Are city-imposed ticket surcharges and separately stated order or reprint fees part of a taxable Florida admission price?

Plain-English summary

The Department ruled that a city performing arts hall did not have to include two city-imposed surcharges in the taxable price of admission: a $1 capital-improvement surcharge and a $2 operations surcharge. Florida law excludes state or locally imposed or authorized seat surcharges, taxes, and fees from an admission's sales price or actual value.

The hall's $10 mail-order fee, $3-per-ticket phone-order fee, and $1 ticket-reprint fee were also not subject to admissions tax. Each was separately stated and added to a separately stated, established ticket price, fitting the statutory exclusion for qualifying ticket-service charges.

What this means for you

Ticket sellers should distinguish the admission price from government-imposed seat charges and qualifying ticket-office service fees. For a service fee to receive the treatment approved here, the advisement required separate statement and addition to an independently established ticket price.

Common questions

Were the capital-improvement and operations surcharges taxable? No. They were locally imposed surcharges excluded from the admission price.

Were the mail, phone, and reprint fees taxable? No, because they were separately stated and added to a separately stated, established ticket price.

Would a bundled fee necessarily receive the same treatment? The TAA did not approve that fact pattern; its conclusion expressly relied on separate statement and an established ticket price.

Citations and references

• Fla. Stat. § 212.04(1)(b) and Fla. Admin. Code r. 12A-1.005(1), as cited in the advisement.

Source

• Landing page: Florida Tax Law Library
• Advisement: TAA 09A-056

Original ruling text

SUMMARY
QUESTION: Are certain fees and charges collected on the sale of tickets for admissions
subject to sales tax?
ANSWER: State or locally imposed seat taxes, fees, and surcharges are not considered part of
the sales price or actual value of an admission. Separately stated ticket service
charges imposed by a facility ticket office or a ticketing service are not part of the
sales price or actual value of an admission if the service charges are separately
stated and are added to a separately stated, established ticket price.
November 5, 2009
XXX
Re:

Technical Assistance Advisement 09A-056
Sales & Use Tax – Admissions
Section: 212.04, Florida Statutes (F.S.)
Rule: 12A-1.005, Florida Administrative Code (F.A.C.)
Petitioner: XXX (herein after “City”)
XXX (“performing arts hall”)
FEI: XXX

Dear XXX:
This letter is a response to your petition dated August 10, 2009, for the Department's issuance of
a Technical Assistance Advisement (TAA) concerning the above referenced party and matter.
Your petition and the revised Exhibit A, Appendix 2 have been carefully examined and the
Department finds them to be in compliance with the requisite criteria set forth in Chapter 12-11,
Florida Administrative Code. This response to your request constitutes a TAA and is issued to
you under the authority of Section 213.22, F.S.
ISSUE
Whether certain fees and charges collected on the sale of tickets for admissions are subject to
sales tax.
PRESENTED FACTS

The City is seeking clarification on different fees collected on the sale of tickets, for events held
in its performing arts hall. The City’s performing arts hall charges for admissions to events.
Along with the admission charge, there is a locally imposed capital improvement surcharge of
$1.00 per ticket, and an operations surcharge of $2.00 per ticket. Both surcharges were imposed
by the City Commission, are collected by the City-owned performing arts hall, and retained by
the performing arts hall, to be used for the specific purpose of the surcharges. The surcharges

Letter of Technical Advisement
Page 2
are not remitted to the local government to fund general services.

The capital improvement surcharge was originally adopted as 50 cents per ticket on March 7,
1988, by Resolution 88R-97. It was subsequently increased to $1.00 effective October 1, 1991,
by Ordinance 91-3524. The operations surcharge was originally adopted as $1.00 effective
October 1, 2001, by Ordinance 01-4328. It was subsequently increased to $2.00 effective
October 1, 2007, by Resolution 07R-1990. After the capital improvement surcharge was first
adopted in 1988, all subsequent surcharges and increases were approved by the City Commission
during the adoption of the annual budget.
Depending upon how the tickets are ordered, customers may be subject to the following fees:
•
•
•

$10.00 mail order fee – charged for tickets ordered by mail.
$3.00 ticket phone order charge – charged for each ticket ordered over the phone.
$1.00 ticket reprint fee – charged for each ticket that has to be reprinted.

These fees are separately stated and are added to a separately stated established ticket price.
LAW AND DISCUSSION
Section 212.04(1)(b), F.S., provides, in part:
. . . The sale price or actual value of admission shall, for the purpose of this chapter, be
that price remaining after deduction of federal taxes and state or locally imposed or
authorized seat surcharges, taxes, or fees, if any, imposed upon such admission. The sale
price or actual value does not include separately stated ticket service charges that are
imposed by a facility ticket office or a ticketing service and added to a separately stated,
established ticket price. . . .
Rule 12A-1.005(1), F.A.C., provides, in applicable part:
(1)(a) Every person is exercising a taxable privilege when such person sells or receives
anything of value by way of admissions, as defined in s. 212.02(1), F.S., except those
admissions that are specifically exempt. Such seller is required to collect on each
admission charge for 10 cents or more the amount of tax provided for by the applicable
bracket provided in s. 212.12(9), F.S. Each admission is a single sale.
(b) It is required that either:

1. The seller collecting the charge for an admission prominently display, at the box
   office or other place where the admission charge is collected, a sign or other
   easily read notice disclosing the price of the admission; or

Letter of Technical Advisement
Page 3

2. The face of each ticket sold reflect the actual sales price of the admission.
   (c)1. The tax shall be computed and collected by the seller on the sales price or actual
   value of the admission, as provided in s. 212.04(1)(b), F.S., and is due at the moment of
   the transaction . . . .
   CONCLUSION
   State or locally imposed seat taxes, fees, and surcharges are not considered part of the sales price
   or actual value of an admission. Separately stated ticket service charges imposed by a facility
   ticket office or a ticketing service are not part of the sales price or actual value of an admission if
   the service charges are separately stated and are added to a separately stated, established ticket
   price. Therefore, the City’s capital improvement surcharge and the operations surcharge are not
   subject to sales tax. In addition, the mail order fee, the phone order fee, and the ticket reprint
   fee, which are separately stated and added to a separately established ticket price, are not subject
   to sales tax.
   This response constitutes a Technical Assistance Advisement under Section 213.22, F.S., which
   is binding on the Department only under the facts and circumstances described in the request for
   this advice, as specified in Section 213.22, F.S. Our response is predicated upon those facts and
   the specific situation summarized above. You are advised that subsequent statutory or
   administrative rule changes or judicial interpretations of the statutes or rules upon which this
   advice is based may subject similar future transactions to a different treatment from that which is
   expressed in this response.
   You are further advised that this response, your request, and related backup documents are
   public records under Chapter 119, F.S., and are subject to disclosure to the public under the
   conditions of Section 213.22, F.S. Confidential information must be deleted before public
   disclosure. In an effort to protect confidentiality, we request you provide the undersigned with an
   edited copy of your request for Technical Assistance Advisement, the backup material and this
   response, deleting names, addresses, and any other details which might lead to identification of
   the
   taxpayer. Your response should be received by the Department within 10 days of the date of this
   letter.
   Sincerely,

Horace Royals
Senior Tax Specialist
Technical Assistance & Dispute Resolution

Letter of Technical Advisement
Page 4
Record ID: 69433