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Florida Sales Tax Statute

212.0606

Rental car surcharge.—

(1) Except as provided in subsection (2), a surcharge of $2 per day or any part of a day is imposed upon the lease or rental of a motor vehicle licensed for hire and designed to carry fewer than nine passengers regardless of whether the motor vehicle is licensed in this state. The surcharge applies to only the first 30 days of the term of a lease or rental. The surcharge is subject to all applicable taxes imposed by this chapter.

(2) A member of a car-sharing service who uses a motor vehicle as described in subsection (1) for less than 24 hours pursuant to an agreement with the car-sharing service shall pay a surcharge of $1 per usage. A member of a car-sharing service who uses the same motor vehicle for 24 hours or more shall pay a surcharge of $2 per day or any part of a day as provided in subsection (1). For purposes of this subsection, the term “car-sharing service” means a membership-based organization or business, or division thereof, which requires the payment of an application or membership fee and provides member access to motor vehicles:

(a) Only at locations that are not staffed by car-sharing service personnel employed solely for the purpose of interacting with car-sharing service members;

(b) Twenty-four hours per day, 7 days per week;

(c) Only through automated means, including, but not limited to, smartphone applications or electronic membership cards;

(d) On an hourly basis or for a shorter increment of time;

(e) Without a separate fee for refueling the motor vehicle;

(f) Without a separate fee for minimum financial responsibility liability insurance; and

(g) Owned or controlled by the car-sharing service or its affiliates.

The surcharge imposed under this subsection does not apply to the lease, rental, or use of a motor vehicle from a location owned, operated, or leased by or for the benefit of an airport or airport authority.

(3)(a) Notwithstanding s. 212.20, and less the costs of administration, 80 percent of the proceeds of this surcharge shall be deposited in the State Transportation Trust Fund, 15.75 percent of the proceeds of this surcharge shall be deposited in the Tourism Promotional Trust Fund created in s. 288.122, and 4.25 percent of the proceeds of this surcharge shall be deposited in the Florida International Trade and Promotion Trust Fund. For the purposes of this subsection, “proceeds” of the surcharge means all funds collected and received by the department under this section, including interest and penalties on delinquent surcharges. The department shall provide the Department of Transportation rental car surcharge revenue information for the previous state fiscal year by September 1 of each year.

(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the proceeds deposited in the State Transportation Trust Fund shall be allocated on an annual basis in the Department of Transportation’s work program to each department district, except the Turnpike District. The amount allocated to each district shall be based on the amount of proceeds attributed to the counties within each respective district.

(4) Except as provided in this section, the department shall administer, collect, and enforce the surcharge as provided in this chapter.

(a) The department shall require dealers to report surcharge collections according to the county to which the surcharge was attributed. For purposes of this section, the surcharge shall be attributed to the county where the rental agreement was entered into.

(b) Dealers who collect the rental car surcharge shall report to the department all surcharge revenues attributed to the county where the rental agreement was entered into on a timely filed return for each required reporting period. The provisions of this chapter which apply to interest and penalties on delinquent taxes apply to the surcharge. The surcharge shall not be included in the calculation of estimated taxes pursuant to s. 212.11. The dealer’s credit provided in s. 212.12 does not apply to any amount collected under this section.

(5) The surcharge imposed by this section does not apply to a motor vehicle provided at no charge to a person whose motor vehicle is being repaired, adjusted, or serviced by the entity providing the replacement motor vehicle.

Awards

  • FL Dept. of Revenue
  • ABA
  • FICPA
  • FL State Bar

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