Business tax receipts for a cleaning company in Orlando: city, county or both?

Suppose two cleaners start a janitorial company from a rented apartment inside Orlando city limits. Their first contract is nightly cleaning for a small office building. Before the first shift, they owe two local business taxes, one to the city and one to the county.

Do you need the city receipt, the county receipt, or both?

Both, if the business is located inside Orlando. The City of Orlando's business tax receipt page says that all businesses must have both city and county business tax receipts, and lists the Orange County receipt as the step after the city's. The Orange County Tax Collector says the same from its side: a business located in Orlando, or in one of ten other cities and towns it names, must get the municipal receipt before it applies for the county's.

To check, the Tax Collector points you to the Property Appraiser's parcel search, where an address inside a city shows that city in the Municipality field. Orlando's business tax receipt guide adds that a PO box does not count as a physical location, while a home address inside city limits can.

What if your company is based outside Orlando but cleans buildings inside it?

Ask the city before you assume either way. Section 205.042 of the Florida Statutes lets a city levy its business tax on a person who maintains a permanent business location or branch office within the city. The city's own page puts it more broadly: you must pay a tax to operate any business within city limits. Neither sentence settles the case of a company based in unincorporated Orange County, or in Seminole, that sends a crew into an Orlando office building at night.

The city's page lists businesstax@orlando.gov for questions. An email with your base address and the addresses you clean gets you an answer on paper.

The county side is plainer for a company based in unincorporated Orange County. The Tax Collector says the county Zoning Division must approve all proposed new businesses located there, and that the zoning approval form goes in electronically through the county's Fast Track system.

How do you get the City of Orlando receipt?

The city's application process runs online, in this order:

1. 1Use the city's zoning check to confirm the address is inside city limits and that the business can operate there.
2. 2Gather your Sunbiz registration, your EIN or SSN, and any state license or certification that applies to your work.
3. 3Fill out and submit the application.
4. 4Wait for a billing summary, which the city says it sends within 10 business days once it has processed the application, with payment instructions.
5. 5Pay. The receipt, and a Certificate of Use where one applies, comes by mail.

The Certificate of Use is a kind of zoning permit that the city requires alongside the receipt, though not for every use; mobile businesses are on its list of exceptions.

What the receipt costs depends on the business. The city's guide says fees are based on variables such as square footage, number of workers or cost of inventory, under Chapter 36 of the city code.

What does a home-based cleaning company need in Orlando?

A home occupation application on top of the business tax application, and a home that meets the city's conditions. The guide lists them. Several matter to a janitorial company in particular:

• No more than two employees or independent contractors who do not live there may work at the business, though the business may have more remote employees who do not work at the dwelling unit.
• No outside storage of equipment or materials.
• No corrosive, combustible or other hazardous or flammable materials or liquids beyond what a similar home with no business would normally have.
• No more vehicle traffic than two vehicles at once, or ten a day.

If you rent, the city wants a notarized letter of approval from the property owner or property manager. You also sketch the floor plan with the business area marked, and pay a $50 home occupation processing fee in addition to the business tax.

How do you get the Orange County receipt?

With the city receipt in hand, apply through the Tax Collector's online portal. The Tax Collector's page lists four uploads for a business inside a city: the city or town receipt, the Sunbiz registration, any applicable state licenses, and either an original Social Security card or a federal tax ID number. For a business in unincorporated Orange County, the county's zoning approval letter takes the place of the city receipt.

When do the receipts expire, and what does paying late cost?

Every receipt in both places expires on September 30. Under section 205.053, receipts go on sale July 1 and are due by September 30. A late renewal carries a penalty of 10 percent for October and 5 percent more each month after, capped at 25 percent. Running a business without first getting a required receipt costs a separate penalty of 25 percent of the tax due.

Orlando adds a step of its own: each April it emails a declaration to keep business license information up to date.

Do your cleaners each need a receipt?

Not if they are your employees. Section 205.066 says an individual who works as an employee of another person does not have to obtain a receipt, pay the tax or apply for an exemption. A local government also may not require the employer to hand over employees' personal or contact information to get its own receipt. The same section says that an individual acting as an independent contractor is not an employee, so a cleaner working as a contractor falls outside that exemption. How the city and county treat contractors is a question for their offices.

How does this connect to working through 1Stop?

1Stop Service Pro takes insured trade vendors, licensed where the trade requires it, and daily and nightly janitorial is one of its trades. Orange County is one of the three counties where it covers every trade, with no emergency response target yet. Vendors pay no listing fee, lead fee or percentage, invoice one company, 1Stop, and are paid net-14. 1Stop is new and pre-launch.

A janitorial vendor working nonresidential buildings has a state tax question too, covered in our guide to Florida sales tax on cleaning services. For work around the city, see the Orlando page for vendors. With both receipts current, the vendor application is the next step.