Florida Passes Sales Tax Marketplace Facilitator and Economic Nexus Provisions

On April 19, 2021, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced the signing of Senate Bill 50, signaling Florida’s adoption of economic nexus and marketplace facilitator laws. The bill expands the definition of a “retail sale” to include sales facilitated through a marketplace and replaces prior provisions relating to the taxation of mail order sales with provisions requiring remote sellers with a ”substantial number of remote sales” to register with the Florida Department of Revenue.

Florida’s economic nexus provision specifically defines ”a substantial number of remote sales” as any number of taxable remote sales in the previous calendar year in which the sum of the sales prices exceed $100,000. Senate Bill 50 goes on to define marketplace facilitators, referred to in the bill as marketplace providers, as persons facilitating a retail sale by a marketplace seller through the listing or advertising of the marketplace seller’s tangible personal property, who directly or indirectly collects payment from the customer and transmits the payment to the marketplace seller, regardless of whether the marketplace facilitator receives compensation or other consideration in exchange for its services. According to the bill’s provisions, both remote sellers and certain marketplace providers will be required to collect and remit tax on sales conducted on or after July 1, 2021.

Note: Missouri remains the only state with a sales tax that has yet to address sales tax economic nexus. All other states have addressed sales tax economic nexus by implementing sales thresholds over the last couple of years, with the exception of Kansas which doesn’t have a dollar threshold, but will still assert economic nexus.

For more information regarding FL Senate Bill 50 and how Florida’s new economic nexus and marketplace facilitator laws may affect your business, please contact your Marcum State and Local Tax professional.