CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.Senate Bill 0322
Florida Senate - 1998 SB 322
By Senator Ostalkiewicz
12-142-98
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to taxpayer rights; amending s.
3 213.015, F.S.; providing additional rights to
4 taxpayers regarding interest paid on delinquent
5 taxes and interest received on delinquent
6 refunds, freedom from being reaudited, rights
7 of appeal, rights to obtain reimbursement of
8 certain fees on favorable appeals, the right to
9 compensation for providing certain information
10 or documents to the department, freedom from
11 commissioned auditors, statutes of limitation,
12 the time permitted to file for refunds, and the
13 right to apply overpayments to the payment of
14 other taxes due; providing an effective date.
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16 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
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18 Section 1. Notwithstanding any other provision of law:
19 (1) The Department of Revenue shall pay interest at
20 the market rate on the amount of refund due any person for
21 overpayments of taxes, payment of taxes not due, or taxes paid
22 in error, beginning 90 days after a refund application is
23 filed with the department.
24 (2) A taxpayer may be charged interest on delinquent
25 taxes at no more than the market rate paid by the Department
26 of Revenue on delinquent refunds.
27 (3) A taxpayer may appeal all tax assessments and
28 penalties to an administrative hearing officer prior to paying
29 the contested amount. The hearing officer must issue a final
30 order within 90 days after the appeal is filed.
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1 (4) Outside auditors hired by the Department of
2 Revenue may not be compensated based on the amount of tax
3 assessed as a result of the audit.
4 (5) The Department of Revenue may not audit any return
5 after a period of 2 years from the date it is filed. If a
6 return is audited, the department may not reaudit the taxpayer
7 for the same time period, unless fraud is suspected. A
8 taxpayer may not file for a refund after a period of 3 years
9 after the date the tax was paid.
10 (6) If a taxpayer appeals an audit and the appeal
11 results in a finding in favor of the taxpayer, the Department
12 of Revenue is liable for reasonable accountant's fees and
13 attorney's fees incurred by the taxpayer as a result of the
14 audit.
15 (7) If a taxpayer provides information or documents to
16 the Department of Revenue and the department subsequently
17 requests the taxpayer to provide the same information or
18 documents, the department must pay reasonable compensation to
19 the taxpayer for providing such information or documents.
20 (8) If a taxpayer overpays a tax liability and
21 underpays another tax liability and notifies the Department of
22 Revenue of the overpayment, the department must apply the
23 overpayment to the underpaid tax liability before imposing a
24 penalty against the taxpayer for the underpayment.
25 Section 2. Subsections (8), (12), and (14) of section
26 213.015, Florida Statutes, are amended and subsections (16),
27 (17), (18), and (19) are added to that section, to read:
28 213.015 Taxpayer rights.--There is created a Florida
29 Taxpayer's Bill of Rights to guarantee that the rights,
30 privacy, and property of Florida taxpayers are adequately
31 safeguarded and protected during tax assessment, collection,
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Florida Senate - 1998 SB 322
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1 and enforcement processes administered under the revenue laws
2 of this state. The Taxpayer's Bill of Rights compiles, in one
3 document, brief but comprehensive statements which explain, in
4 simple, nontechnical terms, the rights and obligations of the
5 Department of Revenue and taxpayers. The rights afforded
6 taxpayers to assure that their privacy and property are
7 safeguarded and protected during tax assessment and collection
8 are available only insofar as they are implemented in other
9 parts of the Florida Statutes or rules of the Department of
10 Revenue. The rights so guaranteed Florida taxpayers in the
11 Florida Statutes and the departmental rules are:
12 (8) The right to seek review, through formal or
13 informal proceedings, of any adverse decisions relating to
14 determinations in the audit or collections processes and the
15 right to seek a reasonable administrative stay of enforcement
16 actions while the taxpayer pursues other administrative
17 remedies available under Florida law (see ss. 120.80(14)(b),
18 213.21(1), 220.717, and 220.719(2)). Such remedies include the
19 right to appeal all assessments and penalties to an
20 administrative hearing officer prior to paying the contested
21 amount and the right to have a final order issued within 90
22 days after the appeal is filed.
23 (12) The right to procedures that which assure that
24 the individual employees of the department or outside auditors
25 retained by the department are not paid, evaluated, or
26 promoted on the basis of the amount of assessments or
27 collections from taxpayers (see s. 213.30(2)).
28 (13) The right to an action at law within the
29 limitations of s. 768.28, relating to sovereign immunity, to
30 recover damages against the state or the Department of Revenue
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1 for injury caused by the wrongful or negligent act or omission
2 of a department officer or employee (see s. 768.28).
3 (14)(a) The right of the taxpayer or the department,
4 as the prevailing party in a judicial or administrative action
5 brought or maintained without the support of justiciable
6 issues of fact or law, to recover all costs of the
7 administrative or judicial action, including reasonable
8 attorney's fees, and of the department and taxpayer to settle
9 such claims through negotiations (see ss. 57.105 and 57.111).
10 (b) The right of a taxpayer to recover reasonable
11 accountant's fees and attorney's fees incurred in an audit, if
12 the taxpayer appeals a department ruling and the appeal
13 results in a finding in favor of the taxpayer.
14 (16)(a) The right to receive interest at the market
15 rate on a refund that is not paid within 90 days after filing
16 a completed application for refund of overpayments, payment of
17 taxes not due, or taxes paid in error.
18 (b) The right to be charged interest on delinquent
19 taxes at no more than the market rate paid by the department
20 on delinquent refunds.
21 (17) The right to have returns audited within 2 years
22 after they are filed; and the right to file for a refund
23 within 3 years after the tax was paid and to not be reaudited
24 for the same time period, unless fraud is suspected.
25 (18) The right to reasonable compensation for the
26 resubmission of information or documents to the department.
27 (19) The right to have any overpayments of taxes
28 applied to separate underpayments of other tax liabilities
29 before penalties are imposed for the underpayments.
30 Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 1998.
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2 SENATE SUMMARY
3 Provides specified rights for taxpayers including a cap
on interest paid on delinquent taxes, the right to
4 immunity from reaudit for a given time period, the right
to receive interest on refunds that are not paid within
5 90 days, the right to appeal assessments and penalties to
an administrative hearing officer and receive a final
6 order within 90 days, the right to reimbursement of costs
and fees incurred in a successful appeal, the right to
7 compensation for resubmission of certain information or
documents to the department, a 2-year statute of
8 limitations on audits, the right to file for a refund
within 3 years, and the right to have the amount of the
9 overpayment of one tax applied to the amount of the
underpayment of another.
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