How to Start a Lash Studio in Florida: The License Rules Behind Lash Services
The first thing to know about opening a lash studio in Florida is that the credential you are looking for does not exist. Florida has no eyelash license. Lash work is legal here, and thousands of artists do it, but they do it under three older credentials that were never designed for lashes alone. This guide explains those routes, the salon license your studio still needs, and the business setup around them, from the Florida sources that govern the work.
State sources last reviewed: November 3, 2026Researched from Florida state sources. Our guides are free. We may earn a commission when you use a partner service, at no additional cost to you.
On this page
- Who regulates lash services in Florida
- Florida lash studio requirements at a glance
- The three legal routes into Florida lash work
- The salon license for your studio space
- Forming your LLC with the Division of Corporations
- Registering your studio name as a fictitious name
- Getting your federal Employer Identification Number
- Florida sales tax: services are not taxed, retail products are
- Hiring staff: reemployment tax, wages and workers' comp
- County business tax receipts, zoning and occupancy
- Insurance and the costs that keep coming back
- Dates to put on your calendar
- Frequently asked questions
Who regulates lash services in Florida
Lash services in Florida are regulated by the Board of Cosmetology, inside the Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR), under Chapter 477 of the Florida Statutes. There is no lash chapter, no lash board and no lash license anywhere in that structure. DBPR's own published guidance draws the line clearly: adding eyelash extensions for compensation is listed among the services that need a DBPR license, and its answers to licensees state that a cosmetologist, full specialist or facial specialist can apply false eyelashes, and perform eyelash and eyebrow tinting, in a licensed cosmetology salon. Eyelash perming is listed for cosmetologists.
Contrast that with Texas, which created a dedicated Eyelash Extension Specialist license at 320 hours, covered in our Texas lash studio guide and compared state by state in the national lash licensing comparison. Florida took the other path: it folded lashes into the skin care side of cosmetology. One more boundary is worth knowing before you build a menu. Makeup application on its own, including strip lashes and individual lashes applied as part of makeup, does not require a DBPR license at all. The license line is crossed by eyelash extension services sold as a service, which is the core of a lash studio's menu, so a working lash studio is a licensed business here even though no license carries its name.
Florida lash studio requirements at a glance
| Requirement | Agency | Cost | Timeline |
|---|---|---|---|
| A qualifying credential for each lash artist: facial specialist, full specialist or cosmetologist | DBPR, Board of Cosmetology | $70 for a specialist registration; $40 plus $50 examination fee for the cosmetologist license | 220, 400 or 1,200 hours of school depending on the route; two year terms |
| Salon license for the studio, Form COSMO 6 | DBPR, Board of Cosmetology | $95 total | Apply before opening; tied to the salon name, address and owner |
| LLC Articles of Organization | Department of State, Division of Corporations (Sunbiz) | $125 | One time filing; annual report due every year between January 1 and May 1 |
| Fictitious name registration (DBA) | Division of Corporations | $50 | Advertise the name in a county newspaper first; registration runs five years |
| Employer Identification Number (EIN) | IRS | Free | Apply directly with the IRS |
| Business tax registration, Form DR-1 | Department of Revenue | No registration fee | Covers sales tax and reemployment tax; file before your first retail sale or first hire |
| Reemployment tax | Department of Revenue | 2.7% new employer rate on the first $7,000 of wages per employee | Quarterly reports on Form RT-6 once you are a liable employer |
| Workers' compensation coverage | Department of Financial Services (rules); private insurers (policies) | Premium varies | Required once you have four or more employees in this non-construction industry |
The three legal routes into Florida lash work
Every lash artist in your studio must hold one of the three credentials below. They are ordered the way most Florida lash artists actually choose among them, fastest first.
