Tax Collector Diane Nelson is pleased to report that March tourist development tax collections in Pinellas County totaled $4.5 million, an 11 percent increase from 2011 and the highest March amount since the tax collector’s office started collecting the tax in 1990. The previous March record, $4.1 million, was from 2008.

 

“Our collections for March show great signs for our local tourism industry,” Nelson said. “We heard from many of our hotels that March was a strong month for room rentals, and I am especially proud of my staff for their work in collecting and enforcing our tourist development tax.”

 

The tourist development tax is a 5 percent tax – known as the “bed tax” – required by Florida law on accommodations rented for six months or less. The TD tax produces close to $25 million each year in Pinellas County, used mainly for tourism marketing by the St. Petersburg/Clearwater Area Convention & Visitors Bureau.

 

The tax collector’s office implemented an online payment system for TD taxpayers in 2010, and now more than 70 percent of TD collections are processed online. For more information about tourist development taxes, visit taxcollect.com or contact the tax collector’s office at 727-464-5007.