Monthly books at a flat price. Transactions categorized, every account reconciled, and financial statements delivered on the same date each month by a CPA-led team.
Broward filings kept current. Sales tax with the Broward surtax, tourist development tax on short-term rentals, reemployment tax, and the county and city business tax receipts.
Marine and hospitality books. Per-vessel job costing, the sales tax limit on boats, and seasonal revenue recorded so the slow months are visible in advance.
Corviniti provides bookkeeping services to businesses in Fort Lauderdale and across Broward County. We meet clients at our Fort Lauderdale office on East Sunrise Boulevard by the Galleria, and a CPA leads the team. The service is monthly and flat-priced: every transaction categorized, every account reconciled, and financial statements on a fixed date. We work in English and Spanish.
Most of the tax filings a Broward business makes during the year are for sales and payroll taxes, because Florida has no personal income tax. The state rate is 6 percent and Broward adds a 1 percent county surtax. Rentals and boats carry extra rules in Florida: a rental of six months or less owes the county's 6 percent tourist development tax on top of sales tax, and the tax on the sale of a boat is capped at $18,000. The books have to separate each of these, and we reconcile each one to its return.
This page sits under Corviniti Accounting in Miami, our office in downtown Miami. That page covers Florida tax for South Florida businesses and for people who move to Florida, and links to the rest of our Florida coverage.
How it works
The monthly bookkeeping close for a Fort Lauderdale business
We categorize every transaction, reconcile every account, check payroll and sales tax, and deliver the financial statements on the same date each month. Sales tax, the Broward surtax, and reemployment tax stay on the balance sheet as liabilities until they are paid, so none of them is counted as profit.
Florida sales tax and the county surtax, 2026. Illustrative.
Rentals
Who collects each tax on a Broward short-term rental
Rent for a stay of six months or less in Broward is taxed at 13 percent. The 6 percent state tax and the 1 percent surtax are reported to the Department of Revenue on the DR-15, and the county's 6 percent tourist development tax is paid to Broward County on its own return. We keep each tax apart from the rental income in the books.
Florida boat sales tax in Broward, 2026. Illustrative.
This is for you if
You rent a condominium or house for short stays and are not sure every tax was collected and filed.
Your marine or hospitality business is behind on its books going into the season.
You charged the county surtax on the full price of a boat or an expensive item.
A lender, a buyer, or a sales tax auditor has asked for records you cannot produce quickly.
What you get
Monthly close and financials Reconciled books and financial statements on a fixed date, compared with the same month last year.
Sales and tourist taxes Sales tax with the surtax and boat limits applied correctly, and tourist development tax filed for short-term rentals.
Payroll and renewals The quarterly reemployment tax return, the business tax receipts, and the annual report filed on time.
Year-end tax package Final statements and schedules for the tax return, or we prepare the returns ourselves.
How We Help
What you get
A flat monthly service that keeps a Broward business current and filed through the whole season.
Monthly close and financialsReconciled books and financial statements on a fixed date, compared with the same month last year.
Sales and tourist taxesSales tax with the surtax and boat limits applied correctly, and tourist development tax filed for short-term rentals.
Payroll and renewalsThe quarterly reemployment tax return, the business tax receipts, and the annual report filed on time.
Year-end tax packageFinal statements and schedules for the tax return, or we prepare the returns ourselves.
When companies bring us in
You rent a condominium or house for short stays and are not sure every tax was collected and filed.
Your marine or hospitality business is behind on its books going into the season.
You charged the county surtax on the full price of a boat or an expensive item.
A lender, a buyer, or a sales tax auditor has asked for records you cannot produce quickly.
The Detail
The gaps, and how we close each one
Service 01
Monthly books and reconciliations
Books that are categorized loosely and never reconciled show a profit figure nobody can rely on. The error is usually found when a lender or a buyer asks for the numbers, or at tax time.
How we handle it
We keep the books in QuickBooks Online or Xero and close them every month. Each transaction is categorized against a chart of accounts built for your business, each bank, card, and loan account is reconciled to its statement, and payroll is recorded in full with the employer's reemployment tax as an expense. For a seasonal business we also report each month against the same month a year earlier, because a comparison with the previous month says little when revenue follows the calendar. Statements arrive on the same date each month, with our questions collected in one list.
What you get: Reconciled books on a fixed date, compared with the same month last year.
Service 02
Catch-up and cleanup bookkeeping
A Fort Lauderdale business that has fallen behind usually finds out when it needs the books for something else: a loan, a sale of the business, a sales tax audit, or its tax return.
How we handle it
We rebuild the ledger from bank and card records, correct past categories, and reconcile every account through the last closed month. The cleanup checks whether tax collected on short-term rentals was recorded as rental income, whether the county surtax was charged on the whole price of a boat or another expensive item, and whether deposits from booking platforms or card processors were recorded net of fees, which understates revenue. The cleanup is quoted as a one-time project, and the monthly service keeps the books current afterward.
What you get: A books-to-bank reconciliation through the last closed month, quoted as a one-time project.
Service 03
Sales tax in Broward, including boats
Florida sales tax has a county surtax with a per-item limit, and a separate limit for boats. Both are easy to apply incorrectly, and an audit can find the error years later.
Short-term rentals and the tourist development tax
An owner who rents a condominium or house for six months or less is running a taxable business in Florida, whether the booking comes directly or through a platform.
How we handle it
A rental of six months or less in Broward owes 13 percent in total: the 6 percent state sales tax and the 1 percent county surtax, reported to the Department of Revenue on the DR-15, and the county's 6 percent tourist development tax, which Broward collects itself through its Records, Taxes, and Treasury Division on a separate return. Some booking platforms collect part of these taxes for the owner, and the owner files the rest, so the records have to show which tax each booking already paid. We set up the books to separate rental income from each tax, reconcile the returns to the bookings each month, and keep a profit and loss for each property.