| Credential | Training hours | State exam | What it means for a lash studio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Facial Specialist (registration) | 220 hours | None | The lash route most artists take: facials, skin care, hair removal and lash services. No hair cutting, no nails. |
| Full Specialist (registration) | 400 hours | None | Everything a facial specialist can do, plus nail services. Useful for studios that pair lashes with nails. |
| Cosmetologist (license) | 1,200 hours | Two part written exam | The broad credential: lashes plus hair, nails and skin care. The route for studios that also sell hair services. |
The facial specialist registration is the workhorse. You must be at least 16 years old or hold a high school diploma, complete 220 hours in a facial specialty program at a licensed school, and apply to DBPR. There is no state examination. The state fee is $70 in total under Rule 61G5-24.002, a $30 application fee plus a $40 initial registration fee, and a board approved HIV/AIDS course certificate is part of the application package. DBPR's published answers place false eyelash application and lash tinting inside this registration's scope, performed in a licensed salon. The full specialist registration adds the nail specialty on the same terms, 400 hours in total. The cosmetologist license takes 1,200 hours plus the two part written examination through Pearson VUE, and it is the only one of the three that also unlocks hair services and lash perming as DBPR lists it.
Two warnings belong in every Florida lash plan. First, a private lash course certificate is not a license. Certification courses teach technique and are worth taking, but no course can register you with the state; landlords, insurers and clients who check will look for the DBPR credential, and working without one is unlicensed activity. Second, scope is defined by the credential, not by your training or your confidence. A facial specialist who starts offering nail services, or a nail specialist who starts offering lashes, is working outside their registration. Build the menu from the credentials your team actually holds.
Renewals for all three credentials run on a two year cycle with an October 31 deadline, with 10 hours of board approved continuing education under Rule 61G5-32.001, and an exemption from the education requirement for holders with at least 10 years of continuous licensure and no discipline. Track renewals per artist; a lapsed registration takes that artist off the floor until it is reinstated.
The salon license for your studio space
The premises needs its own license, separate from every artist's registration. Compensated cosmetology services in Florida must be performed in a licensed salon, and the short statutory list of services that licensed individuals may perform outside a salon, shampooing, hair cutting, hair arranging and basic nail cleansing among them, does not include eyelash extensions. Apply on Form COSMO 6. A lash focused business usually takes the Specialty Salon type, limited to the specialties practiced there; a studio that also offers hair applies as a Cosmetology Salon. The fee is $95 either way: a $50 non refundable application fee and a $40 license fee under Rule 61G5-24.005, plus a $5 unlicensed activity fee.
The license belongs to the salon name, address and owner on the application, and it is not transferable: a change to any of the three requires a new salon application and fee. You may open once the license is issued, and an inspector will visit unannounced for the initial inspection within approximately 90 days, checking the salon requirements in Rule 61G5-20.002, including sanitation standards and a minimum of 100 square feet of floor space. You do not need a lash credential to own the studio; the requirement is that the space is licensed and every person providing services holds a qualifying credential. Many Florida lash studios operate as a small licensed salon of their own rather than inside someone else's, and the suite model is covered in our Florida salon suite guide.
Forming your LLC with the Division of Corporations
Most first time studio owners form a limited liability company so the business's debts and legal problems stay with the business instead of following them home. In Florida you form an LLC by filing Articles of Organization with the Department of State's Division of Corporations, online through its Sunbiz portal or by mail. The fee is $125: a $100 filing fee plus a $25 registered agent designation fee, set in section 605.0213 of the Florida Statutes. Your registered agent needs a Florida street address, and your LLC name must include a designator such as "Limited Liability Company" or "LLC".
Florida then asks one thing of you every year. Each LLC files an annual report with the Division between January 1 and May 1, for $138.75. The first report is due the year after formation. Miss May 1 and a $400 late fee applies; an LLC that stops filing altogether can be administratively dissolved. Two Florida features work in your favor: there is no general state business license to buy on top of your DBPR licenses, and Florida has no state personal income tax, so there is no state income tax withholding for your staff and no state return for your own draw.
Forming the LLC: file Articles of Organization on Sunbiz, the Division of Corporations' official filing portal, for the $125 state fee, or pay a formation service to file it for you. The state fee is the same either way, and a service is optional, never a requirement.
