Florida has no state income tax, and that matters. It also has almost nothing to do with an IRS problem.
Federal tax is federal. The IRS assesses, liens, levies, and garnishes the same way in Boca Raton as in Detroit, and the ten-year collection statute doesn’t care which state you moved to. Florida does have a sales and use tax regime that the Department of Revenue enforces seriously, and that is where most Florida business owners actually face a state tax problem.
Levy & Associates works both sides from our Delray Beach office, serving Palm Beach County and the South Florida corridor. Our team includes attorneys, CPAs, Enrolled Agents, and former IRS Revenue Officers.
Our practice is civil tax matters only. Levy & Associates does not represent clients in criminal tax matters of any kind.
We state this plainly at the outset because it is a common source of confusion, and you should know it before you hire anyone.
Representation before the Internal Revenue Service is governed by federal law, not by state bar admission. Under Treasury Department Circular 230, attorneys, Certified Public Accountants, and Enrolled Agents may represent taxpayers before the IRS in any state, regardless of where they are admitted or licensed. That is why our team handles federal matters for Florida clients directly.
Our attorneys are licensed in Michigan. For Florida Department of Revenue matters, we represent businesses through the Department’s administrative process for authorized representatives. If a matter requires Florida-admitted counsel, we will tell you and help you find it rather than take work we are not the right firm to handle.
That is the honest version. Any firm marketing to Florida taxpayers should be able to give you the same answer about its own credentials in one sentence.
| Florida | |
|---|---|
| Individual income tax | None |
| Sales and use tax | 6 percent state rate, plus county discretionary surtaxes that vary by county |
| Assessment period | Generally 3 years, with exceptions |
| Collection instrument | Tax warrant, recorded by the Department of Revenue |
| Offer in compromise | No program equivalent to the federal one |
Four points behind that table.
The surtax varies by county and isn’t optional. Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami-Dade each set their own rate, and a business that collects at the wrong rate won’t notice the exposure until an audit.
The three-year assessment window has real exceptions. A business that never filed for a period, or filed a fraudulent return, can be assessed at any time. The Department can also toll the clock when it issues a formal Notice of Intent to Audit, so the deadline shifts based on what has already happened in your file.
Florida’s instrument is a warrant, not a lien. Once recorded, it functions similarly against your property, but Florida uses its own terminology, procedures, and release process. See our guide on what a tax warrant is.
There is no Florida offer in compromise. The state can compromise tax, penalty, or interest only on limited statutory grounds, which is narrower than the federal program. A federal settlement does not resolve a Florida sales tax liability. Anyone telling a Florida business owner they can settle a Department of Revenue balance the way they would settle an IRS balance is mistaken.
This is the point Florida business owners miss most often.
When you collect sales tax from a customer, that money is not revenue. You are holding it on the state’s behalf. Falling behind on remittance isn’t treated like falling behind on a business expense, and the Department’s response escalates faster than most owners expect: assessments, penalties, and recorded warrants.
Contested assessments generally go through an informal protest with the Department first and, if that fails, a formal hearing before the Florida Division of Administrative Hearings. That process is not an IRS Collection Due Process hearing, and it is not U.S. Tax Court. Different forum, different rules, different deadlines.
If both a Florida sales tax matter and a federal matter are live at once, which is common for a business with a real balance, they run in parallel, and neither agency waits for the other. Our guide on avoiding an IRS sales tax audit covers the business-side exposure.
All of it. Every federal collection tool operates identically here.
File a Notice of Federal Tax Lien. The lien arises automatically on assessment, notice and demand, and failure to pay. Filing makes it public, and it surfaces in any title search. We pursue release, withdrawal, discharge, and subordination of a federal tax lien.
Levy a bank account. Once the levy is served, the bank holds the funds for 21 days before sending them. That window is when a release gets negotiated. See our tax levies page.
Garnish wages. And here is a Florida-specific trap: Florida law provides unusually strong wage garnishment protections for a head of family, and those protections do not bind the IRS. Federal levy authority is not limited by state exemption statutes. A Florida resident protected from a credit card judgment can still have the IRS levy wages. See wage garnishment.
Reach Social Security. Through the Federal Payment Levy Program, the IRS can take up to 15 percent of Social Security retirement and survivor benefits, which matters in a state with this many retirees. Social Security Disability Insurance is different: the IRS stopped automatically levying SSDI through that program in October 2015. More in our guide for Michigan and Florida retirees.
Before most levies, the IRS must send a Final Notice of Intent to Levy, which triggers a 30-day window to request a Collection Due Process hearing under IRC 6330. That is the most frequently missed deadline in the entire collection process.
Moving to Florida does not move your tax history.
Federal liabilities follow you. The IRS is one agency nationwide. A balance assessed while you lived elsewhere is unaffected by the move, and the collection statute keeps running on its original clock.
