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

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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, Budget/Approps

Budget Watch - GR Estimates Down $32.6 Million

Florida’s General Revenue (GR) Estimating Conference met on August 16 and forecast that the state would collect $13.1 million less than expected in FY2018-19 and $19.5 million less in FY2019-20. This reduces the estimated GR that the Legislature will have for the next state budget by $32.6 million, a change of less than one-tenth of 1 percent.

This reduction in the GR estimates comes on the heels of the final tally for actual collections in the year just ended on June 30. Last years’ actual collections exceeded the previous estimate by $205.2 million. However, more than half of this surplus is attributable to one-time events, rather than a strengthening of the underlying revenue forecast. These events had the effect of shifting some collections from FY2018- 19 to FY2019-20. Most of this one-time revenue will be offset by reductions in the current year, which contributed to the reductions in the new estimates.

When last year’s extra revenue is added to the new reduced estimates, the Legislature now has an estimated $172.6 million more in GR than was previously estimated in February 2018. The actual collections in last year (FY2017-18), the estimates for the current year (FY2018-19), and the estimates for the next budget year (FY2019-20) all impact the amount of revenue that the 2019 Legislature will have at its disposal.

For the new forecast, some of the individual GR sources had their estimates decreased, while some were increased, essentially offsetting each other. The estimate for sales taxes, the state’s largest revenue source, was reduced by $78.1 million over the two years. Hurricane Irma reduced collections initially, but the subsequent recovery added $117.8 million.

The other big estimate reductions were for earning on investments, which was cut by $182.4 million over the two years and intangibles taxes, which were cut by $48.8 million. Estimated refunds were increased (which reduces net GR) by $74.2 million. The reductions were partially offset by increases in corporate income taxes ($162.9 million) and insurance premium taxes ($146.3 million).

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