Registering your studio name as a fictitious name
If your studio will operate under a name different from your legal name or your LLC's exact registered name, Florida calls that a fictitious name, and section 865.09 of the Florida Statutes, the Fictitious Name Act, requires you to register it with the Division of Corporations. The registration fee is $50, and the registration runs through December 31 of the fifth year after you file, with a $50 renewal.
Florida adds a step most states dropped long ago: before you register, you must advertise your intention to register the name at least once in a newspaper in the county where your studio will be located. You certify on the application that the advertisement ran; the Division does not require you to submit proof. Do the advertisement before you print signage, because the name on your salon license application, your fictitious name registration and your lease should all match.
Getting your federal Employer Identification Number
Your EIN is your business's federal tax ID, issued by the IRS. You need one to hire employees, open most business bank accounts, and file business taxes. It is free. Apply directly through the IRS and ignore any website that offers to obtain one for a fee; those sites charge you for a form the government gives away. Apply early, so the EIN never becomes a bottleneck when you sign a lease or set up payroll.
Florida sales tax: services are not taxed, retail products are
Register with the Florida Department of Revenue on the Florida Business Tax Application, Form DR-1, online or on paper, before you open. One application covers your sales tax registration and, when you hire, your reemployment tax account. The Department issues a Certificate of Registration and an annual resale certificate, which lets you buy retail inventory without paying tax on it, because the tax is collected when you sell it.
The register rule: lash services are not taxed. Florida's sales tax under Chapter 212 falls on retail sales of tangible personal property and on a specific list of services written into the statute, and lash services are not on that list. Retail product sales are taxable at the 6 percent state rate plus your county discretionary sales surtax, published county by county each year on Form DR-15DSS. Lash studios retail steadily, cleansers, aftercare kits and accessories, so set your point of sale system to itemize services and products separately from day one. One recent change matters on the lease side: Florida's sales tax on commercial rent was repealed effective October 1, 2025, so rent for occupancy periods beginning on or after that date carries no state sales tax or surtax.
Hiring staff: reemployment tax, wages and workers' comp
When you hire employees, Florida's unemployment tax, called reemployment tax, is administered by the Department of Revenue. You become liable after paying $1,500 or more in wages in a calendar quarter, or employing at least one person for part of a day in 20 different weeks in a calendar year. New employers start at a 2.7 percent rate on the first $7,000 of wages per employee per year, and that rate holds until you have reported for 10 quarters; after that it is experience based, between a 0.1 percent minimum and a 5.4 percent maximum for 2026 wages. Reports and payments are quarterly on Form RT-6, filed even for a quarter with no wages due.
Florida's minimum wage is $15.00 an hour effective September 30, 2026, through December 31, 2027, with a minimum direct cash wage of $11.98 an hour for tipped employees, plus tips. Commission and hourly hybrid pay plans are common in lash studios; confirm yours clears the minimum wage for every hour worked, and post the official Florida minimum wage notice. There is no state income tax to withhold.
Workers' compensation is not optional in Florida. A non-construction employer with four or more employees must carry workers' compensation insurance, counting corporate officers and LLC members who have not filed an exemption with the Division of Workers' Compensation. A small studio may sit under that line at first; know exactly where the line is before your fourth hire, not after.
The structural decision for a multi artist studio is W-2 artists or independent room renters. Florida issues no rental license; your salon license covers the premises and each renter works under their own qualifying credential. The rental has to be real: renters set their own prices, book their own clients, collect their own money and file their own taxes. If you set an artist's schedule, prices and service lineup, tax authorities are likely to see an employee no matter what the paperwork says. Put rental agreements in writing.
County business tax receipts, zoning and occupancy
State licenses do not guarantee your location is legal. Most Florida counties, and many cities, require a local business tax receipt under Chapter 205 of the Florida Statutes, issued by the county tax collector or the city; it replaced what used to be called an occupational license. Renters running their own businesses commonly need their own receipt as well. Separately, your city controls zoning, and a salon use has to be permitted at the address you choose. Lash studios are small footprint businesses, which makes them flexible, but the licensing follows the services, not the square footage: a one room studio still needs its salon license. Check zoning before the lease, not after.
