Senate Bill 0136

    Florida Senate - 1999                                   SB 136

    By Senator Grant





    13-305A-99

  1                      A bill to be entitled

  2         An act relating to the tax on sales, use, and

  3         other transactions; amending s. 212.031, F.S.;

  4         excluding certain pass-through charges on

  5         commercial real estate leases from such taxes;

  6         providing an effective date.

  7

  8  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:

  9

10         Section 1.  Paragraph (c) of subsection (1) of section

11  212.031, Florida Statutes, 1998 Supplement, is amended to

12  read:

13         212.031  Lease or rental of or license in real

14  property.--

15         (1)

16         (c)  For the exercise of such privilege, as tax is

17  levied in an amount equal to 6 percent of and on the total

18  rent or license fee charged for such real property by the

19  person charging or collecting the rental or license fee. The

20  total rent or license fee charged for such real property shall

21  include payments for the granting of a privilege to use or

22  occupy real property for any purpose and shall include base

23  rent, percentage rents, or similar charges. Such charges shall

24  be included in the total rent or license fee subject to tax

25  under this section whether or not they can be attributed to

26  the ability of the lessor's or licensor's property as used or

27  operated to attract customers. For purposes of this paragraph,

28  the term "total rent or license fee" does not include ad

29  valorem taxes, maintenance charges, or insurance premiums paid

30  for the benefit and protection of the landlord when the

31  proportionate share of each of those items is separately

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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.






    Florida Senate - 1999                                   SB 136
    13-305A-99




  1  billed on an invoice by the landlord as pass-through charges.

  2  Payments for intrinsically valuable personal property such as

  3  franchises, trademarks, service marks, logos, or patents are

  4  not subject to tax under this section.  In the case of a

  5  contractual arrangement that provides for both payments

  6  taxable as total rent or license fee and payments not subject

  7  to tax, the tax shall be based on a reasonable allocation of

  8  such payments and shall not apply to that portion which is for

  9  the nontaxable payments.

10         Section 2.  This act shall take effect July 1, 1999.

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13                          SENATE SUMMARY

14    Provides that the total rent and license fee for a
      commercial real estate lease subject to the sales tax
15    does not include a proportionate share of pass-through
      charges comprised of ad valorem taxes, maintenance
16    charges, and certain insurance premiums.

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