Employer of record in Florida: PEO rules, payroll registration and what the client still owns (2026)

Florida's statutes do not use the term "employer of record." What Florida regulates is employee leasing, the PEO model: as of October 2026, an employee leasing company and each of its controlling persons must hold a license from the Department of Business and Professional Regulation's Board of Employee Leasing Companies, and a licensed company is by statute "the employer of the leased employees," responsible for reemployment assistance tax and workers' compensation. A provider that is neither licensed nor a temporary help firm gets no such status, so the client can still be the employer under Florida's common-law test, and in every arrangement the client keeps day-to-day direction of the work and its own hiring decisions.

This page is for a company outside Florida, or a staffing firm, deciding whether to employ someone in Florida through an employer of record (EOR) or PEO or to register itself. The difference between an EOR, a PEO, a staffing agency and payrolling is in what is an employer of record and payrolling services explained; the general Florida checklist is in hiring employees in Florida; and recruiting-agency and talent-agency licensing is in staffing agency license in Florida. This page adds the leasing license, who reports the wages, who carries workers' compensation, who runs E-Verify, and what stays with you.

Florida employer of record and PEO rules at a glance

Does Florida license employer of record companies or PEOs?

It licenses employee leasing companies, which is what most PEOs are. Section 468.520(4) defines employee leasing as an arrangement in which "a leasing company assigns its employees to a client and allocates the direction of and control over the leased employees between the leasing company and the client," and § 468.526(1) says a leasing company or controlling person "may not engage in business in this state without first obtaining a license from the department." Each controlling person is fingerprinted and checked for good moral character under § 468.525(2), and the company must keep a registered agent in Florida and at least one licensed controlling person.

The statute also sets what the client contract must say. Under § 468.525(4), the leasing company reserves a right of direction and control over the leased employees, pays wages "without regard to payments by the client," takes full responsibility for payroll taxes, "retains authority to hire, terminate, discipline, and reassign" the leased employees (the client may accept or cancel an assignment), and keeps a right of direction over safety, including safety inspections, safety policies and workers' compensation claims. Each worker gets written notice of the relationship. Section 468.531 makes it a first-degree misdemeanor to practice without a license or to use titles such as "professional employer organization" or "employee leasing company" without one.

To check a provider, search its name or license number in the DBPR license search, and look at the expiration date as well as the status: the board's page says licenses expire April 30 of every even year.

What if the provider calls itself an employer of record but holds no leasing license?

Then ask which exclusion it relies on. Section 468.520(4)(a) excludes a temporary help arrangement, "whereby an organization hires its own employees and assigns them to a client to support or supplement the client's workforce in special work situations such as employee absences, temporary skill shortages, seasonal workloads, and special assignments and projects." A staffing firm that payrolls one person for a defined project usually describes itself that way, and it is still an employer: Florida's workers' compensation definition of employer in § 440.02(19)(a) includes "employee leasing companies" and "employment agencies that provide their own employees to other persons."

A provider that only runs payroll is different. Florida's reemployment statute shifts workers to the provider only when the client contracts with an "employee leasing company," which § 443.036(18) defines as an employing unit with a valid chapter 468 license. Otherwise § 443.1216(1)(a)2. falls back on "the usual common-law rules," and a client that recruits, directs and can dismiss the worker may be the employer whatever the invoice says. Get the provider's answer in writing before the start date.

Who pays Florida reemployment tax on an EOR or PEO worker?

For a licensed leasing company, the statute answers it. Section 468.529(1) says the company "shall be responsible for timely payment of reemployment assistance taxes pursuant to chapter 443," and § 443.1216(1)(a)2. says "Employees of an employee leasing company must be reported under the employee leasing company's tax identification number and contribution rate." The exception is the one-time client-method election: a leasing company that elected it reports each client's leased employees under that client's own account and rate, files a quarterly report for each client electronically, and cannot switch back. A newly licensed company has 30 days after licensure to choose it. Under the client method, a client that leaves keeps the wage and benefit history built up while leasing.

Two things stay with the client whichever method applies. The statute says "the applicable client company is an employing unit" for the fraud and false-statement provisions of § 443.071, and the leasing company must tell its workers' compensation carrier, the Division of Workers' Compensation and the Department of Revenue's tax collection service within 30 days when a client relationship starts or ends (§ 468.529(3)). If you also have direct Florida employees outside the arrangement, you need your own reemployment tax account for them once you meet the liability tests on the Department of Revenue's reemployment tax page.

