As published in the Winter Park/Maitland Observer, Thursday Jan. 3, 2012 Edition Offers... Read More »
Articles in category 'Florida Sales & Use Tax'
Sales and Use Taxes: Internet Sales Cost States Billions
In Losing Sales Taxes Bob Williams of Tax Vox blog writes: Under current law, on-line retailers—as well as other remote sellers such as catalog stores—need to collect state sales tax from buyers only when the retailer has physical presence in the state (“substantial nexus” in legal terms). That’s because a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court case, Quill…
Read Full Article Categorized in: Florida Sales & Use Tax, State TaxesNude Services Tax Upheld in Utah
Florida attorney blogger Jeffrey Kuntz writes about a tax ruling recently handed down by the Utah Supreme Court: [The Court] released an opinion last week upholding the constitutionality of a Utah statute that taxes businesses in which individuals perform services while nude or partially nude. However, the court struck a Utah statute that taxed escort services as unconstitutional. Bushco,…
Read Full Article Categorized in: Court Cases, Florida Sales & Use Tax, State TaxesIllustration: Theft of State Tax Funds Anomaly
I previously blogged about the state of Rhodes Island’s aggressive pursuit of small businesses who have collected but failed to remit state sales taxes. In this companion post, I illustrate how theft of state funds laws unfairly punish average, well-intentioned small business owners while letting the swindlers go free. An Example Let’s take the hypothetical…
Read Full Article Categorized in: Florida Sales & Use Tax, State TaxesStates Cracking Down on Taxpayers
Andrew Morse of Anchor Rising reports that Rhodes Island taxing authorities visited more than 1200 small businesses this week telling them that if they don’t pay their delinquent sales taxes the state will shut them down. Rhodes Island had initially sent out 3,949 letters to small businesses demanding payment of past due sales taxes. This resulted in the payment…
Read Full Article Categorized in: Florida Sales & Use Tax, State Taxes6 Things You Can Do To Avoid Going to Jail for Failure to Remit State Sales Taxes
If you are a Florida business owner and have failed to remit your state sales taxes, here are 6 things you can do to greatly lower the chances Florida will refer your case for criminal prosecution: 1. Respond immediately to any DOR inquiries or notices- the earlier you respond, the better. This is because the DOR’s…
Read Full Article Categorized in: Florida Sales & Use Tax, State TaxesRevenge of the Nerds II, or 3 Reasons State Tax Authorites are Worse than the IRS
Believe it or not, the various state taxing authorities are often more ruthless than their federal counterpart, the IRS. In Florida, for instance, the Department of Revenue (DOR) regularly does 3 things that should put the fear of Yahweh in taxpayers: 1. Issues tax warrants rather than tax liens – The use of the word “warrant”…
Read Full Article Categorized in: Florida Sales & Use Tax, State TaxesWarning to Restaurant/Bar Owners: Failure to Pay Taxes Can Result in Forefeiture of Liquor License
The Minnesota Sun reports that the owner of the King of Diamonds strip club in Inver Grove Heights pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of filing a false income tax return Thursday, Dec. 11. According to information from the U.S. Department of Justice: Lawrence Frank Kladek, 65 and a resident of Inver Grove…
Read Full Article Categorized in: Florida Sales & Use Tax, Tax CrimesFlorida Regularly Prosecutes Individuals who Fail to Remit Collected Sales Taxes
When businesses charge sales tax to their customers, collect that tax and then fail to remit it to the Department of Revenue, the people responsible for that failure could be charged with theft of state funds. Florida Statute 212.15(2) states, (2) Any person who, with intent to unlawfully deprive or defraud the state of its moneys or…
Read Full Article Categorized in: Florida Sales & Use Tax, State Taxes, Tax Crimes