, and a budget that spreads it evenly understates January to March.

Set by Florida Reemployment Assistance Program Law, Chapter 443, Florida Statutes

Florida calls it reemployment tax. Employers pay it on the first $7,000 of each employee’s wages in a calendar year, and workers pay nothing. New employers pay 2.7% for their first 10 quarters; after that, 2026 rates run from 0.1% ($7 per employee) to 5.4% ($378). The Employer’s Quarterly Report, Form RT-6, is due April 30, July 31, October 31, and January 31, even with no wages to report.

Florida Reemployment Assistance Program Law, Chapter 443, Florida Statutes; minimum and maximum rates for wages paid in 2026, from January 1, 2026.

The next change moves to January.

After the $15.00 step, the rate holds through 2027 and then changes each January 1, so pay reviews and price increases can be planned on a calendar year instead of around September 30.

Set by Florida Constitution, Article X, Section 24; section 448.109, Florida Statutes

Florida’s minimum wage rose from $14.00 to $15.00 an hour on September 30, 2026, the last of the annual steps voters approved in 2020, and stays at $15.00 through December 31, 2027. From September 2027 it is adjusted for inflation each year, taking effect the following January 1. Tipped employees receive a direct wage of at least $11.98 an hour, the $15.00 rate less the 2003 tip credit of $3.02.

Florida Constitution, Article X, Section 24; section 448.109, Florida Statutes; $15.00 from September 30, 2026, through December 31, 2027.

The county decides the rate.

Surtax follows where a taxable item or service is delivered, so a business selling across counties charges different totals, and the books need tax collected recorded by county to match the return.

Set by Chapter 212, Florida Statutes (sales and use tax)

Each sale, admission, storage, or rental in Florida is taxable unless exempt, and businesses providing taxable services, such as investigative and crime protection services, interior nonresidential cleaning, and nonresidential pest control, must register to collect tax. The state rate is 6%. County surtaxes run from none to 2% in 2026, so combined rates range from 6% to 8%. Most new businesses file quarterly, monthly above $1,000 of tax a year, with returns due on the 1st and late after the 20th of the next month.

Chapter 212, Florida Statutes (sales and use tax); discretionary sales surtax rates for calendar year 2026.

Contractors count too.

The 20-day clock runs for contractors as well as staff, and reaching 25 employees adds E-Verify to every hire, so onboarding steps are set up in the payroll file before the first pay run.

Set by Sections 409.2576 and 448.095, Florida Statutes

Employers report each new or rehired employee to the Florida New Hire Reporting Center within 20 days of the hire date, and also report independent contractors paid $600 or more a year within 20 days of their start or first payment. Private employers with 25 or more employees must use E-Verify within three business days of a new employee starting work, and certify it on the year’s first reemployment tax return.

Sections 409.2576 and 448.095, Florida Statutes.

The fourth hire changes the cost base.

Owners who are officers or LLC members count toward the four, so a small firm can need a policy sooner than it expects, and the premium belongs in the hiring budget.

Set by Florida workers’ compensation law; Rule 69L-6.021, Florida Administrative Code

Employers conducting work in Florida must provide workers’ compensation insurance for their employees. Outside construction, coverage is required with four or more employees, counting business owners who are corporate officers or LLC members; in construction, with one or more. Sole proprietors and partners outside construction are not employees unless they choose to be covered. Out-of-state employers must tell their insurer they are working in Florida.

Florida workers’ compensation law; Rule 69L-6.021, Florida Administrative Code.

Rules last checked October 9, 2026 against the sources at the foot of this page. General information only. It does not take your circumstances into account.

How it works from anywhere

Can a team outside Florida run a Florida business?

Yes. Visory’s US leadership team is in New York, and its teams work with businesses across the United States remotely, inside your own accounting file, so nothing about the work depends on where your office is.

Your own file

Your books stay in your own QuickBooks or Xero file. Your team works inside it, so you see the same numbers they do, whenever you look.

