| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to a tax refund program for business |
| 3 | sustainability training; authorizing a sales tax refund to |
| 4 | construction businesses for a portion of the tuition cost |
| 5 | to attend training by the United States Green Building |
| 6 | Council; limiting the amount of the sales tax refund per |
| 7 | employee; authorizing small businesses to apply for the |
| 8 | tax refund; providing duties of the Department of Revenue; |
| 9 | requiring a business to apply to the department for the |
| 10 | sales tax refund; authorizing small businesses to apply |
| 11 | the tax refund against sales tax or corporate income tax |
| 12 | liabilities; limiting the annual amount of sales tax |
| 13 | refunds available; authorizing the department to adopt |
| 14 | rules; providing for expiration of the program; providing |
| 15 | an effective date. |
| 16 |
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| 17 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 18 |
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| 19 | Section 1. Tax refund program for construction business |
| 20 | sustainability training.-- |
| 21 | (1)(a) A construction business that pays the tuition for |
| 22 | an employee to take a course provided by the United States Green |
| 23 | Building Council on the design, construction, or operation of |
| 24 | high-performance green buildings may apply to the Department of |
| 25 | Revenue for a sales tax refund. A qualifying construction |
| 26 | business must have fewer than 25 employees. The tax refund shall |
| 27 | equal 50 percent of the cost of the tuition, not to exceed |
| 28 | $1,000 per employee annually. |
| 29 | (b) Any small business as defined in s. 288.703, Florida |
| 30 | Statutes, other than a franchise, may apply for such tax refund |
| 31 | for employee training by submitting an application to the |
| 32 | department. The limitations of paragraph (a) apply to tax |
| 33 | refunds for small businesses. |
| 34 | (c) The department shall provide forms and establish a |
| 35 | procedure for applying for, processing, and issuing tax refunds. |
| 36 | (2) An application for a sales tax refund must include: |
| 37 | (a) The applicant's federal employer identification number |
| 38 | and the applicant's state sales tax registration number. |
| 39 | (b) The permanent address of the business in this state. |
| 40 | (c) A description of the business, including the four- |
| 41 | digit SIC code for each of its activities. |
| 42 | (d) The names of employees completing the course, the |
| 43 | titles of each course completed, the date and location the |
| 44 | courses were taken, and a receipt showing the actual payment for |
| 45 | the course. |
| 46 | (e) Evidence of the total number of employees of the |
| 47 | business. |
| 48 | (f) Any other information requested by the department. |
| 49 | (3) An application for a sales tax refund must be |
| 50 | submitted within 60 days after the completion of a qualifying |
| 51 | course. |
| 52 | (4) Small businesses applying for the tax refund may elect |
| 53 | to apply the tax refund against any liability for the sales and |
| 54 | use tax imposed under chapter 212, Florida Statutes, or the |
| 55 | corporate income tax imposed under chapter 220, Florida |
| 56 | Statutes. |
| 57 | (5) The department shall approve applications that comply |
| 58 | with this section within 30 days after receipt. The department |
| 59 | may not approve more than $2 million in refunds per fiscal year. |
| 60 | (6) The department may adopt rules to administer this |
| 61 | section. |
| 62 | (7) This section expires August 31, 2011. |
| 63 | Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2009. |