Buy a gas station in Florida

Most buyers use an SBA loan. An SBA 7(a) loan (up to $5M — up to $5.5M only for qualifying manufacturing and energy projects) can cover the business, the property, equipment and working capital. An SBA 504 loan is built for the real estate: roughly 50% from the bank, 40% from an SBA-backed lender and 10% from you — often 15%, because lenders treat gas stations as special-purpose property. Plan on about 10 to 20% down overall, plus inventory at closing, and Florida insurance costs will be part of the lender’s questions — bring premium quotes early. Have proof of funds ready for your offer: you’ll show it with your Letter of Intent, not before.

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SBA 7(a) loans ↗ · SBA 504 loans ↗

In Florida, storage tanks are regulated by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) under Chapters 62-761 (underground) and 62-762 (aboveground) of the Florida Administrative Code, with many inspections carried out by contracted county programs. The Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS) separately inspects fuel dispensers and fuel quality.

What to verify before you sign, and what lands on you at closing:

• Every facility has an FDEP Facility ID, and it stays with the location when the station sells — so the site’s registration, inspection history and any discharge records are all filed under that ID, and your environmental consultant can pull them. Ask the seller for the ID early, and check tank and line ages, the compliance and inspection history, and any discharge with its cleanup status. Your lender will order a Phase I environmental review either way.
• An old discharge is not an automatic deal-killer in Florida — check who is paying for it. FDEP’s Petroleum Restoration Program funds cleanup at many older sites: discharges were assigned eligibility under legacy programs when they were reported, and the Petroleum Cleanup Participation Program (PCPP) still covers discharges from before January 1, 1995 with the owner paying a 25% copayment and the state funding the rest up to $400,000. Ask for the discharge’s eligibility determination, its funding status, whether a cleanup is underway or finished, and any copay still owed. A closed discharge ends with a Site Rehabilitation Completion Order — get it in the file.
• At closing, the registration clock starts. You file an updated Storage Tank Facility Registration Form with FDEP within 10 days of the ownership change, and pay a $25-per-tank new-owner fee when FDEP invoices it. The seller’s financial-responsibility coverage (usually a pollution liability policy) ends with the sale — yours has to be in force from day one.

FDEP Storage Tank Compliance ↗ · FDACS fuel and gas pumps ↗ · EPA underground storage tanks ↗

• Beer and wine (ABT). Package beer and wine runs on a 2APS license (beer only: 1APS) from the Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco. These licenses are not quota-limited and the annual tax is under $200 even in the biggest counties. On a sale, the buyer normally transfers the seller’s license: under section 561.32, Florida Statutes, ABT approves the transfer after vetting the buyer like a new applicant — fingerprints, background, right to occupy the premises and tax clearance from the Department of Revenue. The transfer fee on a beer and wine license is 10% of the annual tax. File at contract signing, and know that a buyer with a complete transfer application can sell on a temporary license (section 561.331) while ABT finishes, so the beer and wine coolers don’t go dark.
• Full liquor is a separate purchase. If the store sells spirits, that’s a quota license (3PS package series): capped by county population, transferable only within its county, and traded on an open market — in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach they change hands for serious money. Its transfer fee is 4 mills on three years of average gross alcohol sales, capped at $5,000. Value it separately from the store, and check its standing and transfer history early.
• Lottery (Florida Lottery). The retailer contract cannot transfer — section 24.112, Florida Statutes says the authority "shall not be assignable or transferable." You file your own Retailer Application ($100, background checks) and it must be filed and approved before the ownership changes, or the store cannot sell lottery from closing day. A cooperative seller will have told you their retailer number early so your application can be sequenced.
• Tobacco and nicotine (ABT). Your own retail tobacco products dealer permit costs $50 per year per location, and stores selling vapes need a separate retail nicotine products dealer permit. Both are usually handled alongside the alcohol transfer filing — plan them early so they don’t hold up closing.

Florida Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco ↗ · Florida Lottery ↗

• Documentary stamps and the intangible tax add up. The deed carries documentary stamp tax of $0.70 per $100 of price everywhere except Miami-Dade — where commercial property pays $1.05 per $100 ($0.60 plus a $0.45 county surtax; the lower rate is only for single-family homes and condos). Customarily the seller pays the deed stamps, but the contract controls. Your side of the statement carries the financing taxes: $0.35 per $100 in documentary stamps on the note and mortgage, plus the nonrecurring intangible tax of $0.20 per $100 on the mortgage. On a financed seven-figure station, budget five figures of government charges across the deal and know which side of each line you are on before you compare offers.
• You can inherit the seller’s unpaid state taxes. Under section 213.758, Florida Statutes, buying more than half of a business, its assets or its inventory makes you liable for the seller’s unpaid Department of Revenue taxes — sales and use tax, reemployment tax, interest and penalties (corporate income tax is the exception) — capped at the greater of the purchase price or the value of what you bought. Protect yourself one of two ways: make the seller produce a certificate of compliance from the Department (all returns filed, all tax paid, no audit pending) before closing, or withhold enough of the price to cover the tax and pay it to the Department within 30 days after closing. Either party can also ask the Department to audit the seller — it must finish within 90 days. Every Florida purchase contract should name which route you are taking.

Match tax returns to P&Ls, monthly fuel gallons to supplier statements, and inside sales to POS reports. Read the fuel supply agreement for term, gallons owed, assignment rules and any payback of incentives, and if the land is leased, confirm the years left. Get three years of insurance premiums in writing — in Florida, the windstorm number can move a valuation. Our guide on fuel supply contracts explains what to look for.

Offers go in as a Letter of Intent with price, deposit, a 30 to 60 day due diligence period, financing terms and inventory at cost — with your proof of funds attached, the first and only time we ask for it. Then come the Phase I, lender approval, the FDEP registration update, the ABT license transfer, your Florida Lottery application, the supplier’s consent, the Department of Revenue compliance certificate, an inventory count and the keys. With financing and the license transfer running in parallel, most Florida station purchases close 60 to 90 days after the LOI is accepted. The full path is in how to buy a business.