How did Florida TAA 25A-005 tax a city's curbside parking and separate parking lots?

Plain-English summary

Fees for street-side or curbside parking on the shoulders of public streets used for transportation were not subject to Florida sales and use tax.

Fees for the city's separate parking lots next to public streets were taxable. The city was a dealer renting parking spaces and had to collect tax on the total parking charge.

The decisive physical distinction was that no sidewalk or swale separated the curbside spaces from through traffic, while sidewalks and swales separated the parking lots from the public streets.

What this means for you

Being adjacent to a public street did not make a parking lot part of the street. The physical relationship to the transportation right-of-way controlled the two results.

Common questions

Were curbside parking fees taxable? No.

Were fees for the separate city lots taxable? Yes.

Why were the lots different? Sidewalks and swales separated them from the streets.

Citations and references

• Fla. Stat. §§ 212.02, 212.03, 212.031, 212.06, 212.07, and 212.15 and Fla. Admin. Code rr. 12A-1.060 and 12A-1.073, as cited in the advisement.

Source

• Landing page: Florida Tax Law Library
• Advisement: TAA 25A-005

Original ruling text

Florida Department of Revenue Jim Zingale
Office of Technical Assistance Executive Director

EPARTMEMT OF REVENUE

FLORIDA

5050 West Tennessee Street Tallahassee FL 32399 floridarevenue.com

QUESTION: Whether and under what circumstances the City is required to collect sales and
use tax on parking fees charged for street-side/curbside parking on public streets
or roads which are used for transportation purposes?

RESPONSE: Streetside/curbside parking is not subject to sales and use tax pursuant to
Chapter 212, F.S.

QUESTION: Whether and under what circumstances the City is required to collect sales and
use tax on fees charged for parking on public lots located immediately adjacent
to public streets or roads used for transportation purposes where the lots will be
used to facilitate public access to city hall and a city hall annex?

RESPONSE: The City is a dealer engaged in the business of renting or leasing parking spaces
for motor vehicles pursuant to s. 212.03(6), F.S., and is required to collect sales
tax on the total rental charge (parking fees) imposed for the right to use the
parking lots.

September 5, 2025

Re: Technical Assistance Advisement — TAA #: 25A-005
(“City”)
Sales and Use Tax — Parking
Section(s), 212.02, 212.03, 212.031, 212.06, 212.07 and 212.15, Florida Statutes - (“F.S.”)
Rule(s), 12A-1.060 and 12A-1.073, Florida Administrative Code - (“F.A.C.”)

Via Email:

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Technical Assistance Advisement
September 5, 2025
Page 2

This is in response to your letter dated NN, requesting this Department’s issuance of a
Technical Assistance Advisement (“TAA”) pursuant to Section(s.) 213.22, F.S., and Rule Chapter 12-11
F.A.C, Florida Administrative Code, regarding the matter discussed below. Your request has been carefully
examined, and the Department finds it to be in compliance with the requisite criteria set forth in Chapter
12-11, F.A.C. This response to your request constitutes a TAA and is issued to you under the authority of
s. 213.22, F.S.

REQUESTED ADVISEMENTS

1. Whether and under what circumstances the City is required to collect sales and use tax on parking
   fees charged for street-side parking on public streets or roads which are used for transportation
   purposes?

2. Whether and under what circumstances the City is required to collect sales and use tax on fees
   charged for parking on public lots located immediately adjacent to public streets or roads used for
   transportation purposes where the lots will be used to facilitate public access to city hall and a city
   hall annex?

FACTS

The request provides that the City is a municipal corporation organized under the laws of the State of
Florida. The City currently charges parking fees for street-side/curbside parking and will be implementing
a new system to charge for parking on two lots owned by the City. The street-side parking is on the
shoulders of public streets. Each of the two lots is located adjacent to public streets but separated from
the streets by sidewalks and swales.

The lots will be operated by City employees and not by private contractors. The purpose of the lots is to
provide parking and easy access to city hall and a separate annex which provides certain municipal services
to the public and houses the City’s records warehouse. No private entity will benefit from use of the lots.

