CopyCited 1 times | Published | Florida 1st District Court of Appeal | 1996 Fla. App. LEXIS 470, 1996 WL 27891
...The Florida Department of Revenue (DOR) appeals a final summary judgment in favor of Liberty National Insurance Company (Liberty). We affirm. Liberty, a health and life insurer organized under the laws of Alabama and domiciled in Alabama, was subject to and paid Florida Retaliatory Tax pursuant to section 624.5091. The dispute in this case concerns the proper method of calculating the retaliatory tax. The legislature has provided that certain financial exactions be excluded from the calculation. Section 624.5091(3), Florida Statutes (1993), provides in part: "This section does not apply as to personal income taxes, nor as to ad valorem taxes on real or personal property, nor as to special purpose obligations or assessments imposed by another...
...Accordingly, including the FCHA assessment in the retaliatory tax computation lowered Liberty's tax assessment. The DOR conducted an audit of Liberty for the periods of 1986 through 1990. The DOR treated the FCHA payments as special purpose obligations or assessments under 624.5091(3), and thereby excluded them in calculating the insurance retaliatory tax to be paid by Liberty....
...tently interpreted the retaliatory tax statute as requiring exclusion of such obligations or assessments from both Florida and the foreign state in calculating the retaliatory tax. The trial judge correctly determined, however, that: Florida Statute § 624.5091(3) as it existed before May 29, 1994, excludes special purpose obligations or assessments "imposed by other states" from the computation of the retaliatory tax....
...administrative assessment imposed by section
440.51, Florida Statutes, shall be included in the calculation of the retaliatory tax, constitutes an unlawful exercise of delegated legislative authority). The DOR also argued that the 1994 amendment to section
624.5091(3), in which the legislature deleted the phrase "by another state," further supported its interpretation....
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CopyPublished | Florida 1st District Court of Appeal | 1995 Fla. App. LEXIS 12115, 1995 WL 680444
...The challenged rule provides, in pertinent part, that assessments imposed by other states which are comparable to the worker's compensation administrative assessment imposed by section
440.51, Florida Statutes, shall be included in the calculation of the retaliatory tax provided in section
624.5091, Florida Statutes (1993)....
...This rule challenge was instituted by Zurich Insurance Company ("Zurich"). Zurich is an insurer domiciled in the State of New York and authorized to do business in Florida. As a foreign insurer doing business in Florida, Zurich is subject to the provisions of Florida's retaliatory tax, section 624.5091, Florida Statutes....
...w. We conclude that if section
440.51 is a "special purpose obligation or assessment," Zurich may not be required by rule to include the New York Workers' Compensation Administration Board Fund assessment in its retaliatory tax calculations, because section
624.5091(3), Florida Statutes (1993) expressly excluded from the retaliatory tax computation "special purpose obligations or assessments imposed by another state in connection with particular kinds of insurance other than property insurance ....
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CopyPublished | Florida 1st District Court of Appeal | 1995 Fla. App. LEXIS 9962, 1995 WL 449558
...This provision also directly relates to the funding and solvency of the trust fund in emergency situations. Providing for how to deal with an emergency in the context of this emergency fund can hardly be considered extraneous to creation of the trust fund. Last, the plaintiffs challenge section 4 which amends section 624.5091(3), Florida Statutes, to provide that reimbursement premiums and emergency assessments paid to the CAT Fund shall be excluded from the calculation of the retaliatory tax authorized by section 624.5091, Florida Statutes....
...to the fund. Resolving the question of whether fund premiums are subject to this tax is a policy decision of the Legislature. This section could have just as appropriately been included in the CAT Fund section itself, rather than as an amendment to section 624.5091....
...e State Board of Administration to "request an expedited opinion from the United States Internal Revenue Service as to the tax-exempt status of the state with respect to revenues collected" by the Fund, and other matters; and Section 4, which amends section 624.5091, Florida Statutes (a part of the Florida Insurance Code), relating generally to the amount, and method of computation, of retaliatory taxes to be imposed by the Department of Revenue upon foreign insurers for the purpose of ensuring that Florida insurers are competing on an equal footing with foreign insurers....
CopyPublished | District Court of Appeal of Florida | 1996 Fla. App. LEXIS 5552, 1996 WL 241572
KAHN, Judge. American Southern Insurance Company (American Southern) appeals from a final judgment in favor of the Department of Revenue (Department) involving the Department’s construction and application of section 624.5091(1), Florida Statutes (1991)....
...do business in Florida. In June 1990, the Department issued a notice of intent to audit American Southern for the taxable years 1985 through 1989. On June 12,1992, pursuant to the audit, the Department assessed a retaliatory tax of $1,349,604 under section 624.5091(1), Florida Statutes (1991)....
...In December 1992, American Southern filed a complaint for declaratory and injunc-tive relief in circuit court, contesting the remaining assessment of $866,788 in retaliatory tax. American Southern challenged the assessment as contrary to the intent and purpose of section 624.5091 and, in the alternative, asserted that the statute, as applied, violated equal protection rights under the Florida and federal constitutions. Specifically, American Southern challenged the Department’s calculation of the tax based on its construction of the term “similar insurer” contained in section 624.5091(1)....
...can Southern. On April 6, 1994, the circuit court entered a final judgment granting American Southern’s motion for summary judgment and declining to reach the constitutional issues. On April 12, 1994, the Florida Legislature passed a bill amending section 624.5091 to include a definition of “similar insurer” at subsection (4)....
...The Department also filed a motion for summary judgment on rehearing. The circuit court denied both motions and, after a bench trial on the disputed factual issues, entered final judgment in favor of the Department. American Southern has appealed, asserting that the Department’s construction and application of section 624.5091(1) is erroneous as a matter of law. II. Department’s Construction Constitutes a Valid Interpretation and Application of Statute The retaliatory tax statute, section 624.5091(1), Florida Statutes (1991), provides in pertinent part: When by or pursuant to the laws of any other state or foreign country any taxes, licenses, and other fees, in the aggregate, ......
...As the trial court explained, the Department’s interpretation simply fails to reward American Southern for investing in Georgia property: The basic requirement of the retaliatory tax statute is to create a level playing field by discouraging excessive taxes or other burdens. § 624.5091(1), Florida Statutes....
...xas insurer. Atlantic Ins. Co., 62 Cal.Rptr. at 790 , 255 Cal.App.2d 1 ; Republic Ins., 138 N.W.2d at 781-82 ; Employers Casualty, 107 P.2d at 717-18 . 4 *816 We do not reach American Southern’s contention that the definition of similar insurer in section 624.5091(4), Florida Statutes (Supp.1994), may not be applied retroactively to the years in question. For the reasons set out in part II of this opinion, the Department’s construction of section 624.5091(1) is valid irrespective of the 1994 amendment. AFFIRMED. BARFIELD and ALLEN, JJ., concur. . Section 624.5091(1), Florida Statutes (1991), provides in pertinent part: When by or pursuant to the laws of any other state or foreign country any taxes, licenses, and other fees, in the aggregate, ......
...in force or are so applied, the same taxes, licenses, and other fees, in the aggregate, ... shall be imposed by the Department of Revenue upon the insurers ... of such other state or country doing business or seeking to do business in this state. . Section 624.5091(4), Florida Statutes (Supp....