Your former state may not have let go. Several states apply demanding residency tests and audit departing high earners. Establishing Florida residency depends on facts, domicile, and documentation, not on buying an address, and it is worth getting right before you have to defend it.
We cover the broader point in our article on why Florida’s lack of a state income tax does not protect you from an IRS problem.
Federal. Unfiled and back tax returns, installment agreements, offers in compromise where the numbers genuinely support one, penalty abatement, liens, levies, garnishment release, and examinations through Appeals.
Florida Department of Revenue. Sales and use tax audits, assessments, protests, and warrant issues for businesses.
Employee Retention Credit. Claims under examination or disallowed carry their own deadlines, including a two-year window to sue after a disallowance that an administrative appeal does not pause. See ERC audit defense.
Business accounting. Bookkeeping, payroll, and tax preparation, including reconstruction when records must be rebuilt before anything else can proceed.
Some of our staff spent years as former IRS Revenue Officers working these cases from the government side, which matters when the question is what a collections unit will actually approve.
Our Florida office is on South Federal Highway in Delray Beach, in the heart of Palm Beach County and a short run up and down I-95 for clients in Boca Raton, Boynton Beach, West Palm Beach, and Fort Lauderdale. Details and directions are on our Delray Beach office page.
Federal matters don’t require a nearby office because the IRS is a federal agency and the procedure is the same statewide. Whether you are in Miami, Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, or Fort Myers, your federal options are the same, and we handle most work through secure document exchange, phone, and video. Where litigation reaches a federal court, much of the southern part of the state falls under the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida.
Our main office is in Lathrup Village, Michigan, and one team handles clients with matters in both states. See our Michigan tax attorney page.
Florida has no income tax. Why do I owe the IRS?
Because they are different governments. Florida chooses not to impose a state individual income tax, a state-level decision that doesn’t affect your federal obligation. The IRS is a federal agency that operates the same way in all fifty states, so a Florida resident files a federal return, owes federal tax, and faces the same liens, levies, wage garnishment, and Social Security offsets as a resident anywhere else. The absence of a Florida income tax also does nothing to reduce federal payroll tax exposure, which is the most serious problem a business owner can have.
Do your attorneys have to be licensed in Florida to represent me?
Not for IRS matters. Treasury Department Circular 230 authorizes representation before the Internal Revenue Service, permitting attorneys, CPAs, and Enrolled Agents to practice before the agency in any state regardless of where they are admitted. Our attorneys are licensed in Michigan, and we represent Florida clients in federal matters under that authority. For Florida Department of Revenue matters, we represent businesses through the administrative process the Department provides for authorized representatives. If your matter requires Florida-admitted counsel, we will tell you and help you find it.
Can I settle a Florida sales tax bill the way people settle with the IRS?
No, and this catches business owners all the time. Florida has no offer-in-compromise program equivalent to the federal one. The state can compromise tax, penalties, or interest only on limited statutory grounds, which is much narrower than the IRS program. It also runs the other way: a federal settlement does not resolve a Florida liability, so a business that settles with the IRS still has whatever it owes the Department of Revenue. The two are separate matters on separate tracks, and you need to work on them in parallel.
I am a head of family in Florida. Doesn’t that protect my wages?
From most creditors, yes. From the IRS, no. Florida law provides unusually strong wage-garnishment protections for a head of family, but those are state exemption statutes, and they don’t limit federal levy authority. A Florida resident fully protected against a credit card judgment can still have the IRS levy wages. The IRS wage-levy limit is the exempt amount from IRS Publication 1494, based on filing status and dependents; everything above that goes to the IRS.
How long does the Florida Department of Revenue have to audit my business?
Generally, three years for sales and use tax, but the exceptions matter. If your business never filed a return for a period, or filed a fraudulent one, the state can assess at any time. The Department can also toll the clock when it issues a formal Notice of Intent to Audit, so the real deadline depends on what has already happened in your file. Note that this is an entirely different clock from the federal ten-year collection statute under IRC 6502, and confusing the two is a common and expensive error.
If you have an IRS notice, back taxes, a lien, a levy, or a Florida sales tax assessment, the first useful step is finding out what each agency has on your account. That is a transcript pull and a conversation, not a commitment.
Our team includes attorneys, CPAs, Enrolled Agents, and former IRS Revenue Officers.
Call 877-620-6490 for a confidential conversation or contact us online.
“Greg, Lance, Stephanie and team are some of the most amazing people I’ve had the pleasure of working with! They are on point when it comes to helping our crew out with our IRS tax issues! They saved our company and the owner so much money already! Thankful for Levy & Associates!!”
– Erica Dell“I had an IRS issue that no one was able to help me with. Someone recommended that I call The Levy Group so I did. They helped me with resolving a very difficult situation. I very thankful with what they were able to accomplish.”
– David Carpenter