Florida R&D Tax Credit

Florida R&D Tax Credit (Expenses)

Provides Florida companies with tax credit support for qualifying innovation spending.

Eligibility · United States · US-FL

The Florida Corporate Income Tax R&D Credit is a state tax credit administered by the Florida Department of Revenue (FDOR) under Section 220.196 of the Florida Statutes and Rule 12C-1.0196 of the Florida Administrative Code. The credit equals 10% of qualified research expenses incurred in Florida that exceed the applicant's base amount, calculated using federal Internal Revenue Code Section 41 conformity rules, meaning only businesses already qualifying for the federal R&D tax credit can claim the Florida credit. The statewide annual pool is capped at $9 million; if total claims exceed that cap, FDOR allocates credits pro-rata among all valid applications, making this program behave competitively like a grant during its brief annual window. Each taxpayer's credit is further limited to 50% of its Florida corporate income tax liability for the year claimed, and unused credit carries forward for up to five years. Applicants must hold active certification from the Florida Department of Commerce as a "qualified target industry business" in one of the eligible sectors: manufacturing, life sciences, information technology, cloud IT, aviation and aerospace, homeland security and defense, marine sciences, materials science, or nanotechnology — FDOR will not process an application without a valid Commerce certification letter. The 2026 application window for 2025 calendar-year qualified expenses ran from March 20 through March 26, 2026, via the FDOR tax portal at taxapps.floridarevenue.com; that window is now closed. The next application cycle opens March 20, 2027 and covers qualified research expenses incurred during calendar year 2026. Companies in the eligible sectors should begin accumulating R&D expense documentation now and renew their Florida Department of Commerce target-industry certification well in advance of the annual 7-day application window.