Florida Senate - 2012                                    SB 2098
       
       
       
       By the Committee on Budget Subcommittee on Finance and Tax
       
       
       
       
       593-02814-12                                          20122098__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to the tax on sales, use, and other
    3         transactions; amending s. 212.06, F.S.; revising the
    4         definition of the term “dealer” for purposes relating
    5         to the collection of the tax on sales, use, and other
    6         transactions; amending s. 212.0596, F.S.; revising the
    7         term “mail order sale” to specifically include sales
    8         of tangible personal property ordered by Internet;
    9         deleting certain provisions that specify dealer
   10         activities or other circumstances that subject mail
   11         order sales to this state’s power to levy and collect
   12         the sales and use tax; providing that certain persons
   13         who make mail order sales and who have a substantial
   14         nexus with this state are subject to this state’s
   15         power to levy and collect the sales and use tax when
   16         they engage in certain enumerated activities;
   17         specifying that dealers are not required to collect
   18         and remit sales and use tax unless certain
   19         circumstances exist; creating a rebuttable presumption
   20         that a dealer is subject to the state’s power to levy
   21         and collect the sales or use tax under specified
   22         circumstances; specifying evidentiary proof that may
   23         be submitted to rebut the presumption; requiring that
   24         the Department of Revenue develop a tracking system,
   25         in consultation with the Revenue Estimating
   26         Conference, to determine the amount of sales tax
   27         remitted by out-of-state dealers who would otherwise
   28         not be required to collect and remit sales taxes but
   29         for the amendments made by the act; requiring that the
   30         department submit a report to the Governor and
   31         Legislature by a specified date each year; requiring
   32         that the report contain certain information; requiring
   33         that the Revenue Estimating Conference use such
   34         information to determine the amount of sales taxes
   35         remitted in the previous calendar year by such out-of
   36         state dealers and estimate the amount that may be
   37         expected in the following fiscal year; requiring that
   38         the Legislature use the information to develop
   39         legislation designed to return the amount of sales
   40         taxes collected to the taxpayers of the state;
   41         providing an effective date.
   42  
   43  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   44  
   45         Section 1. Subsection (2) of section 212.06, Florida
   46  Statutes, is amended to read:
   47         212.06 Sales, storage, use tax; collectible from dealers;
   48  “dealer” defined; dealers to collect from purchasers;
   49  legislative intent as to scope of tax.—
   50         (2)(a) The term “dealer,” as used in this chapter, means
   51  any includes every person who:
   52         (a) Manufactures or produces tangible personal property for
   53  sale at retail; for use, consumption, or distribution; or for
   54  storage to be used or consumed in this state.
   55         (b) The term “dealer” is further defined to mean every
   56  person, as used in this chapter, who Imports, or causes to be
   57  imported, tangible personal property from any state or foreign
   58  country for sale at retail; for use, consumption, or
   59  distribution; or for storage to be used or consumed in this
   60  state.
   61         (c) The term “dealer” is further defined to mean every
   62  person, as used in this chapter, who Sells at retail or who
   63  offers for sale at retail, or who has in his or her possession
   64  for sale at retail; or for use, consumption, or distribution; or
   65  for storage to be used or consumed in this state, tangible
   66  personal property as defined herein, including a retailer who
   67  transacts a mail order sale.
   68         (d) The term “dealer” is further defined to mean any person
   69  who Has sold at retail; or used, or consumed, or distributed; or
   70  stored for use or consumption in this state, tangible personal
   71  property and who cannot prove that the tax levied by this
   72  chapter has been paid on the sale at retail, the use, the
   73  consumption, the distribution, or the storage of such tangible
   74  personal property. However, The term “dealer” does not include
   75  mean a person who is not a “dealer” as otherwise defined in
   76  under the definition of any other paragraph of this subsection
   77  and whose only owned or leased property in this state,
   78  (including property owned or leased by an affiliate,) in this
   79  state is located at the premises of a printer with which it has
   80  contracted for printing, if such property consists of the final
   81  printed product, property which becomes a part of the final
   82  printed product, or property from which the printed product is
   83  produced.
   84         (e) The term “dealer” is further defined to mean any
   85  person, as used in this chapter, who Leases or rents tangible
   86  personal property, as defined in this chapter, for a
   87  consideration, permitting the use or possession of such property
   88  without transferring title thereto, except as expressly provided
   89  for to the contrary in this chapter herein.
   90         (f) The term “dealer” is further defined to mean any
   91  person, as used in this chapter, who Maintains or uses has
   92  within this state, directly or by a subsidiary, an office,
   93  distributing house, salesroom, or house, warehouse, or other
   94  place of business operated by any person other than a common
   95  carrier acting in the capacity of a common carrier.
