Florida State Tax Rulings
Free plain-English summaries of state tax letter rulings and advisory opinions issued in Florida, with full citations and the original source on every page.
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Were rentals of personal mobility scooters used by handicapped or infirm people exempt from Florida sales tax?
Yes. The Department found the described electric mobility scooters functionally equivalent to powered wheelchairs and therefore specifically exempt as mobility-assistance medical devices.
Was a prescribed electric-field device used to treat recurrent brain cancer exempt from Florida sales tax?
Yes. The device was designed for medical treatment of human illness and was dispensed to each patient under an individual prescription written by a licensed practitioner.
Which digital fax, email, EDI, and VPN messaging charges were subject to Florida CST or sales tax?
Traditional-fax and qualifying VPN charges could be subject to CST based on Florida equipment sourcing. Email-only, nontraditional digital fax, EDI VAN, reporting, and customization services were not …
Were three tiers of leases for nursing-home and assisted-living facilities subject to Florida commercial-rent tax?
No, for the described facility areas. The first two lease tiers qualified for resale treatment, the operators used the premises for residential care rather than commercial space, and resident accommod…
Were installed senior-living emergency call systems taxable property sales or real-property improvements?
It depended on each contract. Hardwired call stations and lights became real property, while consoles, pagers, radios, and other movable equipment remained tangible personal property.
Were paid and free-trial memberships bundling shipping, streaming video, and e-books subject to Florida sales tax or CST?
The membership owed no sales tax, but its streaming-video portion owed CST when sourced to Florida. Free-trial video cost was taxable to the retailer because no resale occurred.
Were separately stated shipping and handling fees on F.O.B.-origin online sales subject to Florida sales tax?
No. The retailer separately stated every shipping and handling charge and sold F.O.B. origin, so title and risk passed when the goods were delivered to the carrier.
Were monthly and per-class charges for coach-led group personal training subject to Florida sales tax?
No. Members had access only during scheduled, supervised classes and could not use the studio independently, so the charges were for instruction rather than taxable club admission.
Were fees for mobile painting parties with instruction and provided supplies subject to Florida sales tax?
No. The business sold two hours of step-by-step painting instruction rather than tangible personal property and paid tax when purchasing the reusable and consumable supplies.
Were remote cloud storage, virtual compute instances, and related data-transfer fees subject to Florida sales tax or CST?
No. Remote storage, virtual compute instances using open-source or third-party operating systems, and incidental data-transfer fees were information services rather than taxable property or communicat…
Is an unused landlord-funded tenant improvement allowance taxable when the lease permits it only as a credit against rent?
No. The unused landlord-funded allowance was not taxable when the lease permitted only a rent reduction and gave the tenant no cash, property, reimbursement, or other benefit.
Can a building-material invoice to an exempt governmental entity also name its contractor or subcontractor as the c/o party?
Yes. Naming a contractor or subcontractor as c/o does not defeat the exemption if the governmental entity remains the billed purchaser and every other direct-purchase requirement is satisfied.
Did a county's proposed direct-purchase procedures qualify building materials for its courthouse project for Florida's governmental exemption?
Yes, the stated procedures met the direct-purchase requirements because the county ordered, paid for, took title to, insured, and assumed risk for the materials and issued the required certificates. T…
Must a Florida linen-rental company collect sales tax on an automatic recurring inventory-maintenance fee?
Yes. The automatic recurring fee guaranteed that linen inventory stayed at the agreed level and was charged even without a specific replacement, so it was part of the taxable rental price.
Did a governmental owner's proposed direct-purchase procedures qualify materials for a seawall public-works project for sales-tax exemption?
Yes. The owner could buy the materials tax-exempt because it would issue the purchase orders, receive vendor invoices, pay vendors directly, take title at delivery, bear risk of loss, and issue Certif…
Was a hosted software subscription accessed only through the Internet subject to Florida sales and use tax?