A team you know by name

A dedicated team runs the work, led by a Business Performance Partner. You meet them by video call, and you always know who to ask.

Florida rules, built in

Visory runs the finance function for growing businesses across the United States, with its US leadership team in New York. Your books stay in your own QuickBooks or Xero file, and your team works inside it with you. Every pay run and every close is checked against the rules on this page.

Business hours, and the platform after them

Your team works 9am to 5pm Eastern Time on business days, all year round, and the Visory platform is open to you around the clock for documents, approvals, and your numbers.

What customers say

In a customer’s words.

“I have enough people to manage, so it's nice having a partner that ensures nothing is missed when it comes to the very important process of remunerating our people.”

Rachelle Harper Co-founder and COO, BrandBossHQ

Common questions

Questions Florida businesses ask.

Straight answers about payroll for a Florida business, from a team that works remotely.

What does a Visory pay run for a Florida business include?

Your Payroll Specialist runs each pay run, with Delphi AI preparing and checking it in the background, and you approve it before anyone is paid. The Payroll Specialist handles new hires, leave, changes, and terminations, applies the Florida minimum wage and reemployment tax, and posts the run to your books, so wages, deductions, and leave balances agree every month.

What hours does my payroll team work?

Your payroll team works 9am to 5pm Eastern Time on business days, all year round. Outside those hours, the Visory platform is your 24/7 access point, so your payroll information is there whenever you need it.

What is the Florida reemployment tax rate in 2026?

Employers pay reemployment tax on the first $7,000 of each employee’s wages in a year, and employees pay nothing. New employers pay 2.7% for their first 10 quarters; after that, 2026 rates run from 0.1% to 5.4%. Your Payroll Specialist prepares the quarterly Form RT-6 from the same pay runs, due by the last day of the month after each quarter.

What is the Florida minimum wage?

It is $15.00 an hour from September 30, 2026, up from $14.00, and it stays at $15.00 through December 31, 2027, with yearly inflation adjustments taking effect each January 1 after that. This is general information; the Florida Department of Commerce publishes the rate.

What is the tipped minimum wage in Florida?

From September 30, 2026, tipped employees receive a direct wage of at least $11.98 an hour: the $15.00 minimum wage less the 2003 tip credit of $3.02. Tips count toward the rest of the minimum wage only for employees who meet the federal tip credit requirements. Your Payroll Specialist applies the direct wage to each tipped role in the pay run. This is general information; the Florida Department of Commerce publishes the rate.

What do I have to do when I hire someone in Florida?

Report the new or rehired employee to the Florida New Hire Reporting Center within 20 days of the hire date, and report independent contractors paid $600 or more a year within 20 days too. With 25 or more employees, verify each new hire through E-Verify within three business days of their start. Your Payroll Specialist does this when the employee is set up.

Do Florida employers have to use E-Verify?

Private employers with 25 or more employees must, within three business days after a new employee starts work, and they certify it on the first reemployment tax return each calendar year. If E-Verify is unavailable for three business days, the federal Form I-9 is used instead. This is general information; section 448.095, Florida Statutes, sets out the requirement, and the Florida Department of Commerce enforces it.

When does a Florida business need workers’ compensation?

Outside construction, once it has four or more employees, and business owners who are corporate officers or LLC members count toward the four. Construction businesses need coverage from their first employee. Sole proprietors and partners outside construction are not counted unless they elect coverage. This is general information; the Florida Division of Workers’ Compensation sets the rules.

Do I withhold state income tax from Florida employees?

No. Florida has no income tax on wages, so a Florida pay run carries federal income tax withholding but no state income tax. Employees who live or work in another state can still have that state’s tax withheld, so your Payroll Specialist records each employee’s work location and applies the right state’s rules before the run is approved.

More questions, longer answers. Every question has its own link. See all common questions

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Sources (16) · rules last checked October 9, 2026

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