   96         (g) “Dealer” also means and includes every person who
   97  Solicits business either by direct representatives, indirect
   98  representatives, or manufacturers’ agents; by distribution of
   99  catalogs or other advertising matter; or by any other means
  100  whatsoever, and by reason thereof receives orders for tangible
  101  personal property from consumers for use, consumption,
  102  distribution, and storage for use or consumption in the state;
  103  such dealer shall collect the tax imposed by this chapter from
  104  the purchaser, and no action, either in law or in equity, on a
  105  sale or transaction as provided by the terms of this chapter may
  106  be had in this state by any such dealer unless it is
  107  affirmatively shown that the provisions of this chapter have
  108  been fully complied with.
  109         (h) “Dealer” also means and includes every person who, As a
  110  representative, agent, or solicitor of an out-of-state principal
  111  or principals, solicits, receives, and accepts orders from
  112  consumers in the state for future delivery and whose principal
  113  refuses to register as a dealer.
  114         (i) Constitutes “Dealer” also means and includes the state
  115  or any, county, municipality, district any political
  116  subdivision, agency, bureau, or department, or other state or
  117  local governmental instrumentality.
  118         (j) The term “dealer” is further defined to mean any person
  119  who Leases, or grants a license to use, occupy, or enter upon,
  120  living quarters, sleeping or housekeeping accommodations in
  121  hotels, apartment houses, roominghouses, tourist or trailer
  122  camps, real property, space or spaces in parking lots or garages
  123  for motor vehicles, docking or storage space or spaces for boats
  124  in boat docks or marinas, or tie-down or storage space or spaces
  125  for aircraft at airports. The term includes “dealer” also means
  126  any person who has leased, occupied, or used or was entitled to
  127  use any living quarters, sleeping or housekeeping accommodations
  128  in hotels, apartment houses, roominghouses, tourist or trailer
  129  camps, real property, space or spaces in parking lots or garages
  130  for motor vehicles, or docking or storage space or spaces for
  131  boats in boat docks or marinas, or who has purchased
  132  communication services or electric power or energy, and who
  133  cannot prove that the tax levied by this chapter has been paid
  134  to the vendor or lessor on any such transactions. The term
  135  “dealer” does not include any person who leases, lets, rents, or
  136  grants a license to use, occupy, or enter upon any living
  137  quarters, sleeping quarters, or housekeeping accommodations in
  138  apartment houses, roominghouses, tourist camps, or trailer
  139  camps, and who exclusively enters into a bona fide written
  140  agreement for continuous residence for longer than 6 months in
  141  duration with any person who leases, lets, rents, or is granted
  142  a license to use such property.
  143         (k) “Dealer” also means any person who Sells, provides, or
  144  performs a service taxable under this chapter. The term includes
  145  “Dealer” also means any person who purchases, uses, or consumes
  146  a service taxable under this chapter who cannot prove that the
  147  tax levied by this chapter has been paid to the seller of the
  148  taxable service.
  149         (l) “Dealer” also means any person who Solicits, offers,
  150  provides, enters into, issues, or delivers any service warranty
  151  taxable under this chapter, or who receives, on behalf of such a
  152  person, any consideration from a service warranty holder.
  153         Section 2. Section 212.0596, Florida Statutes, is amended
  154  to read:
  155         212.0596 Taxation of mail order sales.—
  156         (1) For purposes of this chapter, a “mail order sale” is a
  157  sale of tangible personal property, ordered by mail, Internet,
  158  or other means of communication, from a dealer who receives the
  159  order in another state of the United States, or in a
  160  commonwealth, territory, or other area under the jurisdiction of
  161  the United States, and transports the property or causes the
  162  property to be transported, whether or not by mail, from any
  163  jurisdiction of the United States, including this state, to a
  164  person in this state, including the person who ordered the
  165  property.