No. The customer accessed the hosted software only through the Internet, received no tangible software or other tangible personal property, and had no possession or control of the vendor's server.
Does an RV park keep its transient-rental exemption after an ownership change, and must the new owners file a new declaration?
Yes. The exemption follows the qualifying facility, not the owner, so an ownership change alone did not end it. No new declaration was required if the prior owner filed one and the park continued to m…
Should a Florida contractor separately charge a homeowner sales tax on plantation shutters sold and installed under a lump-sum contract?
No. The installed shutters became fixtures under a lump-sum real-property contract. The contractor owed tax on its materials and could include that cost in the contract price, but should not separatel…
Did a governmental owner's contract qualify direct material purchases for an infrastructure public-works project for sales-tax exemption?
Yes. The owner could purchase materials tax-exempt because it would order directly, receive invoices, pay suppliers from public funds, take title and risk at delivery, insure the materials, and issue …
Was a tenant's reimbursement of improvement costs above the landlord's allowances taxable as commercial rent?
No. The reimbursements paid improvement costs above the landlord's allowances, and the work was optional, intended to make the space usable, not required in a minimum amount, and not rent or a substit…
How did Florida tax home service contract premiums, contractor repair charges, and customer service-call fees?
Contract premiums were subject to the 2% premium tax, not sales tax. Real-property contractors owed tax on materials; personal-property repair charges to the provider were fully taxable; and the custo…
Was a monthly easement fee for access to leased parking spaces taxable along with the parking fee?
Yes. Access through the garage was an interdependent part of leasing the parking spaces, so both the monthly parking fee and the monthly access-easement fee formed the taxable total rental charge.
Should a monument company charge a customer sales tax on a cemetery monument installed at the designated gravesite?
No. The installed monument was exempt at the customer level. The monument or burial-service provider instead had to pay tax when purchasing the items used to provide the service or install the monumen…
Were regularly mailed envelopes containing coupons and advertisements from multiple vendors subject to Florida sales and use tax?
No. The mail-outs qualified for the exemption for advertising materials distributed free by mail in an envelope because they contained only ads from at least 10 vendors and were mailed regularly.
Did an independent contractor that improved real property and resold furniture to a related company have to register as a Florida dealer?
Yes. The company was an independent contractor, not the related company's agent. It owed use tax on materials consumed in real-property work and had to collect sales tax on furniture and furnishings s…
Could a temporary-housing company lease furniture tax-free from suppliers when it acquired each item solely to re-lease to a customer?
Yes. Supplier leases were exempt resale transactions because each furniture package was acquired solely for a specific customer's re-lease. The company still had to collect sales tax on the rental cha…
Was a sale between an out-of-state distributor and out-of-state dealer taxable when goods were drop-shipped to the dealer's Florida customer?
No. The seller-to-dealer transaction occurred outside Florida's jurisdiction. The Florida recipient instead had resale-collection or consumer use-tax duties, and the seller had to retain invoices and …
How did Florida tax custom signs and awnings sold, installed, or repaired by an out-of-state dealer using local contractors?
Permanently attached signs and awnings were real-property improvements: the dealer owed use tax on costs and did not charge customer sales tax. Removable signs were tangible personal property, making …
Was a per-gallon fuel flowage fee required by a fuel-farm ground lease taxable as rent?
Yes. The flowage fee was consideration for the right to use the leased property because nonpayment was a default that could terminate the lease, even though the agreement did not label the fee as rent…
Were the initial sale and later reissuance of true equity memberships in a recreational club taxable as admissions?
No. The membership contributions bought equitable ownership interests rather than dues or admission rights because members received ownership certificates, voting rights, and rights to club assets on …
Which dues, fees, and assessments charged by a member-owned shooting club were taxable admissions?
Annual dues, tournament fees, and insurance fees were taxable admissions. Late fees, application fees that bought a genuine equity interest, and impact fees used solely for qualifying capital expendit…
Did a commercial landlord have to remit rental sales tax when its tenant paid rent but refused to pay the tax?
