Florida Senate - 2011                                     SB 508
       
       
       
       By Senator Bogdanoff
       
       
       
       
       25-00463B-11                                           2011508__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to the tax on sales, use, and other
    3         transactions; amending s. 212.08, F.S.; establishing
    4         an annual 3-day sales tax holiday within which sales
    5         taxes are not collected on certain clothing,
    6         computers, and school supplies; providing for the
    7         adoption of rules; providing an effective date.
    8  
    9  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   10  
   11         Section 1. Paragraph (iii) is added to subsection (7) of
   12  section 212.08, Florida Statutes, to read:
   13         212.08 Sales, rental, use, consumption, distribution, and
   14  storage tax; specified exemptions.—The sale at retail, the
   15  rental, the use, the consumption, the distribution, and the
   16  storage to be used or consumed in this state of the following
   17  are hereby specifically exempt from the tax imposed by this
   18  chapter.
   19         (7) MISCELLANEOUS EXEMPTIONS.—Exemptions provided to any
   20  entity by this chapter do not inure to any transaction that is
   21  otherwise taxable under this chapter when payment is made by a
   22  representative or employee of the entity by any means,
   23  including, but not limited to, cash, check, or credit card, even
   24  when that representative or employee is subsequently reimbursed
   25  by the entity. In addition, exemptions provided to any entity by
   26  this subsection do not inure to any transaction that is
   27  otherwise taxable under this chapter unless the entity has
   28  obtained a sales tax exemption certificate from the department
   29  or the entity obtains or provides other documentation as
   30  required by the department. Eligible purchases or leases made
   31  with such a certificate must be in strict compliance with this
   32  subsection and departmental rules, and any person who makes an
   33  exempt purchase with a certificate that is not in strict
   34  compliance with this subsection and the rules is liable for and
   35  shall pay the tax. The department may adopt rules to administer
   36  this subsection.
   37         (iii) Clothing, computers, and school supplies.—The tax
   38  levied under this chapter may not be collected each year during
   39  the period beginning at 12:01 a.m. on the Friday after the
   40  second Thursday in August and ending 3 days later at 11:59 p.m.
   41  on Sunday, on sales of:
   42         1. Clothing, wallets, or bags, including handbags,
   43  backpacks, fanny packs, and diaper bags, but excluding
   44  briefcases, suitcases, and other garment bags, having a sales
   45  price of $50 or less per item. As used in this paragraph, the
   46  term “clothing” means an article of wearing apparel, including
   47  footwear, except skis, swim fins, roller blades and skates,
   48  watches, watchbands, jewelry, umbrellas, or handkerchiefs.
   49         2. School supplies having a sales price of $10 or less per
   50  item. As used in this paragraph, the term “school supplies”
   51  means pens, pencils, erasers, crayons, notebooks, notebook
   52  filler paper, legal pads, binders, lunch boxes, construction
   53  paper, markers, folders, poster board, composition books, poster
   54  paper, scissors, cellophane tape, glue or paste, rulers,
   55  computer disks, protractors, compasses, and calculators.
   56         3. A single purchase having a sales price of $750 or less
   57  of computers, computer software, or school computer supplies. As
   58  used in this paragraph the term:
   59         a. “Computer” means an electronic device that accepts
   60  information in digital or similar form and manipulates it for a
   61  result based on a sequence of instructions, including desktops,
   62  laptops, netbooks, and tablets.
   63         b. “Computer software” means a set of coded instructions
   64  designed to cause a computer or automatic data processing
   65  equipment to perform a task.
   66         c. “School computer supplies” means items commonly used by
   67  a student in a course of study in which a computer is used,
   68  including computer storage media, such as USB memory sticks or
   69  flash drives, and printers and printer consumables, such as
   70  paper, toner, and ink.
   71         d. “Computers, computer software, or school computer
   72  supplies” does not include computer furniture; systems, devices,
   73  software, or peripherals designed or used primarily for
   74  recreational use; or video games of a noneducational nature.
   75  
   76  This paragraph does not apply to sales within a public lodging
   77  establishment, as defined in s. 509.013, sales within a theme
   78  park or entertainment complex, as defined in s. 509.013, or
   79  sales within an airport, as defined in s. 330.27.
   80         Section 2. The Department of Revenue may adopt rules to
   81  administer this act.
   82         Section 3. This act shall take effect July 1, 2011.