Pay up, Florida tells online shoppers

Personal Finance editor HELEN HUNTLEY E-mail: Click here Archive

By HELEN HUNTLEY

© St. Petersburg Times, published June 19, 2000

Congress may have passed the Internet Tax Freedom Act, but the Florida Department of Revenue isn't letting online shoppers off the hook so easily.

The department is trying to spread the word that an Internet retailer's failure to collect sales tax on purchases simply passes a burden along to the buyer. If the transaction would have been subject to sales tax in Florida, the buyer owes the equivalent in "use tax" on the purchase. Buyers are supposed to report the obligation and send in the money.

Sales tax auditors will be looking for infractions in their business audits, the department is warning accountants.

"We don't want a Florida business to get burned by urban myths about e-taxes," said Jim Zingale, the department's executive director.

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