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

Florida's 2016 Mid-Year Job Growth

Florida continues to be among the leading states in terms of job creation as we head into the second half of 2016. Over the past year, Florida’s total non-farm employment has grown 3.03 percent, the state has added approximately 244,500 non-farm jobs, and Florida’s overall employment is among the highest in the state’s history. Florida’s unemployment rate has also steadily declined over the past year, dropping from 5.3 percent in June 2015 to 4.7 percent in June 2016.

Job gains were fairly strong month-to-month over the past year, averaging almost 19,000 jobs. Florida added 113,000 non-farm jobs through the first six months of 2016, led by a two-month stretch from April 2016 through May 2016 when the state’s Non-Farm Employment grew by 61,900.


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