Section 12 of Chapter 2012-70, Laws of Florida, creates a Communications Services Tax Working Group. The purpose of the working group is to study and report on tax issues related to the sale of communications services. A report of the working group ...

 

DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE
Sales and Use Tax

The Communications Services Tax Working Group announces a public meeting to which all persons are invited.
DATE AND TIME: Friday, December 7, 2012, 8:30 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
PLACE: 2450 Shumard Oak Boulevard, Building One, Room 1820, Tallahassee, Florida. The public can also participate in the meetings through a simultaneous electronic broadcast of these events by the Department of Revenue using WebEx, and conference calling technology. The requirements to participate are access to the Internet and a telephone. The public can participate in the electronic meetings by accessing the broadcast from their home or office. Specific information about how to participate in the electronic meetings from your home or office will be included in the Agendas for the meetings posted on the Department of Revenue’s website at: http://dor.myflorida.com/dor/cst_workgroup/.
GENERAL SUBJECT MATTER TO BE CONSIDERED: Section 12 of Chapter 2012-70, Laws of Florida, creates a Communications Services Tax Working Group. The purpose of the working group is to study and report on tax issues related to the sale of communications services. A report of the working group is due to the Governor, the President of the Senate, and the Speaker of the House of Representatives by February 1, 2013. The working group held its first meeting on June 11, 2012, and held additional meetings on July 25, 2012, August 21, 2012, October 16, 2012, and October 31, 2012. The working group is continuing to gather information and will be considering options to provide to policymakers for use in making important tax law decisions. The working group is tasked with the responsibility to: a) Review national and state tax policies relating to the communications industry; b) Review the historical amount of tax revenue that has been generated by the communications services taxes imposed or administered under Chapter 202, Florida Statutes, for the purposes of determining the effect that laws passed in the past 5 years have had on declining revenues; c) Review the extent to which this revenue has been relied on to secure bonded indebtedness; d) Review the fairness of the state’s communications tax laws and the administrative burdens it contains, including whether the applicability of the tax laws is reasonably clear to communications services providers, retailers, customers, local government entities and state administrators; e) Identify options for streamlining the administrative system; and f) Identify options that remove competitive advantages within the industry as it relates to the state’s tax structure without unduly reducing revenue to local governments.
A copy of the agenda may be obtained by contacting: Andrea Moreland, Director of Legislative and Cabinet Services, [phone] or [e-mail]. The agenda will be published on the Department of Revenue’s website at: http://dor.myflorida.com/dor/cst_workgroup/ and also http://dor.myflorida.com/dor/opengovt/meetings.html.
Pursuant to the provisions of the Americans with Disabilities Act, any person requiring special accommodations to participate in this workshop/meeting is asked to advise the agency at least 48 hours before the workshop/meeting by contacting: Andrea Moreland, [phone]. If you are hearing or speech impaired, please contact the agency using the Florida Relay Service, 1(800)955-8771 (TDD) or 1(800)955-8770 (Voice).
For more information, you may contact: Andrea Moreland, Director of Legislative and Cabinet Services, [phone], [e-mail].