The Florida Senate

197.4155  Delinquent personal property taxes; installment payment program.--

(1)  A county tax collector may implement an installment payment program for the payment of delinquent personal property taxes. If implemented, the program must be available, upon application to the tax collector, to each delinquent personal property taxpayer whose delinquent personal property taxes exceed $1,000. The tax collector shall require each taxpayer who requests to participate in the program to submit an application on a form prescribed by the tax collector which, at a minimum, must include the name, address, a description of the property subject to personal property taxes, and the amount of the personal property taxes owed by the taxpayer.

(2)  Within 10 days after a taxpayer who owes delinquent personal property taxes submits the required application, the tax collector shall prescribe an installment payment plan for the full payment of the taxpayer's delinquent personal property taxes, including any delinquency charges, interest, and costs allowed by this chapter. The plan must be in writing and must be delivered to the taxpayer after it is prescribed. At the time the plan is developed, the tax collector may consider a taxpayer's current and anticipated future ability to pay over the time period of a potential installment payment plan. The plan must provide that if the taxpayer does not follow the payment terms or fails to timely file returns or pay current obligations after the date of the payment plan, the taxpayer will be considered delinquent under the terms of the plan, and any unpaid balance of tax, penalty, or interest scheduled in the payment plan will be due and payable immediately. The plan must also provide that unpaid tax amounts bear interest as provided by law. In prescribing such an installment payment plan, the tax collector may exercise flexibility as to the dates, amounts, and number of payments to collect all delinquent personal property taxes owed by the taxpayer, except that the plan must provide for the full satisfaction of all amounts owed by the taxpayer by no later than 3 years after the due date of the first payment under the plan.

(3)  If a tax warrant is issued under s. 197.413 against a delinquent taxpayer who is participating in an installment payment plan under this section, the tax warrant is unenforceable as long as the taxpayer is neither delinquent under the terms of the installment payment plan nor attempting to remove or dispose of the personal property that is subject to the tax warrant.

(4)  If the amounts due under the installment payment plan are not paid in full in accordance with the terms of the plan, the tax collector may use all enforcement methods available under the law.

History.--s. 2, ch. 98-167.