Florida Senate - 2022 SB 500 By Senator Perry 8-00611-22 2022500__ 1 A bill to be entitled 2 An act relating to a back-to-school sales tax holiday; 3 providing exemptions from the sales and use tax on the 4 retail sale of certain clothing, wallets, bags, school 5 supplies, personal computers, and personal computer 6 related accessories during a specified timeframe; 7 defining terms; specifying locations where the 8 exemptions do not apply; authorizing certain dealers 9 to opt out of participating in the tax holiday, 10 subject to certain requirements; authorizing the 11 Department of Revenue to adopt emergency rules; 12 providing an effective date. 13 14 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: 15 16 Section 1. Clothing, wallets, bags, school supplies, 17 personal computers, and personal computer-related accessories; 18 sales tax holiday.— 19 (1) The tax levied under chapter 212, Florida Statutes, may 20 not be collected during the period from 12:01 a.m. on July 29, 21 2022, through 11:59 p.m. on August 7, 2022, on the retail sale 22 of: 23 (a) Clothing, wallets, or bags, including handbags, 24 backpacks, fanny packs, and diaper bags, but excluding 25 briefcases, suitcases, and other garment bags, having a sales 26 price of $60 or less per item. As used in this paragraph, the 27 term “clothing” means: 28 1. Any article of wearing apparel intended to be worn on or 29 about the human body, excluding watches, watchbands, jewelry, 30 umbrellas, and handkerchiefs; and 31 2. All footwear, excluding skis, swim fins, in-line skates, 32 and roller skates. 33 (b) School supplies having a sales price of $15 or less per 34 item. As used in this paragraph, the term “school supplies” 35 means pens, pencils, erasers, crayons, notebooks, notebook 36 filler paper, legal pads, binders, lunch boxes, construction 37 paper, markers, folders, poster board, composition books, poster 38 paper, scissors, cellophane tape, glue or paste, rulers, 39 computer disks, staplers and staples used to secure paper 40 products, protractors, compasses, and calculators. 41 (2) The tax levied under chapter 212, Florida Statutes, may 42 not be collected during the period from 12:01 a.m. on July 29, 43 2022, through 11:59 p.m. on August 7, 2022, on the retail sale 44 of personal computers or personal computer-related accessories 45 having a sales price of $1,000 or less per item and purchased 46 for noncommercial home or personal use. As used in this 47 subsection, the term: 48 (a) “Personal computers” includes electronic book readers, 49 laptops, desktops, handhelds, tablets, and tower computers. The 50 term does not include cellular telephones, video game consoles, 51 digital media receivers, or devices that are not primarily 52 designed to process data. 53 (b) “Personal computer-related accessories” includes 54 keyboards, mice, personal digital assistants, monitors, other 55 peripheral devices, modems, routers, and nonrecreational 56 software, regardless of whether the accessories are used in 57 association with a personal computer base unit. The term does 58 not include furniture or systems, devices, software, monitors 59 with a television tuner, or peripherals designed or intended 60 primarily for recreational use. 61 (3) The tax exemptions provided in this section do not 62 apply to sales within a theme park or entertainment complex as 63 defined in s. 509.013(9), Florida Statutes, within a public 64 lodging establishment as defined in s. 509.013(4), Florida 65 Statutes, or within an airport as defined in s. 330.27(2), 66 Florida Statutes. 67 (4) The tax exemptions provided in this section may apply 68 at the option of a dealer if less than 5 percent of the dealer’s 69 gross sales of tangible personal property in the prior calendar 70 year consisted of items that would be exempt under this section. 71 If a qualifying dealer chooses not to participate in the tax 72 holiday, the dealer must notify the Department of Revenue in 73 writing by July 28, 2022, of its election to collect sales tax 74 during the holiday and must post a copy of that notice in a 75 conspicuous location at its place of business. 76 (5) The Department of Revenue may, and all conditions are 77 deemed met to, adopt emergency rules pursuant to s. 120.54(4), 78 Florida Statutes, for the purpose of implementing this section. 79 Notwithstanding any other law, emergency rules adopted pursuant 80 to this subsection are effective for 6 months after adoption and 81 may be renewed during the pendency of procedures to adopt 82 permanent rules addressing the subject of the emergency rule. 83 Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a law.