FL DOR SALES TAX EXEMPTION CERTIFICATE MOBILE APP

FL DOR SALES TAX EXEMPTION CERTIFICATE MOBILE APP

What do Angry Birds, Wonderlists, Starbucks, Groupon and the Florida Department of Revenue all have in common? As of a few weeks ago, they all have mobile apps available. That's right, on September 26, 2014, our friends at the Florida Department of Revenue made an announcement that will change civilization as we know it. It announced it was releasing its very own, state of the art, mobile application. The new app FL Tax will allow taxpayers the ability to document tax-exempt sales! The app can substantiate a customer's Florida sales tax certificate number and verify Florida Consumer's Certificate of Exemption. Who wouldn't want this kind of information in the palm of their hand?

For the few people that actually download this app on their IPhone, IPad, Windows, or Android device, the business can simply enter a customer's sales tax number and the app will tell the seller whether or not it is valid. According to the Taxpayer Information Publication, TIP #14A01-08, the app does so much more. Once the seller looks up a customer's number then a report is generated that can be emailed for easy storage. The report displays:

  • The date and time of the transaction
  • Buyer's name
  • Buyer's sales tax number
  • Verification response short-text indicator
  • Response details including transaction or authorization number

With this new app, taxpayers of all sizes will be able to keep documentation of all of their exempt sales.

As it turns out, the Florida Department of Revenue is breaking new ground by becoming one of only a few state revenue departments to institute mobile apps. For example, California allows taxpayer convenience in allowing its citizens to pay taxes right from their phones. Washington has a tax rate look up app that has caught the imagination of dozens. Minnesota will soon offer the best of both worlds by instituting an app that allows users to look up tax rates and pay taxes directly! Isn't technology wonderful! The sky is the limit for new and exciting apps that will be released by state revenue departments in the coming decades.

All joking aside, the DOR's mobile app is a novel idea and likely will be a great help to business owners burdened with the responsibility of collecting and remitting Florida sales tax. As technology continues to advance, one can only hope the state continues to change with the times. Further, the app will be of significant convenience for business users. In our experience, proving exempt sales is a problematic issue for taxpayers under audit. Records get miskept and lost all of the time. Hopefully this app will provide an efficient and easy method in which taxpayers can keep and prove their exempt sales.

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About the author: Mr. Donnini is a multi-state sales and use tax attorney and an associate in the law firm the Law Offices of Moffa, Sutton, & Donnini, P.A., based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Mr. Donnini's primary practice is Florida sales tax, along multi-state sales and use tax as well as state corporate income tax controversy. Mr. Donnini also practices in the areas of alcohol, cigarette & tobacco wholesale tax, Florida motor fuel tax, and Native American taxation. Mr. Donnini earned his LL.M. in Taxation at NYU.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

DOWNLOAD THE FL DOR MOBILE SALES TAX EXEMPTION CERTIFICATE APP HERE

2014 FL SALES TAX EXEMPTION ON MANUFACTURING EQUIPMENT, published July 31, 2014, by James Sutton, CPA, Esq.

FL CAR DEALER: WHEN IS A SALE TAX EXEMPT?, published March 17, 2013, by James Sutton, CPA, Esq.

FLORIDA SALES & USE TAX AUDITS: DUELING PERSPECTIVES, published April 6, 2014, by Matthew Parker, Esq.

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