Florida

Subscribe to Florida

The Florida District Court of Appeal affirmed a trial court decision holding that certain online vacation rental platforms (the “Companies”) are not required to collect and remit Palm Beach County’s Tourist Development Tax (“TDT”). The Companies each provide an online platform where property owners can advertise their properties for short-term rentals. The Court explained that…

In Gannon v. Airbnb, Inc., a Florida appellate court held that vacation rental platforms are not required to collect local lodging tax. The ruling reasons that the tax is imposed on the owner of the property, and vacation rental platforms are “conduits,” not owners. A dissenting opinion analogized rental platforms to property managers, which…

The Florida Department of Revenue issued a Technical Assistance Advisement concluding that an internet-based streaming video subscription service is subject to Florida’s communication services tax. The Taxpayer maintains a website where viewers can watch live or on-demand video of individuals (or, “Broadcasters”) playing video games, music or e-sports events. Among other things, the website provides…

Florida’s proposed tax on peer-to-peer car sharing companies, H.B. 377, cleared its first hurdle and passed the state House Ways and Means Committee on February 11. The bill would require car-sharing companies to collect a 6% sales tax on vehicle leases made through their platforms. Also, under the proposed bill, leases made through the…

The Florida District Court of Appeal reversed the trial court’s certification of a class in a sales tax refund claim because the class was not “ascertainable.” Plaintiff filed suit against BJ’s Wholesale Club, Inc. (“BJ’s”) alleging that BJ’s thirty-one Florida stores improperly imposed sales tax on the full, undiscounted price of products purchased with a…

By Hanish Patel and Marc Simonetti

The Florida Department of Revenue (DOR) determined that the sale of certain online membership benefits—early, exclusive access to products and deals and unlimited cloud data storage—were not subject to Florida sales tax or the Communications Service Tax (CST). However, the DOR added that the taxpayer’s purchase of reorder button…

By Jessica Eisenmenger and Amy Nogid

The Florida Department of Revenue determined that software upgrades that are delivered electronically are not subject to sales tax because the upgrade was a stand-alone version of the software and did not rely on the earlier, physically-delivered software to operate. The Department also determined that sales tax does not…