Yes. The landlord had to collect and remit tax when it received taxable rent. A tenant's refusal to pay or unsupported exemption claim did not eliminate the landlord's liability for uncollected tax.
Which surgical products sold to hospitals qualified for Florida's prescription and single-patient medical-product exemption?
Products required to be dispensed by a licensed practitioner's prescription or order and intended for one patient without reuse were exempt. Reusable identification items and brushes, plus nonprescrip…
Were process-serving and skip-trace charges subject to Florida sales tax when billed to law-firm clients?
Freestanding or separately stated process-serving charges were not taxable. Skip-trace and locate services were taxable investigative services, and failing to separate them from process service made t…
Could a highway contractor buy taxable cleaning and security services tax-free for resale to its state customer?
Only after fixing the documentation. Future purchases could qualify for resale if contracts named the single state customer, both invoice levels separately stated the services, and resale records comp…
Could multiple colors of paint on one invoice be aggregated so Florida's $5,000 discretionary surtax cap applied once to the whole invoice?
No. Different paint colors bought for inventory were separate items, not a single bulk item or integrated working unit. The $5,000 discretionary sales surtax limitation applied separately to each invo…
Were a captive subsidiary's accounting, tax, audit, legal, and finance support services to its parent group subject to sales tax?
No. The work was professional or personal service, and the financial documents delivered to the parent group carried no separate charge and were only inconsequential elements of those services.
Was a percentage-of-sales fee remitted to a shopping-complex landlord for advertising and promotion taxable as rent?
Yes. The lease required the retailer to remit the percentage-of-sales fee to the landlord, the funds promoted the shopping complex, and nonpayment was a lease default, making the fee taxable percentag…
Were bakery items sold by outlets with seating exempt when packaged and recorded for off-premises consumption?
Yes. Bakery products in any quantity were exempt when packaging showed off-premises intent and the POS separately recorded the exempt sale. Coffee beans, ground coffee, and K-cup portion packs were al…
Which charges for paper and electronic medical-record copies were subject to Florida sales tax?
Electronic delivery and all associated charges were not taxable. For paper copies, most search, preparation, certification, handling, labor, and per-page charges were taxable; no-records, notary, and …
Was a capsule-form dietary supplement marketed for weight control exempt from Florida sales tax?
Yes. The product was labeled and reviewed as a dietary supplement, and Florida treated dietary, herbal, vitamin, and mineral supplements as exempt food products.
Was a liquid concentrate made from coffee, natural flavoring, and sweeteners exempt from Florida sales tax as food?
Yes. The submitted liquid coffee concentrate qualified as an exempt food product because Florida's food definition and rule include coffee and coffee substitutes.
Were utilities passed through by a tax-exempt church landlord to its for-profit tenant taxable as rent?
Yes. The utility-charge exemption required the landlord to have paid sales tax on the utilities. Because the exempt church paid none, the separately billed pass-through remained taxable rental conside…
Were engines, parts, and equipment bought for later Florida installation on fixed-wing aircraft over 15,000 pounds exempt from sales tax?
Yes. The vendor did not have to install the parts or install them immediately. The items qualified if ultimately installed in Florida on eligible aircraft; fleet operators should document the exemptio…
Which county's discretionary sales surtax applied when customers picked up rented scaffolding and used it in another county for multiple billing cycles?
Use the county where the customer received the equipment. The pickup-county rate applied to the first invoice and every later rental billing cycle; moving the scaffolding to another county did not cha…
How did Florida sales tax apply to a gaming ship's vessel costs, gaming, food sales, boarding fees, and port berth?
Florida gave mixed answers. The ship, retrofit, equipment, fuel, and other property qualified for the vessel partial exemption; gaming receipts were outside Chapter 212; food and drinks were taxable i…
Could a Florida dealer sell components tax-free to a nonresident when it delivered them to another Florida dealer for assembly before export?