At Conferee’s request the City submitted unexecuted service agreements between the City and

a 2° Ee .. 60" on-demand parking payment services. Upon review of the

service agreements, the following was noted:

«Se"vice agreement provides a definition for several terms including
“Parking Location” which means “the location or locations of Client’s on-street parking, off-street parking,
reservation parking, parking lots, parking decks, permitted parking, and other facilities where aaa
Users may park.”

fe

., service agreement references Parking Facilities and Metered Parking
Stalls which provides “Parking facilities located at [address] including approximately [number] of parking
spaces.” (the “Initial Parking Locations”).

Technical Assistance Advisement
September 5, 2025
Page 3

Since the term “street-side” parking is not referenced or described in either agreement conferee
requested that the city provide its legal definition or description of “street-side” parking. The city
responded with an email stating that another term would be “curbside” parking, which is also not
referenced in the agreements.?

TAXPAYER’S POSITION

The City’s street-side/curbside parking is located on the shoulders of “street[s] or road[s] which are used
for transportation purposes.” There is no swale or sidewalk separating the parking area from the
throughfare traffic. It is the City’s opinion that its street-side/curbside parking is exempt from the
collection of sales and use tax pursuant to s. 212.031(1)(a)6., F.S., because the parking pertains to
“street[s] or road[s] which [are] used for transportation purposes.”

Additionally, the City believes that the lots, which are directly adjacent to “street[s] or road[s] which [are]

used for transportation purposes,” should similarly be exempt from sales and use tax under the same
analysis as the street-side/curbside parking.

LAW AND DISCUSSION

Sales and use tax is imposed upon the privilege of engaging in a particular business or occupation, and
each taxable privilege is separate and distinct from the others. See Ryder Truck Rental, Inc. v Bryant, 170
So.2d 822, 825 (Fla. 1964).

Section 212.02(2), F.S., defines “business” in part as “... any activity engaged in by any person, or caused
to be engaged in by him or her, with the object of private or public gain, benefit, or advantage, either
direct or indirect. ... includes ... all leases or rentals of or licenses in parking lots or garages for motor
vehicles, ... as defined in this chapter and made subject to a tax imposed by this chapter. ...” (Emphasis
added).

The term “person” as defined by s. 212.02(12), F.S., includes “any political subdivision, municipality, state
agency ....”

Section 212.03(6), F.S., imposes tax at the rate of 6 percent, plus any applicable discretionary sales surtax
on the total rental charged by any person who engages in the business of renting or leasing “parking or
storage spaces for motor vehicles in parking lots or garages, including storage facilities for towed
vehicles...” (Emphasis added). A person engaging in such business is exercising a taxable privilege. Section
212.03(6)(a), F.S. However, charges for parking or storage arising from a lawful impoundment are not
subject to tax. See s. 212.03(6)(a) and (b), F.S. and Rule 12A-1.073, F.A.C.

Technical Assistance Advisement
September 5, 2025
Page 4

Section 212.031(1)(a), F.S.’, imposes tax at the rate of 2 percent, plus any applicable discretionary sales
surtax on any person who engages in the business of renting, leasing, letting, or granting a license to use
real property. Subparagraphs 3. and 6. of s. 212.031(1)(a), F.S., respectively, provide the following
exclusions from tax:

=" Property subject to tax on parking, docking, or storage spaces under s. 212.03(6); and
=" A public street or road which is used for transportation purposes.
(Emphasis added).

Section 212.07(1)(a), F.S., provides that tax is collected by a “dealer” from the purchaser or consumer.
Section 212.06(2)(j), F.S., defines “dealer” to include “any person who leases, or grants a license to use,
occupy, or enter upon, ... real property, space or spaces in parking lots or garages for motor vehicles ....”
Section 212.06(2)(i), F.S., specifically provides that a “[d]ealer” also “means and includes the state, county,
municipality, any political subdivision, agency, bureau or department, or other state or local governmental
instrumentality.” A dealer is required to collect the applicable tax from the purchaser and remit the tax
collected to the Department. See ss. 212.07(1)(a) and 212.15(1), F.S.

The City takes the position that because the “street-side/curbside parking” and parking in the described
“lots” located on the shoulder of streets or roads that are used for transportation purposes, the charges
for parking in these locations are exempt from tax pursuant to s. 212.031(1)(a)6., F.S.

The primary consideration in construction and interpretation of tax statutes is to ascertain and give effect
to legislative intent, determined primarily from the language of the statute. See Department of Revenue
v. James B. Pirtle Const. Co., Inc., 690 So.2d 709, 711 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997).

