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The Florida Senate

2019 Florida Statutes

Title XIV TAXATION AND FINANCE
Chapter 210 TAX ON TOBACCO PRODUCTS Entire Chapter
SECTION 55
Distributors; monthly returns.
F.S. 210.55
210.55 Distributors; monthly returns.—
(1) On or before the 10th of each month, every taxpayer with a place of business in this state shall file a return with the division showing the taxable price of each tobacco product brought or caused to be brought into this state for sale, or made, manufactured, or fabricated in this state for sale in this state, during the preceding month. Every taxpayer outside this state shall file a return showing the quantity and taxable price of each tobacco product shipped or transported to retailers in this state, to be sold by those retailers, during the preceding month. Returns shall be made upon forms furnished and prescribed by the division and shall contain any other information that the division requires. Each return shall be accompanied by a remittance for the full tax liability shown.
(2) As soon as practicable after any return is filed, the division shall examine each return and correct it, if necessary, according to its best judgment and information. If the division finds that any amount of tax is due from the taxpayer and unpaid, it shall notify the taxpayer of the deficiency, stating that it proposes to assess the amount due together with interest and penalties. If a deficiency disclosed by the division’s examination cannot be allocated to one or more particular months, the division shall notify the taxpayer of the deficiency, stating its intention to assess the amount due for a given period without allocating it to any particular months.
(3) If, within 60 days after the mailing of notice of the proposed assessment, the taxpayer files a protest to the proposed assessment and requests a hearing on it, the division shall give notice to the taxpayer of the time and place fixed for the hearing, shall hold a hearing on the protest, and shall issue a final assessment to the taxpayer for the amount found to be due as a result of the hearing. If a protest is not filed within 60 days, the division shall issue a final assessment to the taxpayer. In any action or proceeding in respect to the proposed assessment, the taxpayer shall have the burden of establishing the incorrectness or invalidity of any final assessment made by the division.
(4) If any taxpayer required to file any return fails to do so within the time prescribed, the taxpayer shall, on the written demand of the division, file the return within 20 days after mailing of the demand and at the same time pay the tax due on its basis. If the taxpayer fails within that time to file the return, the division shall prepare the return from its own knowledge and from the information that it obtains and on that basis shall assess a tax, which shall be paid within 10 days after the division has mailed to the taxpayer a written notice of the amount and a demand for its payment. In any action or proceeding in respect to the assessment, the taxpayer shall have the burden of establishing the incorrectness or invalidity of any return or assessment made by the division because of the failure of the taxpayer to make a return.
(5) All taxes are due not later than the 10th day of the month following the calendar month in which they were incurred, and thereafter shall bear interest at the annual rate of 12 percent. If the amount of tax due for a given period is assessed without allocating it to any particular month, the interest shall begin with the date of the assessment.
(6) In issuing its final assessment, the division shall add to the amount of tax found due and unpaid a penalty of 10 percent, but if it finds that the taxpayer has made a false return with intent to evade the tax, the penalty shall be 50 percent of the entire tax as shown by the corrected return. In assessing a tax on the basis of a return made under subsection (4), the division shall add to the amount of tax found due and unpaid a penalty of 25 percent.
(7) For the purpose of compensating the distributor for the keeping of prescribed records and the proper accounting and remitting of taxes imposed under this part, the distributor shall be allowed 1 percent of the amount of the tax due and accounted for and remitted to the division in the form of a deduction in submitting his or her report and paying the amount due; and the division shall allow such deduction of 1 percent of the amount of the tax to the person paying the same for remitting the tax in the manner herein provided, for paying the amount due to be paid by him or her, and as further compensation to the distributor for the keeping of prescribed records and for collection of taxes and remitting the same.
(a) The collection allowance may not be granted, nor may any deduction be permitted, if the tax is delinquent at the time of payment.
(b) The division may reduce the collection allowance by 10 percent or $50, whichever is less, if a taxpayer files an incomplete return.
1. An “incomplete return” is, for purposes of this part, a return which is lacking such uniformity, completeness, and arrangement that the physical handling, verification, or review of the return may not be readily accomplished.
2. The division shall adopt rules requiring such information as it may deem necessary to ensure that the tax levied hereunder is properly collected, reviewed, compiled, and enforced, including, but not limited to: the amount of taxable sales; the amount of tax collected or due; the amount claimed as the collection allowance; the amount of penalty and interest; the amount due with the return; and such other information as the division may specify.
History.—s. 1, ch. 85-141; s. 4, ch. 86-123; s. 1, ch. 86-286; s. 4, ch. 91-429; s. 1104, ch. 95-147.