  166         (2) Every dealer as defined in s. 212.06(2)(c) who makes a
  167  mail order sale is subject to the power of this state to levy
  168  and collect the tax imposed by this chapter when:
  169         (a) The dealer is a corporation doing business under the
  170  laws of this state or is a person domiciled in, a resident of,
  171  or a citizen of, this state;
  172         (b) The dealer maintains retail establishments or offices
  173  in this state, whether the mail order sales thus subject to
  174  taxation by this state result from or are related in any other
  175  way to the activities of such establishments or offices;
  176         (c) The dealer has agents or representatives in this state
  177  who solicit business or transact business on behalf of the
  178  dealer, whether the mail order sales thus subject to taxation by
  179  this state result from or are related in any other way to such
  180  solicitation or transaction of business, except that a printer
  181  who mails or delivers for an out-of-state print purchaser
  182  material the printer printed for it is shall not be deemed to be
  183  the print purchaser’s agent or representative for purposes of
  184  this paragraph;
  185         (d) The property was delivered in this state in fulfillment
  186  of a sales contract that was entered into in this state, in
  187  accordance with applicable conflict of laws rules, when a person
  188  in this state accepted an offer by ordering the property;
  189         (e) The dealer, by purposefully or systematically
  190  exploiting the market provided by this state by any media
  191  assisted, media-facilitated, or media-solicited means,
  192  including, but not limited to, direct mail advertising,
  193  unsolicited distribution of catalogs, computer-assisted
  194  shopping, television, radio, or other electronic media, or
  195  magazine or newspaper advertisements or other media, creates
  196  nexus with this state;
  197         (f) Through compact or reciprocity with another
  198  jurisdiction of the United States, that jurisdiction uses its
  199  taxing power and its jurisdiction over the retailer in support
  200  of this state’s taxing power;
  201         (d)(g) The dealer consents, expressly or by implication, to
  202  the imposition of the tax imposed by this chapter;
  203         (h) The dealer is subject to service of process under s.
  204  48.181;
  205         (e)(i) The dealer’s mail order sales are subject to the
  206  power of this state to tax sales or to require the dealer to
  207  collect use taxes under a statute or statutes of the United
  208  States;
  209         (f)(j) The dealer owns real property or tangible personal
  210  property that is physically in this state, except that a dealer
  211  whose only property in this state, (including property owned by
  212  an affiliate,) in this state is located at the premises of a
  213  printer with which the vendor has contracted for printing, and
  214  is either a final printed product, or property which becomes a
  215  part of the final printed product, or property from which the
  216  printed product is produced, is not deemed to own such property
  217  for purposes of this paragraph;
  218         (g)(k)A person, other than a person acting in the capacity
  219  of a common carrier, The dealer, while not having nexus with
  220  this state on any of the bases described in paragraphs (a)-(j)
  221  or paragraph (l), is a corporation that is a member of an
  222  affiliated group of corporations, as defined in s. 1504(a) of
  223  the Internal Revenue Code, whose members are includable under s.
  224  1504(b) of the Internal Revenue Code and whose members are
  225  eligible to file a consolidated tax return for federal corporate
  226  income tax purposes and any parent or subsidiary corporation in
  227  the affiliated group has substantial nexus with this state and:
  228         1. Sells a similar line of products as the dealer and does
  229  so under the same or a similar business name;
  230         2. Maintains an office, distribution facility, warehouse,
  231  storage place, or similar place of business in this state to
  232  facilitate the delivery of property or services sold by the
  233  dealer to the dealer’s customers;
  234         3. Uses trademarks, service marks, or trade names in this
  235  state which are the same or substantially similar to those used
  236  by the dealer;
  237         4. Delivers, installs, assembles, or performs maintenance
  238  services for the dealer’s customers in this state;
  239         5. Facilitates the dealer’s delivery of property to
  240  customers in this state by allowing the dealer’s customers to
  241  pick up property sold by the dealer at an office, distribution
  242  facility, warehouse, storage place, or similar place of business
  243  maintained by the person in this state; or
  244         6. Conducts any other activities in this state which are
  245  significantly associated with the dealer’s ability to establish
  246  and maintain a market in this state for the dealer’s sales on
  247  one or more of the bases described in paragraphs (a)-(j) or
  248  paragraph (l); or
  249         (h)(l) The dealer or the dealer’s activities have
  250  sufficient connection with or relationship to this state or its
  251  residents of some type other than those described in paragraphs
  252  (a)-(g) (a)-(k) to create nexus empowering this state to tax its
  253  mail order sales or to require the dealer to collect sales tax
  254  or accrue use tax.
  255  
  256  Notwithstanding other provisions of law, a dealer is not
  257  required to collect and remit sales or use tax under this
  258  subsection unless the dealer has a physical presence in this
  259  state or the activities conducted in this state on the dealer’s
  260  behalf are significantly associated with the dealer’s ability to
  261  establish and maintain a market for sales in this state.
