Do I Owe Sales Tax on Charters, Tours, and Boat Slips?
Boat slips and dockage are still subject to Florida sales tax. They were specifically carved out of the 2025 commercial rent repeal, so nothing changed for marinas. Charters and tours are more complicated, and the answer depends on how the trip is actually structured.
This is the corner of Florida sales tax where Key West businesses live and where generic advice is least useful. A dive operator, a fishing guide, a sunset sail, and a bareboat rental are four different tax situations that look similar from the dock.
Boat slips: still taxable
When Florida repealed the sales tax on commercial rent effective October 1, 2025, four categories were left in place: short-term rentals, parking, self-storage, and boat slips and dockage.
So if you operate a marina, or sublet a slip you hold, the repeal did not apply to you. If someone told you commercial rent tax went away and you stopped charging on slips, that is a problem worth correcting quickly. See what actually changed with the commercial rent tax.
Charters and tours: it depends on the structure
The distinction that matters most is whether you are selling a service with a captain and crew, or renting a vessel to someone who then operates it. Those are treated differently, and the paperwork behind the trip is what determines which one you are running.
| Arrangement | What to look at |
|---|---|
| Captained charter or guided trip | Sold as a service. Treatment depends on the specifics of what is included. |
| Bareboat rental, customer operates | Looks much more like a rental of tangible property. |
| Ticketed tour with other passengers | Different again from a private booking. |
| Add-ons: gear, food, drinks, photos | Frequently taxable on their own even when the trip is not. |
I am deliberately not giving you a flat yes or no here, because the honest answer is that it turns on your specific arrangement and getting it wrong in either direction is costly. Charging tax you should not is a competitive disadvantage and a refund headache. Not charging tax you should is a liability that grows quietly.
The add-ons are where people slip
Even operators who have the main trip right often miss what rides along with it. Gear rental, retail sales off the boat, food and drink, and merchandise each have their own treatment. If you sell a t-shirt at the end of the trip, that is a retail sale regardless of how the charter itself is handled.
Bundling makes it worse. A single price covering a trip plus gear plus lunch can be harder to defend than an itemized one.
What to do about it
- Write down what you actually sell, by product, including every add-on. Most operators have never done this on one page.
- Check your booking system’s tax settings against that list. Defaults are frequently wrong and nobody revisits them.
- Keep charter paperwork consistent with how you are treating it. If you are relying on a bareboat characterization, the documentation has to support it.
- Separate slip income from trip income in your books. They are taxed differently and commingling them makes any review harder.
Frequently asked questions
Did the commercial rent tax repeal apply to boat slips?
No. Boat slips and dockage were expressly excluded from the repeal and remain taxable, along with parking, self-storage, and short-term rentals.
Is a fishing charter taxable in Florida?
It depends on how the trip is structured and what is included. A captained trip and a bareboat rental are treated differently, so this needs to be looked at against your actual arrangement.
Do I charge tax on gear rental added to a trip?
Often yes, even where the trip itself is treated differently. Add-ons are frequently taxable on their own.
I have been doing it one way for years. Should I change it?
Find out where you stand before changing anything. If prior years were handled incorrectly there are better and worse ways to correct it, and the order of operations matters.
Let’s sit down and talk
If you run charters, tours, or a marina, bring your booking menu and a few recent invoices and we will work through what should and should not be taxed. This is a genuinely technical area and it is worth an hour to get settled. Call 305-363-5429 or contact Robert.
Related: the full Key West business owner tax guide and our Florida sales tax guide.
General information current as of July 2026, not tax advice for your situation. Marine sales tax treatment is fact specific. Confirm your position before relying on it.