Sales Tax Obligations of Sellers in Florida

April 13, 2006

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Florida imposes various requirements on sellers doing business in the state. We recommend that you go through the items below to help you with the most frequently asked questions concerning sellers and sales and use tax issues.

Procedure for accepting resale certificates. The Florida Department of Revenue issues resale certificates of exemption to various entities. You as a seller may refuse to accept a resale certificate if your customer has not obtained a dealer's certificate of registration from the state. The resale certificate must include:

the name and address of the purchaser
the effective date and the number of the purchaser's certificate of registration
the purchaser's signature

Procedure for accepting blanket certificates. When all purchases from you are for resale you are authorized to take a blanket certificate for resale from your customer stating that all of the purchases are for resale. Each subsequent order must contain the certificate of registration number of the purchaser.

Sales and use tax liability for out-of-state mail order and catalogue retailers. Florida has a statute that specifically taxes out-of-state mail order and catalogue sellers. However, you will be responsible for paying this tax only if you have physical presence within Florida. To determine if you have physical presence, ask yourself the following:

Do I have retail facilities, a warehouse, or any office space in Florida? Maintaining retail or warehouse facilities will give you physical presence. Also, having an office for employees, even for business activities unrelated to mail order sales, will give you physical presence.
Do my employees or I enter Florida for purposes of taking and transmitting orders from Florida? If your employee or independent contractor goes into Florida to take or transmit orders, your business may have physical presence in Florida. However, contracting with a common carrier to deliver mail order goods does not constitute physical presence.
Do my delivery vehicles frequently enter Florida for purposes of delivering property? Frequent deliveries in Florida by your trucks will give you physical presence in Florida.

Sales tax "bracket system." The bracket system may be followed by sellers in computing the sales tax. The 6 percent tax is computed on each dollar and/or fraction of a dollar according to the following table:

Amount of Sale	Tax
Less than $0.10	no tax
0.10 to 0.16	$0.01
0.17 to 0.33	0.02
0.34 to 0.50	0.03
0.51 to 0.66	0.04
0.67 to 0.83	0.05
0.84 to 1.00	0.06

Absorbing the tax — using a "no sales tax" advertising strategy to drum up business. In Florida it is against the law to refund or offer to refund all or any part of the amount collected, or to absorb the amount of sales tax required to be added to the sales price and collected from the purchaser. As a seller, it is also against the law for you to advertise directly or indirectly that you will absorb the sales tax that is required to be added to the sales price.

Claiming refund for excess tax payments. Sellers are entitled to reimbursements for tax collected or charged on goods that are returned. If the tax has not been remitted by you, you may deduct the amount on your sales tax statement. If you have remitted the tax, you may apply for a refund within 36 months from the date the tax was paid to the state.

For taxes paid after July 1, 1999, an application for refund must be filed within three years after the date on which the tax was paid. For overpayments made between September 30, 1994, and July 1, 1999, an application for refund must be filed within five years after the date on which the tax was paid.