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

Thursday, October 13, 2022

/ Categories: Releases

Verizon donates $250,000 in support of small business recovery in wake of hurricane

Verizon Business continues its commitment to supporting small businesses in times of crisis

BASKING RIDGE, N.J. – Verizon today announces a $250,000 donation to support small businesses affected by Hurricane Ian. Verizon is partnering with Collaboratory, a local non-profit community-problem solving organization in Southwest Florida, and Florida TaxWatch, a trusted non-profit organization that serves as the ‘eyes and ears’ of Florida taxpayers and promotes economic development across the state, to create $10,000 grants to provide small businesses in the hardest-hit areas of Florida with critical relief.

“We are committed to helping small businesses who have been affected by this terrible tragedy,” said Aparna Khurjekar, Chief Revenue Officer, Business Markets and SaaS at Verizon Business. “Many of these businesses are dealing with insurmountable challenges, ranging from functional and operational disruptions to the destruction of property. We hope that this donation will help accelerate business recovery and provide assistance for the small business communities affected by Hurricane Ian during their time of need.”

“Hurricane Ian has significantly impacted the livelihood of many small business owners in Southwest Florida and nearly 20 counties in the peninsula,” said Dominic M. Calabro, President and CEO of Florida TaxWatch. “Florida TaxWatch is proud to be partnering with Verizon Business and Collaboratory to offer grants to many of these hard-working people, supporting them and their families, as part of our ongoing work.”

“Collaboratory understands that local small businesses are part of the lifeblood of our community,” said Sarah Owen, President and CEO of Collaboratory. “They employ our workforce, create new innovative solutions and ideas, and drive our economic future. Assisting these businesses post-storm is a critical component of the rebuilding of Southwest Florida. Donations like this one from Verizon Business help us to do just that.”

Ongoing Disaster Recovery Efforts

Verizon engineers are continuing their efforts this week to add capacity to the network to support the tremendous data usage increase we’re seeing compared to pre-storm levels. The influx of recovery teams to the area, coupled with customers using wireless service while their home internet service is out, has increased data traffic on the network by more than 70% in some locations.

Engineers continue to add 5G service using C-band spectrum, repair radio heads and realign antennas which will help optimize network performance. Teams are also continuing to increase the capacity and stability of the satellite, fiber and microwave links that connect cell sites back to the rest of the network so those sites can manage more data traffic. Lastly, engineers continue to deploy additional mobile cell sites to supplement coverage and capacity in extremely busy areas of Southwest Florida.

Further, the Verizon Frontline Crisis Response Team has deployed more than 400 Verizon Frontline solutions, including drones, smartphones, routers, mobile hotspots, portable satellite assets, and THOR (Tactical Humanitarian Operations Response), a one-of-a-kind private 5G network-capable mobile emergency operations vehicle, to support first responders in their search and rescue missions.

More recovery efforts can be seen on the Verizon Response to Hurricane Ian page, which will continue to be updated regularly.

Free Learning Resources Available to Small Businesses

Small businesses can also access Verizon Small Business Digital Ready, a free, comprehensive online curriculum focused on helping small businesses with digital transformation. The portal was created with and for small businesses, with a specific focus on helping diverse and under-resourced business owners, and offers personalized learning through 30+ courses, mentorship, peer networking, 1:1 expert coaching and incentives. This initiative is part of a 10-year commitment Verizon made in 2020 to support 1M small businesses with the resources to thrive in the digital economy as part of its responsible business plan, Citizen Verizon.

Media contact(s)
Claudia Russo
claudia.russo@verizon.com

Florida TaxWatch contact:

Christina Johnson, christina@on3pr.com, 850.339.5773

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