Florida Senate - 2011                        COMMITTEE AMENDMENT
       Bill No. SB 1548
       
       
       
       
       
       
                                Barcode 499264                          
       
                              LEGISLATIVE ACTION                        
                    Senate             .             House              
                  Comm: RCS            .                                
                  04/05/2011           .                                
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       The Committee on Commerce and Tourism (Lynn) recommended the
       following:
       
    1         Senate Amendment (with title amendment)
    2  
    3         Delete lines 3134 - 3252
    4  and insert:
    5         (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law and for the
    6  purpose of compensating persons granting licenses for and the
    7  lessors of real and personal property taxed hereunder, for the
    8  purpose of compensating dealers in tangible personal property,
    9  for the purpose of compensating dealers providing communication
   10  services and taxable services, for the purpose of compensating
   11  owners of places where admissions are collected, and for the
   12  purpose of compensating remitters of any taxes or fees reported
   13  on the same documents utilized for the sales and use tax, as
   14  compensation for the keeping of prescribed records, filing
   15  timely tax returns, and the proper accounting and remitting of
   16  taxes by them, such seller, person, lessor, dealer, owner, or
   17  and remitter shall be allowed a collection allowance based on a
   18  percentage of tax remitted for a reporting period. The rate of
   19  compensation is:
   20         1. 0.75 percent of the first $6,250 of tax remitted,
   21         2. 0.375 percent of the tax remitted exceeding $6,250 and
   22  less than or equal to $62,500, and
   23         3. 0.1875 percent of the tax remitted exceeding $62,500.
   24         (a) The amount of collection allowance for each seller,
   25  person, lessor, dealer, owner, or remitter is limited based on
   26  the amount of sales and use tax remitted in the twelve month
   27  period ending June 30 of the previous calendar year. No
   28  collection allowance will be allowed on the total tax remitted
   29  by any seller, person, lessor, dealer, owner, or remitter in any
   30  month in excess of:
   31         1. $750,000, if the total amount remitted by all dealers in
   32  the previous year was equal to or less than $1,000,000,000.00;
   33         2. $1,000,000, if the total amount remitted by all dealers
   34  in the previous year was greater than $1,000,000,000.00 but
   35  equal to or less than $2,500,000,000.00;
   36         3. $3,000,000.00, if the total amount remitted by all
   37  dealers in the previous year was greater than $2,500,000,000.00
   38  but equal to or less than $5,000,000,000.00;
   39         4. $5,000,000.00, if the total amount remitted by all
   40  dealers in the previous year was greater than $5,000,000,000.00
   41  but equal to or less than $7,500,000,000.00;
   42         5. $7,000,000.00, if the total amount remitted by all
   43  dealers in the previous year was greater than $7,500,000,000.00
   44  but equal to or less than $10,000,000,000.00; or
   45         6. $10,000,000.00, if the total amount remitted by all
   46  dealers in the previous year was greater than $10,000,000.00.
   47  (except dealers who make mail order sales) shall be allowed 2.5
   48  percent of the amount of the tax due and accounted for and
   49  remitted to the department, in the form of a deduction in
   50  submitting his or her report and paying the amount due by him or
   51  her; the department shall allow such deduction of 2.5 percent of
   52  the amount of the tax to the person paying the same for
   53  remitting the tax and making of tax returns in the manner herein
   54  provided, for paying the amount due to be paid by him or her,
   55  and as further compensation to dealers in tangible personal
   56  property for the keeping of prescribed records and for
   57  collection of taxes and remitting the same. However, if the
   58  amount of the tax due and remitted to the department for the
   59  reporting period exceeds $1,200, no allowance shall be allowed
   60  for all amounts in excess of $1,200. The executive director of
   61  the department is authorized to negotiate a collection
   62  allowance, pursuant to rules promulgated by the department, with
   63  a dealer who makes mail order sales. The rules of the department
   64  shall provide guidelines for establishing the collection
   65  allowance based upon the dealer’s estimated costs of collecting
   66  the tax, the volume and value of the dealer’s mail order sales
   67  to purchasers in this state, and the administrative and legal
   68  costs and likelihood of achieving collection of the tax absent
   69  the cooperation of the dealer. However, in no event shall the
   70  collection allowance negotiated by the executive director exceed
   71  10 percent of the tax remitted for a reporting period.
   72         (b)(a) The Department of Revenue may deny the collection
   73  allowance if a taxpayer files an incomplete return or if the
   74  required tax return or tax is delinquent at the time of payment.
   75         1. An “incomplete return” is, for purposes of this chapter,
   76  a return that which is lacking such uniformity, completeness,
   77  and arrangement that the physical handling, verification, review
   78  of the return, or determination of other taxes and fees reported
   79  on the return may not be readily accomplished.
   80         2. The department shall adopt rules requiring such
   81  information as it may deem necessary to ensure that the tax
   82  levied hereunder is properly collected, reviewed, compiled,
   83  reported, and enforced, including, but not limited to: the
   84  amount of gross sales; the amount of taxable sales; the amount
   85  of tax collected or due; the amount of lawful refunds,
   86  deductions, or credits claimed; the amount claimed as the
   87  dealer’s collection allowance; the amount of penalty and
   88  interest; the amount due with the return; and such other
   89  information as the Department of Revenue may specify. The
