9 Actions Florida Should Take to Help Taxpayers Impacted by Hurricane Ian

1.     Postpone tax notices and waive penalties or interest for late tax filings in affected areas

2.     Extend the date for residents to take advantage of the tax discounts they would normally receive for paying property taxes and special assessments in November and postpone or defer the deadline for property tax installment payments

3.     Protect individual and business taxpayers from the risks for notices that they will likely not receive because their home or business addresses is not accessible anymore

4.     Issue no new audits in severely impacted areas, extend the statute of limitations and postpone existing audits that haven’t reached the assessment stage because these can’t be responded to while entire communities are still recovering

5.     Create procedures for fairly estimating taxes which can’t be calculated because records have been destroyed by the storm, moving away from the current method which significantly overestimates activity if no records are available

6.     Initiate procedures to offer payment plan assistance for late taxes, rather than resorting to the standard collection methods, like liens, levies, or bank freezes

7.     Retroactively apply the recently passed law that provides property tax refunds for residential property rendered uninhabitable as a result of a catastrophic event

8.     Provide tangible personal property relief and allow n on-residential properties rendered uninhabitable to receive property tax refunds

9.     Get Congress to pass a Disaster Tax Relief Act that includes provisions from past packages, including elements such as an Employee Retention Credit, an enhanced casualty loss deduction, and other relief provisions

Other Resources

Florida TaxWatch Statement on Hurricane Ian Recovery

Community Involvement

I'm Under Arrest For What?

/ Categories: Blog
Over the past several decades, overall crime across the U.S. has been going down, and the situation is no different in Florida; the state is at its lowest crime rate since the 1960s. Despite this decrease in crime the number of people with criminal records in Florida (and the nation) has continued to grow rapidly, which raises the question “what’s going on here?”

FEMA's Disaster Deductible

/ Categories: Blog
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has undertaken rulemaking to consider the establishment of a deductible for its Public Assistance Program. Has Florida taken the right steps to make this new rule a favorable one?

Who is the school nurse?

/ Categories: Blog
There is a high probability that the person known as “the nurse” in your child’s school clinic is not a licensed nurse.  In fact, this individual may not have any formal health care training and has earned this title by virtue of a desk in the clinic.

Host Countries Fail to Medal after the Olympic Games End

/ Categories: Blog

The summer Olympics has now come and gone, and it will certainly be a memorable one. People from around the world cheered on their fellow countrymen, and women, as they put their hearts on the line in pursuit of gold and glory. However, now that the Olympic Games have concluded what happens to Rio de Janeiro? Will the country experience a boost in tourism or economic activity? Or, like our recent obsession for all things gymnastics and swimming, will Rio be forgotten with time?

First13141516171819202122