ISSUE: Should Florida sales tax dealers be allowed to keep the small sales tax collection allowance currently authorized by the Florida sales tax statutes.

DISCUSSION: As legislators review the current fee and tax structure, some discussion may be directed at the dealers’ collection allowance, which has been the subject of previous news coverage alleging retailers are not remitting all of the tax they collect. However, retailers are authorized by Section 212.12 (1), F.S. to keep 2.5 percent of the sales tax collected, up to a maximum of $30 per month, per store location. This fee is supposed to offset the retailers’ cost of collecting and remitting sales tax for the state. While this collection allowance doesn’t come close to the actual cost to the retailers for collecting and remitting the sales tax, the allowance shouldn’t be eliminated and redirected to the state treasury. Currently, the collection allowance is worth approximately $60 million annually to Florida retailers.

POSITION:  The Florida Retail Federation will actively oppose any effort by the Florida Legislature to revoke the payment of the dealer collection allowance.