High Court To Hear Flower Delivery Tax Fight
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TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/NSF) - This November the state's Supreme Court will hear arguments in a dispute about whether it is constitutional for Florida to try to collect sales taxes from a Palm Beach County company that takes online orders for flowers delivered to out-of-state customers.
Justices issued an order scheduling oral arguments for November 5th in an appeal filed by the Florida Department of Revenue.
Last year, the 4th District Court of Appeal sided with the company, American Business USA Corp., finding that Florida "impermissibly burdened interstate commerce when it taxed out-of-state customers for out-of-state deliveries" of flowers and other items such as gift baskets.
In a brief filed with the Supreme Court, attorneys for the Department of Revenue argued that collecting sales taxes from the firm is legal.
"(The) tax does not discriminate against interstate commerce because it does not favor in-state interests,'' said the brief, filed in March. "The in-state florist who receives the initial order is liable for the tax, regardless of whether the flowers are ultimately delivered in Florida or out-of-state."
But attorneys for the company filed a brief in May urging the Supreme Court to uphold the appeals-court decision.
"All the flowers at issue were grown, stored, purchased, and delivered outside the state of Florida,'' the brief said. "No flowers ever entered Florida. No consumers ever entered Florida. The DOR (Department of Revenue) does not contest these facts, but nonetheless characterizes the transactions as Florida-based."
The News Service of Florida contributed to this report.