What you get: Sales and tourist development tax on each rental collected, recorded, and filed.
Service 05
Reemployment tax, business tax receipts, and the annual report
Broward businesses also owe reemployment tax, business tax receipts, and an annual report, each filed with a different office.
What you get: Reemployment tax, business tax receipts, and the annual report on one calendar.
Service 06
Bookkeeping for Fort Lauderdale's main industries
Fort Lauderdale's economy includes the marine industry, tourism and hospitality, the port, construction, healthcare, and professional services along Las Olas. The books for each are kept differently.
How we handle it
The marine industry. Fort Lauderdale hosts the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show, and a 2022 study for the Marine Industries Association of South Florida put the recreational marine industry's economic impact in Broward County at $9.957 billion. Boat dealers, brokers, repair yards, and marine service companies need job costing by vessel, accurate parts inventory, and customer deposits held as liabilities until the work is delivered. The sales tax on a boat sale is capped at $18,000, and the tax on a boat repair at $60,000, so each invoice is recorded with the tax actually due.
Hotels, restaurants, and short-term rentals. Revenue, sales tax, and tourist development tax are recorded separately, deposits from booking platforms and card processors are recorded at their gross amount with fees as an expense, and each month is compared with the same month last year.
The port and logistics.Port Everglades reported 1,167,552 TEUs of cargo and 4,773,873 cruise guests for fiscal year 2025, in preliminary figures. Freight forwarders, trucking companies, and cruise and cargo suppliers need revenue matched to shipments, fuel and equipment costs tracked by route or contract, and receivables followed up on a schedule.
Construction and real estate. Contractors need job costing, work in progress, and retainage recorded correctly. Property owners need a profit and loss for each property, and depreciation schedules that stay current.
Healthcare and professional services. Medical and dental practices need insurance deposits reconciled to billed production. Law, consulting, and design firms need unbilled work and retainers recorded correctly, and attorney books keep client trust funds apart from operating cash.
What you get: Books and reports built for how your industry operates.
Service 07
Fort Lauderdale and Broward resources for business owners
The offices a Broward business deals with are split between the state, the county, and the city.
What you get: A direct answer on which office handles the filing you need.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
How much does bookkeeping cost in Fort Lauderdale?
A flat monthly price, set by the number of accounts and transactions, and by whether the books need a cleanup first. We quote a specific number after a short conversation, usually within one business day.
Do you work with short-term rental owners?
Yes. We keep a profit and loss for each property, separate the taxes collected from rental income, and reconcile the sales tax and tourist development tax returns to the bookings. Where a platform collects some of the tax, we record which taxes it collected so they are not paid twice.
Do you work with boat dealers, brokers, and marine service companies?
Yes. We track costs and billing by vessel and by job, keep parts inventory accurate, and apply the sales tax limit on boat sales correctly. Marine businesses often have large deposits and progress billings, and we record them as liabilities until the work is delivered.
Can we meet in person?
Yes. We meet Broward clients at our Fort Lauderdale office at 2598 East Sunrise Boulevard, by the Galleria, and at our office in downtown Miami. Most monthly work happens by video and shared files.
Do you work in Spanish?
Yes. Our team works in English and Spanish with owners and their staff.
Can you catch up books that are behind?
Yes. We rebuild the books from bank and card records, reconcile every account through the last closed month, and then keep them current. The cleanup is quoted separately from the monthly price.
Do you also prepare the tax returns?
Yes. We prepare the business returns, the Florida corporate return where one is required, and the owners' personal returns from the books we keep, so there is no handoff between a bookkeeper and a separate preparer.
Do you do bookkeeping for marine businesses?
Yes: boat dealers, yacht brokers, repair yards, and marine service companies. We cost each job by vessel, track parts inventory, and record customer deposits as liabilities until the work is delivered. On a boat sale we apply the Florida limit on the sales tax, and we keep the records that support any sale treated as exempt.
Do you do bookkeeping for hotels and hospitality businesses?
Yes. We record room revenue, food and beverage sales, and the taxes collected on each separately, reconcile the sales tax and tourist development tax returns to the property management system, and run tips through payroll. For a seasonal business we report each month against the same month of the prior year.
Do you work with contractors and the trades?
Yes. We track costs by job, carry work in progress correctly, and record retainage and progress billings. We work with the field service and construction platforms these businesses use, including Jobber, ServiceTitan, and Buildertrend, and bring their data into QuickBooks Online.
Do you work with medical, dental, and therapy practices?
Yes. We reconcile insurance deposits, net of adjustments, back to the production the providers billed, and keep provider compensation splits accurate. We work with Dentrix, Eaglesoft, athenahealth, and Tebra.
Sources & authorities
Primary sources for this page
Sales tax rate.Florida sales and use tax: the 6 percent state rate, registration, and how often a business files.
Rentals of six months or less.section 212.03, Florida Statutes: the 6 percent tax on rent for a stay of six months or less, and the exemption for a written lease of longer than six months.
Tourist development taxes.Form DR-15TDT: each county's tax on short-term rentals, and which counties collect it themselves.
Tangible personal property.section 196.183, Florida Statutes: the $25,000 exemption that a timely return claims, and the waiver of later returns while the property is worth $25,000 or less.
Homestead exemption.section 196.031, Florida Statutes: the $25,000 exemption from all taxes, and the second exemption from taxes other than school taxes.
This page summarizes Florida, county, and federal tax rules for general information, and is not tax advice for your situation. Rates, exemption amounts, and thresholds change each year; confirm the current figures with the authority before you rely on them.