   90  department shall require that transient rentals and agricultural
   91  equipment transactions be separately shown. Sales made through
   92  vending machines as defined in s. 212.0515 must be separately
   93  shown on the return. Sales made through coin-operated amusement
   94  machines as defined by s. 212.02 and the number of machines
   95  operated must be separately shown on the return or on a form
   96  prescribed by the department. If a separate form is required,
   97  the same penalties for late filing, incomplete filing, or
   98  failure to file as provided for the sales tax return shall apply
   99  to said form.
  100         (c)(b) The collection allowance and other credits or
  101  deductions provided in this chapter shall be applied
  102  proportionally to any taxes or fees reported on the same
  103  documents used for the sales and use tax.
  104         (d)(c)1. A dealer entitled to the collection allowance
  105  provided in this section may elect to forego the collection
  106  allowance and direct that said amount be transferred into the
  107  Educational Enhancement Trust Fund. Such an election must be
  108  made with the timely filing of a return and may not be rescinded
  109  once made. If a dealer who makes such an election files a
  110  delinquent return, underpays the tax, or files an incomplete
  111  return, the amount transferred into the Educational Enhancement
  112  Trust Fund shall be the amount of the collection allowance
  113  remaining after resolution of liability for all of the tax,
  114  interest, and penalty due on that return or underpayment of tax.
  115  The Department of Education shall distribute the remaining
  116  amount from the trust fund to the school districts that have
  117  adopted resolutions stating that those funds will be used to
  118  ensure that up-to-date technology is purchased for the
  119  classrooms in the district and that teachers are trained in the
  120  use of that technology. Revenues collected in districts that do
  121  not adopt such a resolution shall be equally distributed to
  122  districts that have adopted such resolutions.
  123         2. This paragraph applies to all taxes, surtaxes, and any
  124  local option taxes administered under this chapter and remitted
  125  directly to the department. This paragraph does not apply to any
  126  locally imposed and self-administered convention development
  127  tax, tourist development tax, or tourist impact tax administered
  128  under this chapter.
  129         3. Revenues from the dealer-collection allowances shall be
  130  transferred quarterly from the General Revenue Fund to the
  131  Educational Enhancement Trust Fund. The Department of Revenue
  132  shall provide to the Department of Education quarterly
  133  information about such revenues by county to which the
  134  collection allowance was attributed.
  135  
  136  Notwithstanding any provision of chapter 120 to the contrary,
  137  the Department of Revenue may adopt rules to carry out the
  138  amendment made by chapter 2006-52, Laws of Florida, to this
  139  section.
  140         (e)Notwithstanding paragraph (a), a small remote seller
  141  may elect to receive a collection allowance of 20 percent of the
  142  tax to be remitted to the state, not to exceed compensation of
  143  $85.00 in any month in lieu of compensation provided in
  144  subparagraph (b). Such election shall be effective for a six
  145  month period beginning with the first month that such seller
  146  collects Florida tax. After six months, the collection allowance
  147  shall be those rates established in subsection (b). The
  148  increased amount of collection allowance by this paragraph shall
  149  be available to a small remote seller which begins collecting
  150  tax for the state within the first 12 months following the date
  151  of registration.
  152         1. “Small remote seller” means a new remote seller which
  153  has gross national remote sales of no more than $5,000,000.00
  154  and would not otherwise be required to register in this state.
  155         2. “New remote seller” means a remote seller who registers
  156  under the agreement, as provided in s. 213.2567, and who was not
  157  previously required to collect sales or use tax. A seller merely
  158  reincorporating, changing its name, or having a change in
  159  ownership or any other similar change in its business structure
  160  or operation is not a new remote seller.
  161         3. “Remote seller” means a seller not that would not be
  162  registered in this state but for the ability of this state to
  163  require the seller to collect sales or use tax under federal
  164  authority.
  165         (f) If sales and use tax collection from remote sellers is
  166  not greater than 20 percent of the amount determined by the
  167  Revenue Estimating Conference of potential collections by July
  168  1, 2014, then the collection allowance shall be reduced to 2.5
  169  percent of tax collected, not to exceed $30.
  170         (g) Notwithstanding paragraphs (a) and (b), a Model 1
  171  seller, as defined in s. 213.256 is not entitled to the
  172  collection allowance described in paragraphs (a) and (b).
  173         (h)1. In addition to any collection allowance that may be
  174  provided under this subsection, the department may provide the
  175  monetary allowances required to be provided by the state to
  176  certified service providers and voluntary sellers pursuant to
  177  Article VI of the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement, as
  178  amended.
  179         2. Such monetary allowances must be in the form of
  180  collection allowances that certified service providers or
  181  voluntary sellers are permitted to retain from the tax revenues
  182  collected on remote sales to be remitted to the state pursuant
  183  to this chapter.
  184  
  185  ================= T I T L E  A M E N D M E N T ================
  186         And the title is amended as follows:
  187         Between lines 79 and 80
  188  insert:
  189         authorizing collection allowances; setting
  190         requirements for a collection allowance to be allowed;
  191         authorizing collection allowances for certain remote
  192         sellers; providing for a reduction;