Jeff’s presentation “State & Local Tax Rundown” discussed key updates and recent topics in Louisiana SALT, including the 2024 Regular Legislative Session, tax reform, transfer pricing, ITEP developments, and litigation.
Effective January 1, 2025, Hillsborough County businesses face critical sales tax adjustments following a Florida Supreme Court ruling and legislation passed during the 2024 Regular Session.
This issue arose in November 2018, when Hillsborough County voters approved a 1% transportation surtax. In 2021, the Florida Supreme Court invalidated the surtax due to constitutional issues. During the time the surtax was in place, nearly $570M was collected. Ultimately, the legislature decided to return these excess collections to purchasers in Hillsborough County through a temporary reduction of its other surtaxes.
Effective next year, all retail dealers must stop collecting both the 0.5% indigent care surtax as well as the 0.5% local government infrastructure surtax for sales made to customers into Hillsborough County. Dealers must continue collecting the 6% state sales tax and 0.5% school capital outlay surtax in Hillsborough County.
The surtax suspension impacts all dealers doing business in Hillsborough County, including those located outside the county and out-of-state remote sellers.
The suspension impacts sales of retail goods, admissions, electricity, nonresidential cleaning, transient rentals, rentals of items, and the business rent tax. Businesses must carefully adjust their tax collection processes to ensure compliance. Erroneously collected surtaxes during the suspension period must be remitted to the state, with options available for customer refunds.
Consumers should note that the new Hillsborough County state and local tax rate of 6.5% will be lower than many surrounding counties including Pinellas (7%), Polk (7%), Pasco (7%), DeSoto (7.5%), Manatee (7%), Hardee (7%), Sarasota (7%), and Sumter (7%).
The Department of Revenue will issue future guidance on when surtax collection will resume. Businesses and consumers should monitor official communications and prepare for potential tax collection changes. If you have questions, please contact Jones Walker’s State and Local Tax Attorneys for a comprehensive review of how these changes may impact your business’s tax strategy and compliance obligations.
Jay Adams, a partner in the Tax Practice Group and leader of the state and local tax team in the New Orleans office, was quoted in the Bloomberg Tax article “Louisiana Gets Look at Bills to Cut Some Taxes, Raise Others” published on November 4, 2024.
In the article, Jay shares insight regarding Louisiana’s fiscal special session, stating success hinges on whether the package of proposed bills would ultimately be “a net revenue generator.”
I have no doubt that this will be a heavy lift,” Jay said. “The revenue committees and the Department of Revenue are working hard to understand what this means from a numbers perspective.
Bill will speak on the panel “Let’s Get Together, See What’s in the Bag and Acquire Some M&A Knowledge”, which will discuss current SALT issues and trends in mergers, acquisitions, and business restructurings.
Chris will speak on the panel “Does Use Tax Violate External Consistency?”, which will offer a point/counterpoint on whether a use tax can violate external consistency. The presenters will also discuss the basis for the external consistency requirement, with a focus on the history and application of the use tax.
While details of the plan have not been released, he did indicate that the proposal would expand sales taxes on services, including on lobbyists. The Governor indicated that the “package” would be sent to legislators today.
The Jones Walker SALT Team understands that if passed, the proposed changes to the current sales tax code would be significant and would expand the sales tax base to transactions that the state has never taxed. Anyone with business interests in the state should pay close attention to the detail of the proposed legislation when published.