Who carries workers' compensation in Florida?

The leasing company. Section 468.529(1) makes it "responsible for providing workers' compensation coverage pursuant to chapter 440," and § 468.529(2) bars an initial or renewal license unless it first files evidence of coverage "for all leased employees in this state." It must keep, for its carrier, each client's name and federal ID number, the covered employees supplied to each client by classification code, and the wages and premiums by code. Ask for the certificate and check that the class code matches the work actually done.

Coverage for anyone you employ directly is your own question. The Division of Workers' Compensation sets the coverage thresholds by industry, four or more employees outside construction and one or more in construction, as summarized in our Florida hiring checklist.

Which registrations, reports and notices still apply?

• Income tax withholding: none at the state level; Florida has no personal income tax, so there is no state withholding account or form, only the federal W-4.
• E-Verify: private employers with 25 or more employees have used it for new hires since July 1, 2023 under § 448.095(2)(b)2. Paragraph (2)(f) lets a licensed leasing company and its client decide in writing who does it: if the agreement "places the primary obligation for compliance with this section upon the client company," the leasing company is not required to verify; without one, the leasing company is responsible. See E-Verify requirements in Florida.
• New-hire report: due within 20 days of the hire date under § 409.2576; agree which party files it.
• Notice of the leasing relationship: the leasing company gives each assigned worker written notice (§ 468.525(3)(a)).
• Posters: the reemployment assistance "To Employees" poster and the Florida minimum wage notice, both listed in the Florida hiring checklist.

What does the client company still own in Florida?

More than a PEO brochure suggests. Section 468.525(4)(a) lets the client retain "such sufficient direction and control over the leased employees as is necessary to conduct the client's business," discharge any fiduciary duty, or comply with its own licensing and regulatory requirements. In practice that means:

• The hiring process itself. You usually find, interview and choose the person. Florida requires every party's consent before recording or transcribing an interview; see Florida call recording law for recruiters. Background checks and drug testing follow Florida background check laws and Florida drug testing laws, whoever orders them.
• Day-to-day supervision and the worksite. The leasing company holds a contractual right over safety management, but you control the premises and the work. Agree who inspects, who trains and who reports injuries.
• Restrictive covenants. Check whose name is on any non-compete or confidentiality agreement; see Florida non-compete laws.
• Co-employment exposure. Sharing control is the point of the model, so wage, discrimination and labor claims can name both parties; see joint employer liability for staffing agencies.
• Job postings for remote roles. Florida has no pay range rule, but a posting open to candidates in other states can pick up theirs.

When is registering your own company in Florida the better route?

• You want to make the hire, fire and discipline calls yourself. A Florida leasing contract must reserve those to the leasing company, with the client limited to accepting or cancelling an assignment.
• You expect several Florida employees. With no state income tax, Florida registration is mostly a reemployment tax account, workers' compensation at the size and industry thresholds, and new-hire reporting.
• The work is a short, defined project. A staffing firm's temporary help or payrolling arrangement may fit better than a PEO built for ongoing co-employment.
• The provider cannot show a license or a clear exclusion. If it is neither a licensed leasing company nor genuinely the employer, you may be the employer anyway, without the registrations.

Questions to ask an employer of record or PEO before signing for Florida

1. Are you licensed by DBPR as an employee leasing company, or registered as de minimis? What is the license number, and when does it expire?
2. If you are not licensed, which exclusion in § 468.520(4) do you rely on, and are you the worker's employer under the common-law test?
3. Whose reemployment tax account and rate will the wages be reported under: yours, or ours under the client method?
4. Who is the workers' compensation carrier, which class code will you use, and can we see the certificate?
5. Who runs E-Verify, and does our agreement place that obligation on us under § 448.095(2)(f)?
6. Who files the new-hire report within 20 days and gives the worker written notice of the arrangement?
7. How will hiring, discipline and termination decisions work, given that the statute reserves them to you?
8. Are you an IRS certified professional employer organization, and who is liable for federal employment taxes if you fail to pay?
9. What happens to our wage history, claims history and benefits if we end the contract?

Hiring in another state through a provider? The same questions apply, but the answers differ: Texas licenses PEOs through its Department of Licensing and Regulation (employer of record in Texas), and California has no PEO license but its own test for who the employer is (employer of record in California).