No. The selling dealer had to collect Florida sales tax because it delivered the parachute canopies to another Florida dealer acting as the nonresident customer's representative for assembly. The good…
Were shareholder distributions taxable rent when a related business occupied real property without a written lease?
Yes, on these facts. A landlord-tenant relationship existed because one entity occupied property owned by another, even without a written lease. Distributions routed through the owners were rental con…
Were a county's charges to private users and vendors for firing-range space subject to Florida sales tax?
Yes. The county's agreement granted private users a license to occupy and use the firing-range property, and vendor-space charges were also licenses to use real property. The governmental-purchase exe…
Were restaurant rent payments at a municipally owned beach exempt as a food concession at a public recreational facility?
Yes. Florida treated the municipal beach as a publicly owned recreational facility and the restaurant lessee as a food-and-drink concessionaire, so base and percentage rent were not taxable. The opera…
Did a registered out-of-state drop shipper have to collect Florida tax from an out-of-state dealer when goods went by common carrier to Florida?
No, under the stated three-party facts. Both the vendor and purchasing dealer were outside Florida, the goods were outside Florida when sold, and a common carrier delivered them to the dealer's Florid…
Were diagnostic test kits, calibration and control materials, and qualifying research products exempt from Florida sales tax?
Yes, within the ruling's categories. Diagnostic test kits, calibration and control materials, and related chemical compounds used to diagnose human disease were exempt, as were qualifying consumable m…
Did a county's contract procedures make construction-material purchases exempt as direct government purchases?
No. Direct payment to suppliers was the only required factor the contract clearly satisfied. It did not establish county-issued purchase orders with the exemption number, direct vendor invoices to the…
Were single-use postoperative pain pumps purchased by a physician or clinic exempt from Florida sales tax?
Yes, when the licensed physician dispensed the single-use prescription-labeled pump to the patient, who wore it home and discarded it after use. A reusable pump remained taxable to the healthcare prov…
Were reservation, condominium-application, and optional golf-transfer fees taxable as transient-accommodation rent?
No, as transient-accommodation rental charges on the stated facts. The reservation and condominium fees paid for application processing and were never credited against rent. The golf transfer fee was …
Was the electricity portion of shopping-center CAM charges exempt when a year-end reconciliation identified the tenant's share?
Yes, for the electricity portion passed through without markup. The lessor paid sales tax to the utility, the year-end reconciliation listed shopping-center electricity and the tenant's pro-rata share…
Were a landlord's bundled after-hours HVAC charges taxable as commercial rent when the utility portion was not separately stated?
Yes. The charges were required additional rent and bundled electricity with other after-hours costs. Although the landlord had paid tax to the utility, its tenant invoices did not separately state the…
Did Florida treat installed Murphy beds as real-property improvements or sales of tangible personal property?
Real-property improvements. The bed mechanism was anchored to the foundation or floor beams and the cabinet was bolted to wall studs for indefinite placement. Under a lump-sum contract, the contractor…
Did legally reprocessing and reselling single-patient Rx devices remain exempt when customers could receive equivalent devices?
Yes. Legally reprocessed devices remained exempt when they were qualifying single-patient prescription products bearing the required federal restriction. The result covered both returning the customer…
Did legally reprocessing and reselling single-patient Rx medical devices eliminate their Florida sales-tax exemption?
No. One-time-use medical devices that were legally reprocessed, remained single-patient prescription devices, and carried the required federal Rx restriction did not lose their exemption when resold. …
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These are official tax letter rulings and advisory opinions issued by Florida's revenue authority in response to questions from specific taxpayers about how the tax law applies to their facts. A ruling is binding on the department only for the taxpayer who requested it and cannot be relied on by anyone else, but it is strong evidence of how the state reads the law. Every ruling above has a plain-English question and short answer, plus a link to the full original source.