  262         (3)(a) Notwithstanding other provisions of law or this
  263  section, there is established a rebuttable presumption that
  264  every dealer as defined in s. 212.06(2) who makes a mail order
  265  sale is also subject to the power of this state to levy and
  266  collect the tax imposed by this chapter if the dealer enters
  267  into an agreement with one or more residents of this state under
  268  which the resident, for a commission or other consideration,
  269  directly or indirectly refers potential customers, whether by a
  270  link on an Internet website, an in-person oral presentation,
  271  telemarketing, or otherwise, to the dealer, if the cumulative
  272  gross receipts from sales by the dealer to customers in this
  273  state who are referred to the dealer by all residents having
  274  this type of an agreement with the dealer is in excess of
  275  $10,000 during the 12-month period immediately before the
  276  rebuttable presumption arose.
  277         (b) The presumption in paragraph (a) may be rebutted by the
  278  submission of evidence proving that the residents with whom the
  279  dealer has an agreement did not engage in any activity within
  280  this state which was significantly associated with the dealer’s
  281  ability to establish or maintain the dealer’s market in this
  282  state during the 12 months immediately before the rebuttable
  283  presumption arose. The evidence may consist of sworn affidavits,
  284  obtained and given in good faith, from each resident with whom
  285  the dealer has an agreement attesting that he or she did not
  286  engage in any solicitation in this state on the dealer’s behalf
  287  during the previous year.
  288         (4)(3) Every dealer engaged in the business of making mail
  289  order sales is subject to the requirements of this chapter for
  290  cooperation of dealers in collection of taxes and in
  291  administration of this chapter, except that no fee shall be
  292  imposed upon such dealer for carrying out any required activity.
  293         (5)(4) The department shall, with the consent of another
  294  jurisdiction of the United States whose cooperation is needed,
  295  enforce this chapter in that jurisdiction, either directly or,
  296  at the option of that jurisdiction, through its officers or
  297  employees.
  298         (6)(5) The tax required under this section to be collected
  299  and any amount unreturned to a purchaser which that is not tax
  300  but was collected from the purchaser under the representation
  301  that it was tax constitute funds of the State of Florida from
  302  the moment of collection.
  303         (7)(6) Notwithstanding other provisions of law, a dealer
  304  who makes a mail order sale in this state is exempt from
  305  collecting and remitting any local option surtax on the sale,
  306  unless the dealer is located in a county that imposes a surtax
  307  within the meaning of s. 212.054(3)(a), the order is placed
  308  through the dealer’s location in such county, and the property
  309  purchased is delivered into such county or into another county
  310  in this state that levies the surtax, in which case the
  311  provisions of s. 212.054(3)(a) are applicable.
  312         (8)(7) The department may establish by rule procedures for
  313  collecting the use tax from unregistered persons who but for
  314  their mail order purchases would not be required to remit sales
  315  or use tax directly to the department. The procedures may
  316  provide for waiver of registration and registration fees,
  317  provisions for irregular remittance of tax, elimination of the
  318  collection allowance, and nonapplication of local option
  319  surtaxes.
  320         Section 3. (1) The Department of Revenue shall develop a
  321  tracking system, in consultation with the Revenue Estimating
  322  Conference, to determine the amount of sales taxes remitted by
  323  out–of-state dealers who would otherwise not be required to
  324  collect and remit sales taxes in the absence of the amendments
  325  made to s. 212.0596, Florida Statutes, in section 2 of this act.
  326  By February 1 of each year, the Department of Revenue shall
  327  submit a report to the Governor, the President of the Senate,
  328  and the Speaker of the House of Representatives which sets forth
  329  the amount of sales taxes collected and remitted by such dealers
  330  in the previous calendar year and the methodology used to
  331  determine the amount.
  332         (2) By March 1 of each year, the Revenue Estimating
  333  Conference shall use the information provided by the Department
  334  of Revenue pursuant to subsection (1) to determine the amount of
  335  sales taxes remitted in the previous calendar year by such out
  336  of-state dealers who would otherwise not be required to collect
  337  and remit sales taxes and estimate the amount that may be
  338  expected in the following fiscal year.
  339         (3) The Legislature shall use the information provided by
  340  the Department of Revenue and the Revenue Estimating Conference
  341  to develop legislation designed to return the amount of those
  342  sales taxes collected to the taxpayers of this state. The
  343  Legislature may accomplish this by establishing one or more
  344  sales tax holidays designed to reduce tax collections in an
  345  amount not less than the amounts determined by the Revenue
  346  Estimating Conference. If the amounts collected are determined
  347  to be of a recurring nature and sufficient to lower the tax rate
  348  set forth in chapter 212, Florida Statutes, the Legislature may
  349  lower the tax rate and implement other tax relief as it deems
  350  appropriate.
  351         Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2012.