12AER10-06: Florida Communications Services Tax Returns for Services Billed On or After August 1, 2010
SPECIFIC REASONS FOR FINDING AN IMMEDIATE DANGER TO THE PUBLIC HEALTH, SAFETY OR WELFARE: Chapter 2010-149, L.O.F., provides that for communications services billed on or after August 1, 2010, the state portion of the Florida communications services tax rate for certain services is reduced 0.15 percent from 6.8 percent to 6.65 percent, and the gross receipts tax rate on those services has increased 0.15 percent from 2.37 percent to 2.52 percent. Communications services billed to a residential household on or after August 1, 2010, will be subject to the 2.37 percent gross receipts tax and will remain exempt from the 6.65 percent state portion of the tax. Such services will also be exempt from the additional gross receipts tax rate of 0.15 percent, ensuring that no person will pay any additional tax. Section 4, Chapter 2010-138, L.O.F., clarifies that the residential exemption from the communications services tax does not include any transient public lodging establishment.
Effective July 1, 2010, Chapter 2010-83, L.O.F., allows communications services tax dealers to use a proportionate method to allocate bad debts bases on current gross taxes due to determine the amount of bad debt that is attributable to the state and to the local jurisdiction or another reasonable allocation method that has been approved by the Department. Dealers report the bad debt credit on Form DR-700016, Florida Communications Services Tax Return, by deducting the bad debt credit from the state tax or from the local jurisdiction tax due to the Department. The amount of the credit deducted and reported on the return is limited to the amount of state tax due or the amount of local jurisdiction tax due.
Section 6, Chapter 2010-149, L.O.F., authorizes the Department of Revenue, and all conditions are deemed met, to adopt an emergency rule to promulgate forms and instructions necessary to report the communications services tax. The law allows a communications services dealer to collect a combined 6.8 percent tax rate comprised of the state tax rate of 6.65 percent and the additional gross receipts tax rate of 0.15 percent if the components of the tax collected are properly shown on the dealer’s tax return. To provide communications services tax dealers and taxpayers who pay tax directly to the Department the necessary form changes to report and remit tax due on communications services beginning August 1, 2010, an emergency rule to incorporate updated tax returns ensures that the public is notified of these law changes by the most appropriate and expedient means. This emergency rule incorporates, by reference, Form DR-700016, Florida Communications Services Tax Return, and Form DR-700019, Communications Services Use Tax Return, effective August 2010, and the instructions to report tax due on communications services billed, including the residential exemption, and to report bad debt credits consistent with the provisions of Chapter 2010-83, L.O.F.
REASON FOR CONCLUDING THAT THE PROCEDURE IS FAIR UNDER THE CIRCUMSTANCES: The Legislature expressly authorized in Section 6, Chapter 2010-149, L.O.F., the promulgation of an emergency rule by the Department to provide forms and instructions to report and remit tax due on communications services billed on or after August 1, 2010. The promulgation of this emergency rule, incorporating by reference forms used to report and remit Florida communications services tax and local communications services tax, ensures that the public is notified by the most appropriate and expedient means regarding changes to the tax returns used by the Department for properly reporting the components of the tax collected on the return and for allocating bad debt credits to state and local jurisdictions.
SUMMARY: Emergency Rule 12AER10-6, F.A.C. (Florida Communications Services Tax Returns for Services Billed On or After August 1, 2010), incorporates, by reference Form DR-700016, Florida Communications Services Tax Return, and Form DR-700019, Communications Services Use Tax Return, effective August 2010, and the instructions to report tax due on communications services billed on or after August 1, 2010. The instructions to Form DR-700019 provide: (1) for the components of the communications services tax collected to be shown on the return, as provided in Chapter 2010-149, L.O.F.; (2) that the residential exemption from the communications services tax does not include any transient public lodging establishment, as clarified in section 4, Chapter 2010-138, L.O.F.; and (3) for the reporting of bad debt credits consistent with the provisions of Chapter 2010-83, L.O.F.
THE PERSON TO BE CONTACTED REGARDING THE EMERGENCY RULE IS: Heather Miller, Tax Law Specialist, Technical Assistance and Dispute Resolution, Department of Revenue, P. O. Box 7443, Tallahassee, Florida 32314-7443, telephone (850)922-4835
THE FULL TEXT OF THE EMERGENCY RULE IS:
12AER10-6 Florida Communications Services Tax Returns for Services Billed On or After August 1, 2010.
(1) The Department of Revenue employs the following public-use forms and instructions to report the Florida Communications Services Tax on communications services billed on or after August 1, 2010, as provided in Chapters 2010-83, 2010-138, and 2010-149, L.O.F. These forms and instructions are hereby incorporated by reference. The instructions on these forms have the same authority as the rules for reporting communications services taxes.
(2) Copies of these forms are available, without cost, by one or more of the following methods: 1) downloading the form from the Department’s Internet site at www.myflorida.com/dor/forms; or, 2) calling the Department at (800)352-3671, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 7 p.m., Eastern Time; or, 3) visiting any local Department of Revenue Service Center or, 4) writing the Florida Department of Revenue, 5050 West Tennessee Street, Tallahassee, Florida 32399-0112. Persons with hearing or speech impairments may call the Department’s TDD at (800)367-8331 or (850)922-1115.
Form Number Title Effective Date
(3)(a) DR-700016 Florida Communications Services Tax Return
(R. 08/10) 08/10
(b) DR-700019 Communications Services Use Tax Return
(R.08/10) 08/10
This rule shall take effect on August 1, 2010.
Rulemaking Authority 202.151, 202.16(2), 202.26(3)(a), (c), (d), (e), (j), 202.27(7), 213.06(2), s. 6, Ch. 2010-149, L.O.F. Law Implemented 202.11, 202.12, 202.13(2), 202.151, 202.16(1), (2), (4), 202.17, 202.19(1), (7), 202.22(6), 202.27, 202.28, 202.29, 202.30(3), 202.33, 202.34, 202.35(1), (2) FS., s. 4, Ch. 2010-138, Ch. 2010-83, Ch. 2010-149, L.O.F. History–New 8-1-10.