Posted in Business & Corporate Law
Eleven states, including Florida, have laws that prohibit businesses from imposing consumers with surcharges on credit card transactions. But what type of businesses are subject to this prohibition? All businesses? Only merchants and retailers? Currently, the concept of charging surcharge or convenience fees for credit card usage by service business is not clearly addressed in the applicable statute. Florida Statute Section 501.0117(1) states that a “seller or lessor in a sales or lease transaction may not impose a surcharge on the buyer or lessee for electing to use a credit card in lieu of payment of cash, check, or similar means, if the seller or lessor accepts payment by credit card.” Moreover, a surcharge is defined as any additional amount imposed at the time of a sale or lease transaction by the seller or lessor that increases the charge to the buyer or lessee for the privilege of using a credit card to make payment. Id.
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The FDCPA was developed in part to help prevent abusive practices in debt collection and to allow consumers the opportunity to dispute the validity of a debt. The FDCPA applies when a debt collector attempts to communicate with a consumer debtor. While the initial communications may not violate the Act, generally, the Act prohibits further communication when the debtor notifies the debt collector that he or she is requesting more information on the debt or disputes the debt. The Act will typically apply to communications the collector may have regarding the location of the debtor and communications between third parties or the debtor regarding the debt collection. The debts subject to this Act are generally those incurred by a consumer primarily for personal, family, or household purposes, whether or not such obligation has been reduced to judgment. Florida adopted the Consumer Collection Practices Act (“FCCPA”) which acts to supplement the FDCPA. The FCCPA also protects debtors from a debt collector’s abusive collection practices but, unlike the FDCPA, the FCCPA also applies to the original creditor. As always, you should consult with a Florida licensed attorney who may be able to help protect you from improper collection efforts.
See 15 U.S.C. §1692 (a)-(p); see also, §§559.55-559.785, Fla. Stat.
Posted in Asset Protection,Business & Corporate Law
In order to discharge student loan debt in bankruptcy, a debtor must show that repaying the student loan debt will cause undue hardship.
Florida Bankruptcy Courts will typically apply the Brunner test when attempting to determine undue hardship. In order for a debtor to meet the Brunner standard for undue hardship, the debtor must show “(1) that the debtor cannot maintain, based on current income and expenses, a ‘minimal’ standard of living for herself and her dependents if forced to repay the student loans; (2) that additional circumstances exist indicating that this state of affairs is likely to persist for a significant portion of the repayment period of the student loans; and (3) that the debtor has made good faith efforts to repay the loans.” In re Cox, 338 F.3d 1238, 1241 (11th Cir. 2003), quoting Brunner v. New York State Higher Education Services Corp., 831 F.2d 395 (2d Cir. 1987).
If you are having financial difficulty due to student loans or other debts, you should consult with a licensed Florida bankruptcy attorney.
Posted in Real Estate Law
Section 558.004, Florida Statutes, provides Florida contractors, subcontractors, suppliers, and design professionals (collectively “Contractors”) the opportunity to inspect and cure construction defects prior to the filing of a legal action. A Florida property owner must serve a notice of claim on the Contractor at least 60 days prior to the filing of a lawsuit. Fla. Stat. § 558.004(1). The owner’s notice must refer to the statute and describe (i) the claim in reasonable detail sufficient to determine the general nature of each alleged construction defect and (ii) the damages or loss resulting from the defect. The property owner should strive to serve the notice within 15 days after discovery of the defect.
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The Internal Revenue Service’s (“IRS”) First Time Abate (“FTA”) policy provides for an abatement of certain financial penalties for taxpayers with a record of tax compliance who are current with filing and payment requirements. It is essentially a streamlined IRS process to abate or remove a first-time tax penalty as a one-time consideration based on a taxpayers’ compliance history.
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When a client wishes to leave an inheritance to a minor (a person under age 18), the most important advice is to never leave the bequest outright. The same notion is true for someone who is disabled as we recently posted about on our Blog at https://www.jacksonlawgroup.com/asset-protection/the-use-of-supplementalspecial-needs-trusts-in-estate-planning/. The problem with leaving an inheritance outright to a minor is that the court will require the establishment of a guardianship for the minor’s benefit, which can be very costly and overly burdensome.
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Posted in Tax Law & IRS Defense
Calendaring important IRS deadlines can save you a lot of headaches at tax time. To avoid paying penalties, keep a calendar and review tax deadlines with your accountant, CPA, or tax attorney. The following are a few examples of important dates:
January 15, 2014 is the deadline for the 2013 4th quarter estimated tax payment.
January 31, 2014 is the deadline for employers to distribute Form W-2 Earnings Statements to employees, businesses to issue Form 1099 Statements, and self-employed individuals to file and pay taxes.
February 28, 2014 is the deadline for businesses to mail in Forms 1099 and 1096.
March 17, 2014 is the deadline for corporate tax returns. It is also the final deadline for a corporate taxpayer to file an amended corporate tax return for tax year 2010 and still claim a refund.
April 1, 2014 is the deadline to file tangible personal property tax returns on Form DR-405.
April 15, 2014 is the deadline to file individual tax returns and make tax payments, final deadline for an individual taxpayer to file an amended tax return for tax year 2010 and still claim a refund, file estate income tax or trust income tax returns, final deadline to file amended estate income tax or trust income tax returns for year 2010 and still claim a refund, file partnership tax returns, final deadline to file amended partnership tax returns for year 2010 and still claim a refund, and for the 2014 1st quarter estimated tax payment.
May 15, 2014 is the deadline to file non-profit organization tax returns.
June 16, 2014 is the deadline for the 2014 2nd quarter estimated tax payment.
September 15, 2014 is the deadline for corporate, trust, and partnership tax returns if an extension was requested and the 2014 3rd quarter estimated tax payment.
October 15, 2014 is the deadline to file individual tax returns if an extension was requested.
Posted in Tax Law & IRS Defense
The penalty for failing to file your tax return is typically 5% of the unpaid taxes for each month (or part of a month) that your return is late (not to exceed 25% of the unpaid taxes). If you file your tax return more than 60 days after the date it was due, the minimum penalty is $135.00 or 100% of the unpaid tax, whichever is smaller. Generally, the failure to file penalties are greater than the failure to pay penalties. As a result, you should typically file your tax return, even if you cannot afford to pay the tax owed, in an attempt to reduce your potential tax penalties. If your failure to file your tax return was not due to willful neglect and you can show “reasonable cause” for not filing, you may be able to avoid the failure to file penalties. As always, it is best to consult with a Florida attorney who may be better able to evaluate the tax penalty assessments.
For more information regarding the failure to file penalties, please visit www.irs.gov.
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