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

Download the Recommendations

Other Resources

Florida Disaster.biz
FEMA
Florida Department of Financial Services
Florida SBDC
Disaster Contractors Network
Florida Disaster Fund

Florida TaxWatch Statement on Hurricane Ian Recovery

Community Involvement

/ Categories: Research, Taxes, Budget/Approps, Cost Savings, Taxpayer Guide

Budget Watch - Budget Surplus Threatened by Irma Impacts

Hurricane Irma Likely to Turn Next Year's Small Budget Surplus into a Shortfall

The Joint Legislative Budget Commission (LBC) met recently to adopt the Long-Range Financial Outlook, the constitutionally required annual report that looks at estimated revenues versus expenditures. The Outlook gives the Legislature a sense of the state’s budget position going into session and whether lawmakers can expect a budget shortfall or surplus. The new Outlook forecasts that after funding a continuation budget, there will be $52.0 million in General Revenue (GR) left over. However, this estimate was developed before Hurricane Irma, and the LBC was advised to expect that the small surplus would be more than wiped out by needed hurricane-related budget amendments (see “Impact of Hurricanes” on page 11). In short, it is expected there will be a budget shortfall next year (FY2018-19).

Even before the hurricane is considered, the Outlook estimated the state was facing large shortfalls of $1.1 billion in FY2019-20 and $1.6 billion in FY2020-21. This is due to the continuing “structural imbalance” of the state’s recurring expenditures exceed recurring revenues. The hurricane will make it worse.

The Outlook further estimates that (even based on a $52.0 million surplus) that $369.5 million in spending cuts and/or revenue increases in each of the next three years will be needed to erase the shortfall in FY2020-21. An additional $189.6 million in recurring spending will have to be converted to non-recurring. Postponing corrective actions will make it even more difficult to resolve the future shortfalls.

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