Setting up a food truck business in Florida

Choose the Florida entity before you file anything

Pick the entity first. Every later filing carries its name, from the EIN to the food license, so changing it later means redoing several steps.

Most one-truck owners weigh three options. A sole proprietorship needs no state filing. An LLC costs $125 to form. A corporation costs $70 to form but carries more formality.

The sole proprietorship is the cheapest start. It is also the one where the truck's debts are your debts. If the truck is in a crash or a customer gets sick, your personal assets stand behind the claim.

An LLC puts a legal wall between the business and you. That wall only holds if you treat the business as separate, which later steps cover. Most owners who form an entity pick the LLC for its lighter paperwork.

A corporation makes more sense once investors or several owners are involved. It also files a costlier annual report. The entity comparison sets the three side by side, including how each is taxed.

$125Florida charges $125 to file LLC articles of organization, which includes the designation of a registered agent. — Florida Department of State, Division of Corporations, retrieved 2026-09-27

$70Florida charges $35 to file articles of incorporation plus $35 to designate a registered agent, $70 in total, and $150 for a profit corporation annual report. — Florida Department of State, Division of Corporations, retrieved 2026-09-27

Clear the name and register a Florida fictitious name if needed

Pick the legal name, then decide what goes on the side of the truck. They do not have to match, but a mismatch needs its own filing.

Trading under any name other than the legal one requires a fictitious name registration. That covers a sole proprietor trading as "Smoke Signal BBQ." It also covers an LLC whose legal name differs from the truck's brand.

Florida charges $50 to register a fictitious name. Before filing, you must advertise the name at least once in a newspaper in the county of your principal place of business. The registration runs until December 31 of the fifth year.

Search the name on Sunbiz before you print anything. A name already on file can block your articles. It also saves you re-wrapping a truck.

Keep the names consistent across filings. The license application, the bank account and the sales tax registration should all show the same legal name. A mismatch is a common reason an application comes back.

$50Florida charges a $50 fee to register a fictitious name, and the registration stays in effect until December 31 of the fifth year. — Florida Department of State, Division of Corporations, retrieved 2026-09-27

A Florida fictitious name must be advertised at least once in a newspaper in the county where the principal place of business is located. — Florida Department of State, Division of Corporations, retrieved 2026-09-27

File the Florida articles and name a registered agent

Filing articles with the Division of Corporations creates the LLC or corporation. The registered agent is named in the same filing.

The registered agent receives legal papers for the business. Florida requires a street address in the state for the agent. A P.O. box is not acceptable.

The agent also signs the articles to accept the role. The LLC itself cannot be its own agent. You can serve as your own agent if you have a Florida street address. Your address then sits on the public record.

Many food truck owners run the business from home. If you would rather keep that address off the filing, a registered agent service is the usual answer. The formation-services comparison lists what the services publish about their agent pricing.

File online through Sunbiz or by mail. Either way the fee is the state's own. The state also sells a certified copy for $30 and a certificate of status for $5, both optional.

A Florida LLC cannot serve as its own registered agent, the agent needs a Florida street address rather than a P.O. box, and the agent must sign to accept the appointment. — Florida Department of State, Division of Corporations, retrieved 2026-09-27

$30 / $5Florida sells an optional certified copy of LLC articles for $30 and an optional certificate of status for $5. — Florida Department of State, Division of Corporations, retrieved 2026-09-27

Get the EIN from the IRS in the entity's name

The EIN is the business's federal tax number. The food license application asks for it, and so does the bank.

Apply on the IRS website once the articles clear. The number usually issues at the end of the session. There is no fee.

Several websites charge for this. The IRS itself warns about them. Use the IRS tool directly.

Apply as the entity, with the legal name exactly as filed. Keep the confirmation letter. Suppliers and commissaries sometimes ask for it when setting up accounts.

The online tool keeps limited hours. It runs weekday mornings to late night Eastern time, with shorter weekend hours. Plan the session so you finish in one sitting.

The IRS issues an EIN online and states that you never have to pay a fee for one. — Internal Revenue Service, retrieved 2026-09-27

Open a Florida business bank account and keep it separate

Open the account in the entity's name using the EIN. Then run every sale and every supply run through it.

This is what keeps the LLC's wall standing. Courts can ignore an entity that its owner treated as a personal wallet. Mixed funds are the usual fact that lets them do it.

Food trucks make this easy to get wrong. Card readers deposit to one account. Cash goes in an apron. Propane gets bought on a personal card on a Sunday morning.

