Do renters pay personal property tax? (Miami, Surfside: sales, real estate, apartment)

[LAtoMIA]

I had a question regarding apartment rental contracts. I am moving to Miami from California and am working with a realtor on renting an apartment in Surfside. The realtor sent me a contract to lease (in order to make an offer) and I was slightly confused by the taxes in the schedule of fees. It states that the landlord is responsible for real estate tax, but that I am responsible for personal property tax. Does this sound correct? I was under the impression that the landlord pays all taxes. All other fees such as insurance, HOAs, etc. sound correct (landlord responsible). I wouldn’t want to receive a property tax bill from the feds on top of my rent, so I just want your guys' input that my contract was drafted correctly…

[doggiebus]

The landlord pays the HOA fees, the property taxes and property insurance (not renters insurance though). If you sign a lease for six months or less I believe they have to charge a sales tax on your monthly rent. If you sign a lease for more than six months then there is not extra sales tax. Is this lease for six months or less?

http://dor.myflorida.com/dor/forms/2009/gt800034.pdf

[straight shooter]

Originally Posted by doggiebus

The landlord pays the HOA fees, the property taxes and property insurance (not renters insurance though). If you sign a lease for six months or less I believe they have to charge a sales tax on your monthly rent. If you sign a lease for more than six months then there is not extra sales tax. Is this lease for six months or less?

http://dor.myflorida.com/dor/forms/2009/gt800034.pdf

Interesting, I was not aware of that. I wonder what happens if you are month to month and do not sign a lease, are you subject to sales tax or not?

[doggiebus]

I know that for snow birds for instance they have to charge a tax for one, two, three month rentals. From what the link says, if you rent a place for six months, pay the taxes during those six months, then go month to month. You don't have to pay taxes after the first six months. Looks like anything for the first six months is taxable if you don't sign a full year lease.

[r_k]

I think by "personal property tax" they are referring to taxes on property like cars, computers etc. There is no such tax in Florida that I'm aware of, and I think most states eliminated those a long time ago.

Doggiebus is correct about rentals of 6 months or less. They are treated like vacation rentals and subject to taxes.

[bale002]

I have never heard of a "personal property tax" in Florida.

There used to be an "intangibles tax" on financial wealth, but that was repealed several years ago, and there still is an "tangibles tax" levied on business inventory.

A landlord could be liable for tangibles tax if the value of the appliances and any other equipment on the premises that is the landlord's property exceeds $25,000, I believe. The renter could be liable if he runs some sort of business on the premises and the renter's business has tangible property valued at more than $25,000.

You better check with a real estate lawyer to be sure what this "personal property tax" means, if anything.

[straight shooter]

I guess they see it more like a hotel business instead of a long term rental property.

[Coconut1]

You should be able to find more information here,
Miami-Dade County - Tax Collector - Tangible Personal Property Taxes

[bale002]

Originally Posted by Coconut1

You should be able to find more information here,
Miami-Dade County - Tax Collector - Tangible Personal Property Taxes

Thanks for posting, that explains the confusion, the idiots add the word "personal" in what is essentially a business tax:

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From the website:
Tangible Personal Property Taxes

Taxpayers now have the ability to view Tangible Personal Property Online tax information by business name, address and folio.

Tangible personal property taxes are ad valorem taxes assessed according to the value of the assets used in a business to derive income such as: equipment, furniture, fixtures and equipment located in businesses and rental property.
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So it's not a "personal property tax", it's not a "tangibles tax", but it is a "tangible personal property tax" on business fixed assets. Obviously it makes perfect linguistic sense, what the hell was I thinking?

Idiocy leads to idiocy, poor use of language leads to miscommunication.

The legislators who named the tax are confused, the person who wrote the rental contract is confused, the potential renter who read the rental contract is confused.

Also at the national level we have idiotic terminology like "tax expenditures" which refers, not to government spending, but to taxpayer deductions, exemptions and credits.

Nay, it's not only idiocy, but a deliberate attempt to confuse.

Anyway, to the OP, it appears that, unless you run a business with more than $25,000 in fixed assets on the rental property, then you don't have to worry about it. On the other hand, if you rent for less than six months, it is considered no more than a hotel stay and there are sales taxes on that service.

Hope this helps.

Good Luck!

[LAtoMIA]

I ended up contacting my realtor about this and looked at the link Coconut1 provided which was very useful. Like Bale002 explained, it’s a tax on business assets that are over 25K in value and contained within the rented apartment, which I don’t think majority of people have to worry about. I never heard of this before and may have confused it with property tax (i.e. real estate tax) so thank you all for the clarification.