FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE

Transcription

1 0 0 FLORIDA DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE IN RE: PUBLIC MEETING ON CHAPTER 0-, LAWS OF FLORIDA, HOPE SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM / FACILITATOR: GENERAL COUNSEL: CHELSEA EAGLE MARK HAMILTON DATE: MAY, 0 TIME: COMMENCED AT: :00 A.M. CONCLUDED AT: : A.M. LOCATION: BUILDING, ROOM 0 CAPITAL CIRCLE OFFICE COMPLEX 0 SHUMARD OAK BLVD TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA REPORTED BY: NANCY S. METZKE, RPR, FPR COURT REPORTER C & N REPORTERS POST OFFICE BOX 0 TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA -0 (0) - / FAX (0) - nancy@metzke.com candnreporters.com

2 0 0 SPEAKERS: Ann Francis * * * *

3 0 0 P R O C E E D I N G S MR. HAMILTON: Good morning. We're going to get started. My name is Mark Hamilton. I'm General Counsel for the Florida Department of Revenue. MS. EAGLE: Good morning. My name is Chelsea Eagle. I'm the Department's Chief Performance Officer. I will be the facilitator for today's meeting. My role as facilitator is to preside in a neutral fashion. Today is May th, 0. And this is a public meeting scheduled under Subsection of Section 0., Florida Statute. This is not a rulemaking workshop as this program is not yet the subject of Agency rulemaking. Formal rulemaking will take place later this year. The Department is holding this meeting to allow interested parties to present comments on the implementation of the Florida Sales Tax Scholarship Program for the Department to consider when drafting emergency rules. The Department does not normally schedule meetings when drafting emergency rules; however, the Department determined that this

4 0 0 program warranted an opportunity for the public to present relevant comments. We have placed copies of the agenda and applicable statutory language on the table outside. All visitors need to wear a public meeting badge while in the building. Please return it to the front table when the meeting is finished. If there is an emergency evacuation, we will walk together to the evacuation zone for your safety. Please mute or turn off any cell phone ringers or other noisemaking devices. We will take comments on each agenda item for anyone present. For anyone present, please step up to the podium when you want to speak on an agenda item. Please tell us your name and whom you represent. We ask that you provide only comments that are directly relevant to the program being considered today. Please hold any general comments until after we have discussed the agenda items. Our first agenda item is an overview of the Florida Sales Tax Credit Scholarship Program as found in Section.0 Florida Statutes, which is created in Chapter 0-00 Laws of Florida. Please note that when explaining this program, I

5 0 0 will use general language to give an outline of the credit process. Some of the terms or processes may be more detailed than this overview indicates. The Florida Sales Tax Credit Scholarship Program generally allows a tenant to apply to the Department for an allocation of tax credit to be taken against the state sales tax that would ordinarily apply to the rental fee paid to the landlord. The Department can approve up to $. million in these credits for the state fiscal year 0/0. Once approved a tenant will pay some or all of the allocated amount to an eligible nonprofit scholarship funding organization, commonly referred to as an SFO. This payment must be made in the same state fiscal year as the year in which the application was approved. The SFO will provide the tenant with a certificate of contribution showing the amount of the contribution, which can be used to document the credit against sales tax due on their lease. The SFO must file a monthly report with the Department that details the contributions received during the preceding calendar month along with identifying information for each contribution.

6 0 0 The tenant will provide their landlord with a copy of the approval letter from the Department and a copy of the certificate of contribution from the SFO. The landlord will report the credit amount taken by the tenant on their sales tax return filed with the Department. In the event a tenant decides that they will not use all of the allocation they receive from the Department, they can request that the Department rescind any allocation for which a payment has not already been made to the SFO. The rescinded amount will then be made available so that others can apply for an allocation of some or all of that amount. Unused credits can be carried forward by tenants for up to 0 years. That is the basic overview of the program as provided in statute. Our second agenda item is to accept public comments. The Department will not be responding to questions but welcomes all comments at this time. When you come forward to give comments, please begin by stating your name and whom you represent. MR. HAMILTON: If anyone wants to start, come on up. MS. FRANCIS: Hi. Good morning. I'm Ann

7 0 0 Francis, and I'm with Step Up for Students. First of all, I really want to say thank you to the Department for this opportunity to provide some comments. As an administrator of the Tax Credit Program, our organization really seeks to be a good partner with the DOR and make sure that the administration of the Florida Sales Tax Credit Program, as a new program, is done in an effective and efficient manner to the best of my ability. So thank you. As far as the reporting process that the statute outlines and the requirements for the SFOs to report contributions to the DOR, we are interested in any opportunity where those reports can be automated and perhaps done in a way where we can upload maybe an Excel spreadsheet or something that can upload all of the information in an aggregated manner altogether at once on a monthly basis as required. In addition to that, I would like -- we would like some clarification with the language that refers to the reporting. We assume that the language -- the language references that the form include the amount of contributions received during that reporting period and the Federal Employment

8 0 0 Identification Number of each dealer associated with the contribution. It's our assumption that in this language "the dealer" refers to the landlord, but we would love clarification that that is accurate. We would also request guidance on how to report contributions should an instance occur where the dealer or landlord does not actually have a Federal Employment Identification Number. So if that instance occurs, knowing that it's required on the DOR application when the tenant reserves the credit and it's also required on the Certificate of Contribution and this report. We'd love some guidance on if there is no FEIN available how to treat that. And that's it for us. Thank you, again. MS. EAGLE: Thank you. Additional comments? (NO RESPONSE). MR. HAMILTON: No additional comments from anyone? (NO RESPONSE). MS. EAGLE: Okay. On behalf of the Department, I want to thank everyone for participating and sharing comments with us. Your

9 0 0 participation is very helpful during this process and this concludes the meeting. (WHEREUPON, THE MEETING WAS ADJOURNED). * * * *

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