Short-term rental tax profile

Panama City, Florida

6% total combined rate

Researched 2026-09-23

Parts of this profile are unconfirmed. Treat it as a starting point and verify with the authority before charging a guest.

Is it allowed here

Short-term rentals are allowed in designated zoning districts within Panama City. Must register at state, county, and city levels; subject to inspections and operating requirements.

What counts as a short-term rental here

Stays fewer than 181 nights (city and state)

Long stays

Stays longer than 180 nights may qualify as long-term; county TDT exempt after six months continuous occupancy.

State and city define short-term rental as fewer than 181 consecutive nights; county TDT applies to stays of six months or less (≤ 182 days).

The layers here do not all use the same threshold, so one booking can owe one tax and not another. Check the "counts as short-term" column below.

Source High

What the guest is charged

TaxRateApplies toCounts as short-termConfidence
Tourist Development Tax (TDT)Bay County Clerk of Court / Comptroller (soon Tax Collector) 5% Total rental charge including cleaning fee and other required fees, excluding refundable security deposits. Stays of six months or less are taxable. High Source
Merchant FeeCity of Panama City Business Services Department 1% Gross retail sales (rental charges) Stays of fewer than 181 consecutive nights. High Source
State Vacation Rental LicenseFlorida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR) Confirm with the authority All short-term rentals (fewer than 181 consecutive nights) require licensing. Low Source

Who actually remits it

Whoever runs the guest's card owes the tax. That is the whole rule, and it is why the same booking can be taxed differently on two platforms.

PlatformMerchant of recordCollectsYou chargeYou remit
Airbnb Partner None 6% total (5% TDT + 1% merchant fee) Bay County TDT 5%, City Merchant Fee 1%
Vrbo Partner None 6% total (5% TDT + 1% merchant fee) Bay County TDT 5%, City Merchant Fee 1%
Booking.com Partner None 6% total (5% TDT + 1% merchant fee) Bay County TDT 5%, City Merchant Fee 1%
Expedia Partner None 6% total (5% TDT + 1% merchant fee) Bay County TDT 5%, City Merchant Fee 1%
Google Partner None 6% total (5% TDT + 1% merchant fee) Bay County TDT 5%, City Merchant Fee 1%
Whimstay Partner None 6% total (5% TDT + 1% merchant fee) Bay County TDT 5%, City Merchant Fee 1%
Direct Partner None 6% total (5% TDT + 1% merchant fee) Bay County TDT 5%, City Merchant Fee 1%

On a real booking

$200 a night, 3 nights, $50 cleaning

For a 3-night rental at $200/night plus $50 cleaning fee, the taxable base is $650. Owner must add 6% tax = $39, so guest total $689.

What you have to hold

  • Vacation Rental License

    All short-term rentals (fewer than 181 nights)

    Issued by
    Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR)
    Cost
    State licensing fees as per DBPR
    Renewal
    Annual
    Lead time
    Apply

  • Short-Term Vacation Rental Certificate

    Unincorporated Bay County short-term rentals

    Issued by
    Bay County
    Cost
    Short-Term Vacation Rental Certificate (fee unspecified)
    Renewal
    Annual
    Lead time

  • Business Tax Receipt

    Any short-term rental within city limits

    Issued by
    City of Panama City Business Services Department
    Cost
    Business Tax Receipt (Merchant or Occupational) fee $25, $2,500 depending on type
    Renewal
    Annual (renew by September 30)
    Lead time
    Apply

What you file, and when

ObligationFrequencyDueFile with no bookings?If you are lateTo
Collect and remit Tourist Development Tax monthly. monthly Monthly returns due by the 20th of the month following the reporting period; zero-return required. YesZero-income periods require filing; even zero returns penalized minimum $50. 10% penalty per 30 days up to 50% of tax due or minimum $50; floating interest applied from due date. Bay County Clerk of Court / Comptroller (soon Tax Collector)
Collect and remit merchant fee monthly. monthly Monthly merchant fee remitted by last day of month for prior month; discount if paid by 20th. YesMinimum $1.50 must be remitted if no sales. 8% penalty after due date, increasing to 24%; account may be revoked after 90 days and reinstated at discretion. City of Panama City Business Services Department
Maintain valid vacation rental license. annual State license renewal cycle annual via DBPR. Not confirmed Not stated Florida DBPR

What this page cannot see

Your HOA, condo board or neighborhood covenant

This page covers public law: what the state, county and city require. It cannot see the private rules attached to your specific property. An HOA, a condo association, a co-op board or a recorded neighborhood covenant can cap nights, require its own registration and fees, demand approval of every guest, or prohibit short-term renting outright, no matter what Panama City, Florida allows. Those documents are not published anywhere public, so read your CC&Rs, bylaws and any lease before you take a booking. They routinely override everything above.

Sub-city districts you may sit inside

Tax can also attach below the city line. Tourism improvement and business improvement districts, resort area districts, convention and stadium districts, transit districts and community development districts are all drawn on a map, and whether you owe them depends on which side of a street you are on. They are usually a small percentage or a flat nightly amount, they are charged to the guest like any other lodging tax, and they are the layer most often missed because nobody expects a district smaller than a city to levy one.

If your address sits inside one, your county or city finance office can confirm it. Ask specifically whether any special district assessment applies to transient lodging at your parcel.

Primary sources

Take the PDF with you

Everything above as a designed profile you can file, print, or hand to a bookkeeper. Reading it here stays free; the document goes to an inbox.

  • Two to three pagesRates, channels, licenses, filing dates
  • Every figure sourcedLinked to the government page we read
  • DatedStamped with the research date, so you know how fresh it is

Sending it to a partner or a bookkeeper instead? Use their address. We send the Panama City, Florida profile once, from Corzly, and we do not add anyone to a mailing list.

Useful to a co-host, a bookkeeper, or anyone buying in Panama City, Florida.
The layer underneath this one Short-term rental taxes across Florida What every Florida property owes before county, city and district rules stack on top.

Corzly does not file this for you

You register, you collect, you remit, you hold the licenses. What we do is run the property so those numbers are right in the first place, on every channel, without you chasing them.

We manage short-term rentals remotely, 300+ properties across 50+ cities and 7 countries, so where the property sits makes no difference to whether we can take it on.

Talk to us about your portfolio

How to use this page. Corzly does not provide tax, legal or accounting advice, and we are not licensed tax professionals. This profile is automated research compiled from published government sources. Each figure carries a link to the source we read, so you can verify it yourself rather than take our word for it.

Tax rates, license requirements and filing rules change, and any source can be superseded without notice. Anything we could not confirm is marked Low confidence or listed under "Still to confirm" rather than guessed at. Before charging a guest, registering, or filing a return, confirm every figure directly with the taxing authority.

Registering, collecting, filing and remitting remain your responsibility. If the amounts matter to your business, and they do, take this research to a licensed tax professional or the authority itself before acting on it.

If you would rather hand the whole thing off, a service like Avalara MyLodgeTax can register, file and remit on your behalf.