Set the card reader to deposit to the business account from day one. Bank the cash on a fixed schedule. Pay yourself by transfer, not by paying personal bills from the till.

A separate business card for fuel, propane and supplies closes the last gap. It also turns tax prep into a download rather than a shoebox.

A single-member LLC is treated by default as a disregarded entity for federal income tax, and a multi-member LLC as a partnership. — Internal Revenue Service, retrieved 2026-09-27

Register for Florida sales tax before your first sale

Food sold from a truck for immediate eating is taxable in Florida. You must register with the Department of Revenue before selling.

The state rate is 6 percent. Most counties add a discretionary surtax on top, and the rate follows the county where the sale happens. A truck that crosses county lines charges different totals on different days.

Registration happens online through the department's business tax application. The same application covers reemployment tax, so you can do both at once.

You get a certificate of registration and a filing schedule. Returns are due on the 1st and late after the 20th of the month after each period. Sales tax on food truck sales covers pricing, surtax and returns in detail.

Florida requires registration with the Department of Revenue before engaging in business as a restaurant, caterer or other taxable activity. — Florida Department of Revenue, GT-800035, retrieved 2026-09-27

20th of the monthFlorida sales and use tax returns and payments are due on the 1st and late after the 20th day of the month following each reporting period. — Florida Department of Revenue, retrieved 2026-09-27

Register for Florida reemployment tax once payroll starts

Hiring crew brings reemployment tax. That is Florida's name for state unemployment tax.

You become liable once you pay $1,500 in wages in a quarter. You also become liable if you have an employee on any part of a day in 20 weeks of a year. Either test is enough.

A seasonal truck can cross the 20-week line quietly. Count weekends as well as full weeks.

New employers start at a 2.7 percent rate. It applies only to the first $7,000 of each employee's wages in a year. After a few years the rate moves with your own claims history.

$1,500A Florida employer is liable for reemployment tax after a quarterly payroll of $1,500 or more, or one or more employees during any 20 weeks in a calendar year. — Florida Department of Revenue, retrieved 2026-09-27

2.7%The initial Florida reemployment tax rate for new employers is 2.7 percent, applied to the first $7,000 of each employee's wages in a calendar year. — Florida Department of Revenue, retrieved 2026-09-27

Buy Florida workers' compensation before the fourth employee

Outside construction, Florida requires workers' compensation at four employees. Part-time staff count toward that number.

LLC members and corporate officers count too. So a two-member LLC with two crew already has four. That catches many small truck businesses by surprise.

A sole proprietor is not counted unless they choose to be covered. Once the fourth person joins, the policy has to be in place.

Buy it from an insurer licensed in Florida. Insurance requirements covers the vehicle side as well.

four or moreFlorida non-construction employers with four or more employees, including corporate officers and LLC members, must carry workers' compensation coverage. — Florida Department of Financial Services, Division of Workers' Compensation, retrieved 2026-09-27

Apply for the Florida mobile food license with those numbers

Now the license application can be completed. It asks for the EIN and the sales tax number you just obtained.

The division also wants owners of 10 percent or more named. It wants the vehicle identification number of the truck. If you use a commissary, the HR-7022 notification goes in with it.

The fee is $347 a year plus a $50 application fee. An opening inspection follows. The licensing sequence covers plan review, the inspection and the decal step by step.

Florida mobile food dispensing vehicles required to have vehicle identification numbers must submit that number on the license application. — Florida Administrative Code, Rule 61C-1.002, retrieved 2026-09-27

Put the Florida annual report on the calendar now

Every Florida LLC files an annual report to stay active. The first one is due the year after formation.

The filing window runs from January 1 to May 1. The LLC fee is $138.75. After May 1 a $400 late fee is added, and the state has no provision to waive it.

That late fee is more than the food license itself. It is the most expensive thing on this list to forget.

Form late in the year and you can push the first report back a year. Set an effective date of January 1 of the coming year in the articles. The annual report and income tax covers the rest of the yearly calendar.

$400Florida LLC annual reports are filed between January 1 and May 1 for $138.75, a $400 late fee applies after May 1, and there is no provision to waive it. — Florida Department of State, Division of Corporations, retrieved 2026-09-27

An LLC formed late in the year that adds a January 1 effective date for the coming year delays its first annual report by a year. — Florida Department of State, Division of Corporations, retrieved 2026-09-27

Questions