Sales and Use Tax

Directive Statement

Departments conducting sales and other taxable services to UF students, external customers, and the general public are liable to collect and remit applicable sales and use tax, including any discretionary sales surtax, on those transactions.  Failure to comply can result in audit findings, penalties, and additional assessments.

Reason for Directive

The purpose of this directive is to comply with Florida Department of Revenue (FLDOR) and Florida Statutes, including the calculation, collection, and remittance of sales and use tax.

Who must comply?

All university departments.

Procedures

1. Departments conduct activities that are either subject to or exempt from sales and use tax. As deposits are recorded in myUFL, the corresponding sales tax is segregated for payment to the FLDOR
2. Departments submit a monthly report of their taxable and nontaxable sales activity to Auxiliary Accounting for review
3. Auxiliary Accounting reconciles the department-reported amounts to the general ledger activity, consolidates all sales tax reporting for the university, and enters the monthly online DR-15 sales tax return and electronic payment to the FLDOR
4. Auxiliary Accounting records a corresponding payment voucher in myUFL to release the sales tax liabilities that were created by each selling department. No payment occurs from this voucher

Definitions

Sales Tax

Sales tax is a tax on the right to engage in a business activity.  Each sale, admission, storage, or rental in Florida is taxable, unless the transaction is exempt. Sales tax is added to the price of taxable goods or services and collected from the purchaser at the time of sale. Florida’s general state sales tax rate is currently 6% with the following exceptions: 4% on amusement machine receipts, 4.5% (effective December 1, 2023) on the rental, lease or license of commercial real property, and 6.95% on electricity, plus any applicable discretionary sales surtax.

Sales Tax Calculation

Effective July 1, 2021, the bracket system for calculating sales tax and discretionary sales surtax in the State of Florida was replaced by a rounding algorithm. 

Dealers (departments) must use a rounding algorithm that: 

1. Carries the tax computation to the third decimal place; and  
2. Always rounds up to the next whole cent when the third decimal place is greater than 4.
   • Example: $5.045 rounds to $5.05. $3.213 rounds to $3.21.  

Dealers (departments) had until September 30, 2021, to update their systems to comply with the new rounding algorithm. 

Last Reviewed

Last reviewed on 03/25/2024

Resources

Florida Department of Revenue: Florida Sales and Use Tax

Florida Statutes Chapter 212: Tax on Sales, Use, and Other Transactions

Business Owner’s Guide for Sales and Use Tax

Detective, Burglar Protection and Other Protection Services

Cleaning Services

Insect or Pest Exterminator Services

Contacts

Tax Services: (352) 294-7266

Auxiliary Accounting: (352) 294-7236