Insurance and the costs that keep coming back
Beyond the workers' compensation duty above, lash studio owners typically shop for general liability coverage, professional liability coverage written for lash and skin services, and property coverage for beds, lighting and retail inventory. Eye area services make professional liability the central policy in this trade; adhesives and chemical services near the eyes are exactly what insurers ask about. Premiums vary widely, so this guide does not quote benchmark prices. Get quotes before your lease starts, because many landlords require proof of liability coverage as a lease condition.
Your recurring state costs are small and predictable: credential renewals on the two year cycle with an October 31 deadline, sales tax collected and remitted on retail products, and the Sunbiz annual report every spring. The expensive mistakes in a Florida lash launch are almost never the state fees. They are the artist hired on a course certificate with no DBPR registration, the menu that drifts outside a facial specialist's scope, and the home based setup that was never a licensed salon.
Dates to put on your calendar
- October 31, every two years: facial specialist, full specialist and cosmetologist credentials renew with DBPR, with 10 hours of continuing education completed first, unless the holder qualifies for the 10 year exemption.
- January 1 to May 1, every year: LLC annual report to the Division of Corporations on Sunbiz, $138.75. After May 1 the $400 late fee applies.
- Every five years: fictitious name registration renews with the Division of Corporations, on or before December 31 of the expiration year.
- Quarterly: reemployment tax reports on Form RT-6 to the Department of Revenue, once you are a liable employer.
- On the Department of Revenue's schedule: sales tax returns and remittance for retail product sales, at your assigned filing frequency.
- Before any change of name, address or ownership: a new salon license application (COSMO 6, $95). The salon license does not transfer.
This guide is general information researched from official Florida state sources, not legal or tax advice. Requirements, fees and forms change; verify the current rules with DBPR and the other agencies linked above before you file, sign or spend.
Frequently asked questions
Does Florida have an eyelash extension license?
No. Florida issues no eyelash extension license, no lash specialty registration and no lash examination. Adding eyelash extensions for compensation requires a DBPR license, and the service sits inside the scope of three existing credentials: the cosmetologist license, the full specialist registration and the facial specialist registration. A private lash course certificate is training, not a state credential.
What is the fastest legal route into lash work in Florida?
The facial specialist registration: 220 hours of training at a licensed school, a $70 state fee in total, and no state examination. It covers facials and skin care services and, per DBPR, a facial specialist can apply false eyelashes and perform eyelash and eyebrow tinting in a licensed cosmetology salon. The full specialist registration at 400 hours adds nail services, and the cosmetologist license at 1,200 hours covers everything.
Does a Florida lash studio need a salon license?
Yes. Lash services are cosmetology services, and compensated cosmetology services must be performed in a licensed salon. A lash focused business applies on Form COSMO 6, usually as a specialty salon, for a $95 fee. The license belongs to the salon name, address and owner on the application, and a change to any of the three requires a new application rather than a transfer.
Can I offer lash extensions from home in Florida?
Not as an unlicensed setup. Florida law lets licensed individuals perform a short list of simple services outside a licensed salon, such as shampooing, hair cutting, hair arranging and basic nail cleansing. Eyelash extensions are not on that list. Lash services belong inside a licensed salon, which can be your own licensed space if it meets the salon requirements and is licensed in your name at that address.
Who can tint eyelashes or perform lash perming in Florida?
DBPR's published answers say a cosmetologist, full specialist or facial specialist can perform eyelash and eyebrow tinting in a licensed cosmetology salon, and list eyelash perming for cosmetologists. When a service sits near the edge of a registration's scope, confirm it with DBPR before you put it on the menu, because the registration, not the training course, defines what you may sell.
Are lash services subject to sales tax in Florida?
No. Florida sales tax falls on retail sales of products and on a specific list of services in Chapter 212 of the Florida Statutes, and lash services are not on that list. Retail products you sell, such as lash cleansers and aftercare kits clients take home, are taxable at the 6 percent state rate plus your county discretionary sales surtax. Keep services and products itemized separately in your point of sale system.