We have recently been asked to help some of you change the tax parameters in your DockMaster system because you received Tax Information Publication Tip No17A01-14 dated November 13, 2017.
This bulletin states that effective January 1, 2018, the State of Florida sales tax rate for rental, lease or License to use real property will decrease to 5.8%. There has been some confusion as to whether this affects the sales tax on slip rentals, dry stack rental and other dry storage of vessels. We asked the Florida Department of Revenue for clarification and received the following answer.
From: FL Dept of Revenue Taxpayer Services Sent: Tuesday, December 5, 2017 8:42 AM The Department has received your query as to sale tax on rental of slips at marinas. As per the relevant portion of s. 212.031(1)(a)3, Florida Statutes, "It is declared to be the legislative intent that every person is exercising a taxable privilege who engages in the business of renting, leasing, letting, or granting a license for the use of any real property unless such property is Property subject to tax on parking, docking, or storage spaces under s. (6)". S. 212.03(6), Florida Statutes, mentioned above, reads: "The Legislature finds that every person who leases or rents parking or storage spaces for motor vehicles in parking lots or garages, including storage facilities for towed vehicles, who leases or rents docking or storage spaces for boats in boat docks or marinas, or who leases or rents tie-down or storage space for aircraft at airports is engaging in a taxable privilege. (a) For the exercise of this privilege, a tax is hereby levied at the rate of 6 percent on the total rental charged". As such, the tax on such a rental remains at 6% for the state portion. Thank you for the opportunity to respond to your inquiry. If you have additional questions, please feel free to contact us at 1-850-488-6800. Sam Berkowitz Tax Specialist I Taxpayer Services Process Standard Notice: If you need to contact us, we recommend you use our secure Ask a Question Form online or write to us at: Florida Department of Revenue Tax Information Services 5050 West Tennessee Street Tallahassee, FL 32399-0100 Pertinent legal citations may be verified in our Revenue Law Library easy, and free!
We hope you find bulletins like this useful. DockMaster is in no way providing tax advice. Should you have any questions about the notice above, we strongly advise our clients to seek the advice of a tax expert before deciding if this has any affect on how you collect sales tax. For more information, please contact us here.
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DockMaster Software is an industry leading management system for marinas, boatyards, and boat dealerships. DockMaster includes Unit Sales, Prospecting and F&I with fully integrated financial management and numerous integrations with CRM applications, dealer websites and text/messaging services. The Service module includes estimating, labor tracking, and complete parts management with ordering/receiving, subcontractor fulfillment and invoicing. DockMaster Mobile allows technicians to clock on/off jobs from any mobile device. Visual Marina™ management includes storage & billing, occupancy tracking, reservations and dry stack management, including integrations to leading consumer applications for boat rentals, online reservations, concierge/launch scheduling and our new Fuel Integration with FuelCloud. DockMaster also includes Point of Sale, Order Entry with eCommerce and a complete accounting system. Learn more at www.DockMaster.com and follow DockMaster on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Or email info@dockmaster.com
