Tax is due on:
- Insurance premiums
- Premiums for title insurance
- Assessments, including membership fees, policy fees, and gross deposits
received from subscribers to reciprocal or interinsurance agreements
- Annuity premiums or considerations
- Gross underwriting profit on wet marine and transportation insurance
Additionally:
- Insurers must pay a regulatory assessment on fire insurance policies issued and insuring property in Florida and must collect a surcharge on commercial
policies from policyholders.
- Insurers selling property insurance in Florida must pay an excise tax levied by participating Florida municipalities and fire districts for a
firefighters’ pension trust fund.
- Insurers selling casualty insurance in Florida must pay an excise tax levied by participating Florida municipalities for a police officers’ retirement
trust fund.
- Insurers must collect a surcharge on certain commercial and residential policies for emergency management.
- Insurers pay a retaliatory tax to the extent the insurer’s state of domicile would impose a greater tax burden than Florida imposes.
The premium/underwriting profit taxes, excise taxes, and regulatory assessment must be reported on the Insurance Premium Taxes
and Fees Return (Form DR-908
).
There are several credits available against the insurance premium tax. These include credits for paying salaries in Florida, credits for paying other taxes
or assessments, and credits for making certain types of investments in Florida. See the Department's
Insurance Premium Tax Incentives webpage for a comprehensive list. The Insurance Premium Taxes and Fees
Return (Form DR-908
) and the instructions
(Form DR-908N
) also provide a list and explanation of available credits each year.
Municipalities and special fire control districts may elect to impose an excise tax on insurance premiums to help fund the pensions of police officers and
firefighters. These excise taxes are reported on Schedules XII and XIII of the Insurance Premium
Taxes and Fees Return (Form
DR-908 ).
Administration
- Florida Department of Management Services, Division of Retirement, is responsible for the administration of the pension funds.
- Florida Department of Revenue is responsible for processing tax returns and payments, and reporting amounts received for participating municipalities and
special fire control districts to the Division of Retirement.
- Florida Department of Financial Services performs market conduct exams.
Electronic Address/Jurisdiction Database
The Florida Department of Revenue maintains an electronic address/jurisdiction database that assigns jurisdictions to street addresses in Florida. Participating
municipalities and fire districts are responsible for updating the jurisdictional information. Insurers use the database to assign policies and premiums to local
taxing jurisdictions. Insurers use Schedules XII and XIII of the Insurance Premium Taxes and Fees Return (Form DR-908) to report the premiums and tax due for each participating
local taxing jurisdiction.
You can use the database to download multiple addresses or look up a single address.
If you have questions about the electronic address/jurisdiction database, contact:
Florida Department of Revenue
Local Government Unit
PO Box 5885
Tallahassee FL 32314-5885
Telephone: 850-717-6630
Email: Local-Govt-Unit@floridarevenue.com
Participating municipalities and fire districts can check the current
list of
contacts 
who submit updates to addresses in their jurisdiction. If the contact list needs to
be updated, notify the Department's Local Government Unit. If you are in a participating jurisdiction and a contact person is not listed, please provide the
contact information to the Local Government Unit.
Distribution of Funds
After receiving funds from the Florida Department of Revenue, the Florida Department of Management Services, Division of Retirement,
Municipal Police Officers'
and Firefighters' Retirement Trust Funds Office manages and distributes the retirement trust funds to the local taxing jurisdictions.
When to Notify the Department
You must notify the Florida Department of Revenue, if you:
- Change your business name;
- Change your mailing address;
- Change your location address within the same county;
- Close or sell your business; or
- Your business becomes active and you will sell or rent taxable property or services.
The quickest way to notify the Department of these changes is to update your account
online.
Insurance premium tax is reported by insurers, including authorized domestic, foreign, and alien insurers, who enter into insurance or annuity contracts in Florida,
using an Insurance Premium Taxes and Fees Return
(Form DR-908
). Instructions
(Form DR-908N
) are available. Form DR-908 is due yearly by March 1. Insurers must also pay quarterly
installments using the Insurance Premium Installment Payment and Instructions
(Form DR-907
). Installments are due on April 15, June 15, and October 15 of each year. Final payment of tax due
for the year must be made when the tax return (Form DR-908) is filed. You can file and pay insurance premium tax electronically using the Department's free and secure
File and Pay webpage.
When you electronically pay only or you electronically file and pay at the same time, you must initiate your electronic payment and receive a confirmation number no later than
5:00 p.m., ET, on the business day prior to the installment or return due date to avoid penalty and interest. For a list of the electronic payment deadlines, visit the Department's
Forms and Publications webpage and select the current year Florida eServices Calendar of Electronic Payment Deadlines (Form DR-659) under the
eServices section.
When electronically filing insurance premium tax you can upload data files for Schedules XII and XIII (Firefighters’ and Police Officers’ Retirement Trust Funds). It also
offers automatic calculations and automatic entry of data appearing in more than one schedule.
Taxpayers who paid $20,000 or more in insurance premium tax during the most recent state fiscal year (July 1 - June 30) are required to file and pay
electronically during the next calendar year.
If you file your return or pay tax late, a penalty of 10% of any unpaid tax is charged. If you do not report and timely pay an installment payment, or you
underestimate the installment payment due, a 10% penalty is charged. A floating rate of interest applies to underpayments and late payments of tax. Interest rates
can be found on the Department's Tax and Interest Rates
webpage.
This list, although not all-inclusive, provides many of the statutes that relate to the insurance premium taxes and fees.
- Section 175.101, F.S. – Municipal Firefighters’ Pension Trust Funds
- Sections 175.1015 and 185.085, F.S. – Determination of local premium tax situs
- Section 175.141, F.S. – Credit for Payment of Municipal Firefighters’ Pension Trust Fund Excise Tax
- Section 185.08, F.S. – Municipal Police Officers’ Retirement Trust Funds
- Section 185.12, F.S. – Credit for Payment of Municipal Police Officers’ Retirement Trust Fund Excise Tax
- Section 252.372 F. S. – Emergency Management, imposition and collection of surcharge
- Section 288.9916, F.S. – Credit for Qualified Investments under the Florida New Markets Development Program Administered by the
Department of Economic Opportunity
- Section 440.51, F.S. – Credit for Payment of Workers’ Compensation Administrative Assessment
- Section 624.4621, F.S. – Group Self-Insurance Funds
- Section 624.46226, F.S. – Public Housing Authorities Self-Insurance Funds
- Section 624.4625, F.S. – Corporation Not-for-Profit Self-Insurance Funds
- Section 624.475, F.S. – Commercial Self-Insurance Funds
- Section 624.501, F.S. – Filing, License, Appointment, and Miscellaneous Fees
- Section 624.509, F.S. – Premium tax; rate and computation, Credits for Salaries Paid and for Corporate Income Tax Paid
- Section 624.5091, F.S. – Retaliatory Tax
- Section 624.5092, F.S. – Administration of Taxes; Payments
- Section 624.510, F.S. – Tax on wet marine and transportation insurance
- Section 624.5105, F.S. – Credit for Community Contributions
- Section 624.51055, F.S. – Credit for Contributions to Nonprofit Scholarship-funding Organizations
- Section 624.515, F.S. – State Fire Marshal Regulatory Assessment and Surcharge
- Section 627.357, F.S. – Medical Malpractice Self-Insurance Funds
- Section 628.6015, F.S. – Assessable Mutual Insurers
- Section 636.066, F.S. – Prepaid Limited Health Service Organizations
