Capital gains tax in Florida (2026): selling a business, real estate or farm

Florida's real rule: the state stays out of individual gains

The Florida Department of Revenue states it plainly: Florida does not impose a personal income tax, so individuals have no Florida return to file. A Florida resident who sells stock, a business, a rental or farmland pays no Florida tax on the gain, whether it is long-term, short-term or depreciation recapture.

That makes the federal return the whole game for most Florida sellers. Long-term gain is taxed at 0%, 15% or 20%, with 20% applying above $613,700 of taxable income for joint filers in 2026 (Rev. Proc. 2025-32), plus the 3.8% net investment income tax under IRC 1411; see the capital gains hub. With no state layer to blend in, the federal levers (timing, installment reporting, a 1031 exchange, charitable planning) carry more of the weight. Our states with no capital gains tax page compares Florida with the other no-tax states.

Moving to Florida before a sale: what the engine shows

Florida's biggest effect on a sale is felt by people who arrive from a taxing state. In the first example an Illinois couple sells their company shares; the Illinois layer is $148,500. In the second, the same couple had moved first, and the total falls to $715,465, which is $148,500 less. Shares and other intangibles are generally taxed by the state of domicile when the gain is realized, which is why the timing of the move matters more than the timing of the closing.

Florida gives you a formal way to document the move: a sworn declaration of domicile filed with the clerk of the circuit court in your county (F.S. 222.17, 2026). It is evidence, not a safe harbor. Your former state will look at where you live, vote, keep your doctors, register cars and spend your time, so plan the move well before a letter of intent. See changing residency before a sale.

What a Florida move does not fix

Real estate is taxed where it sits. In the third example, the Florida couple sells a rental building they kept in Illinois; Illinois still taxes that gain as Illinois-source income, adding $56,925 to a total of $356,378. The same is true of a business with property and payroll in another state, where part of a pass-through's gain can be apportioned there.

• An installment note from a pre-move sale can follow you: many states keep taxing installment gain from a sale made while you were a resident, so read your old state's rules before counting on Florida for the later payments.
• A 1031 exchange into Florida property defers the gain, but some states track it and tax it when the replacement is sold.

C corporations: Florida's 5.5% corporate income tax

Florida does tax corporations. The corporate income tax is 5.5% of Florida net income (F.S. 220.11(2), 2026), and the first $50,000 of net income is exempt (F.S. 220.14). A C corporation that sells its assets pays this tax on the gain apportioned to Florida before any money reaches the shareholders, and the shareholders then owe federal tax on the liquidating distribution; that is the double tax covered in C corporation sale double tax.

Owners of S corporations, partnerships and LLCs taxed as partnerships generally avoid the corporate layer, and a stock sale of a C corporation leaves the corporate tax with the buyer. That is one reason buyers of Florida C corporations push for asset deals and sellers push for stock deals; see asset sale vs stock sale.

Documentary stamp tax on Florida deeds

Florida's real estate transfer cost is the documentary stamp tax: 70 cents per $100 of consideration on deeds in every county except Miami-Dade, which charges 60 cents per $100 plus a 45-cent surtax on deeds other than single-family residences (F.S. 201.02 and Florida DOR guidance, 2026). On a $4 million commercial building outside Miami-Dade that is $28,000. Who pays is set by contract and local custom, and in much of Florida the seller does.

Moving property into an LLC and selling the LLC does not reliably avoid it: if you conveyed the property into your own entity without full consideration (a "conduit entity") and an interest in that entity is sold for consideration within three years, the same 70-cent rate applies to the transfer of the interest (F.S. 201.02(1)(b)). Doc stamps reduce your amount realized, which trims the federal gain a little.

Homestead, Save Our Homes and portability when you sell

For a Florida homeowner, the larger long-run cost of selling is often property tax, not income tax. Save Our Homes limits annual growth in a homestead's assessed value to the lower of 3% or the change in CPI (F.S. 193.155(1), 2026). A sale resets the home to just value as of the next January 1.

Portability softens that. If you establish a new Florida homestead after having had the exemption on any of the three preceding January 1 dates, you can carry the difference between just and assessed value, up to $500,000, to the new home (F.S. 193.155(8)). Sellers downsizing after a big home sale should file for the new homestead promptly. The federal side of the home sale is the Section 121 exclusion of up to $250,000 or $500,000 of gain; see home sale gain over the exclusion.

No estate tax, and why that changes the hold-or-sell math

Florida's estate tax was tied to a federal credit that was phased out, so there is no Florida estate tax for deaths after December 31, 2004 (Florida DOR, 2026). For an older Florida owner of a highly appreciated building, holding until death for the step-up in basis wipes out the income tax gain with no state estate tax on the other side, only the federal estate tax for very large estates.

If you do sell, a Section 453 installment sale spreads the federal gain across years, and with no state tax to manage the only question is federal brackets and the 3.8% surtax. Secure the note with a first-position mortgage or UCC lien, a personal guarantee from the buyer's owners and default terms. To see every path compared, get the Big Sale Tax Analysis.

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Frequently asked questions