Section 212.031(1)(a), F.S, imposes tax upon renting, leasing, letting, or granting a license for the use of
any real property. Section 212.03(6), F.S. imposes tax upon the lease, rental, or storage of motor vehicles.
Both statutes relate to transactions involving real property. However, s. 212.031, F.S., applies generally
and to a broad range of possible transactions. By contrast, s. 212.03(6), F.S., under these facts, applies
solely to transactions involving the parking or storage of motor vehicles. A longstanding principle of
statutory construction is that a specific statute controls over a general statute. See Bryan v. Landis, 142
So. 650, 653 (Fla. 1932); Mims v. State, 871 So.2d 1003, 1004 (Fla. 1st DCA 2004).

The exclusion the Legislature provided in s. 212.031(1)(a)3., F.S., is consistent with this principle by
providing an exclusion from tax for “[p]roperty subject to? tax on parking, docking, or storage spaces under
s. 212.03(6), F.S.“ Accordingly, the street-side/curbside and lot parking are taxable, if at all, pursuant to s.
212.03(6), F.S.

Section 212.03(6), F.S., levies a tax upon charges for parking or storage spaces for motor vehicles.
Importantly for the purposes of this advisement, “parking or storage spaces for motor vehicles” is then
qualified by “in parking lots or garages.” In construing a statute and giving effect to legislative intent,

2 Section 212.031, F.S., is repealed effective October 1, 2025, by s.37 of Chapter 2025-208, Laws of Florida (L.O.F.)
3 “Subject to,” in the context of this exception, means only that the taxability of the specified transactions is determined solely
under s. 212.03(6), F.S.

Technical Assistance Advisement
September 5, 2025
Page 5

Florida courts look to the plain language of the statute and give the statute its clear and unambiguous
meaning. See McNeil v. State, 215 So.3d 55, 58 (Fla. 2017). The plain language of s. 212.03(6), F.S.,
specifically states that rentals or leases of parking or storage spaces for motor vehicles in parking lots or
garages is a taxable privilege. The Legislature could have included streetside/curbside parking (or language
similarly descriptive) in the statute but did not. Only charges for parking or storage in lots or garages are
made subject to taxation.

Accordingly, based upon the facts presented, the charges made by the City for parking in its lots are
subject to tax pursuant to s. 212.03(6), F.S. However, street-side/curbside parking is not subject to tax.

CONCLUSIONS

QUESTION: Whether and under what circumstances the City is required to collect sales and
use tax on parking fees charged for street-side/curbside parking on public streets
or roads which are used for transportation purposes?

RESPONSE: Streetside/curbside parking is not subject to sales and use tax pursuant to
Chapter 212, F.S.

QUESTION: Whether and under what circumstances the City is required to collect sales and
use tax on fees charged for parking on public lots located immediately adjacent
to public streets or roads used for transportation purposes where the lots will be
used to facilitate public access to city hall and a city hall annex?

RESPONSE: The City is a dealer engaged in the business of renting or leasing parking spaces
for motor vehicles pursuant to s. 212.03(6), F.S., and is required to collect sales
tax on the total rental charge (parking fees) imposed for the right to use the
parking lots.

This response constitutes a TAA under s. 213.22, F.S., which is binding on the Department only under the
facts and circumstances described in the request for this advice, as specified ins. 213.22, F.S. Our response
is predicated on those facts and the specific situation summarized above. You are advised that subsequent
statutory or administrative rule changes, or judicial interpretations of the statutes or rules, upon which
this advice is based, may subject similar future transactions to a different treatment than expressed in
this response.

You are further advised that this response, your request and related backup documents are public records
under Chapter 119, F.S., and are subject to disclosure to the public under the conditions of s. 213.22, F.S.
Confidential information must be deleted before public disclosure. In an effort to protect confidentiality,
we request you provide the undersigned with an edited copy of your request for TAA, the backup material
and this response, deleting names, addresses and any other details which might lead to identification of
the Taxpayer. Your response should be received by the Department within ten (10) days of the date of
this letter.

Technical Assistance Advisement
September 5, 2025
Page 6

If you have any further questions with regard to this matter and wish to discuss them, you may contact
me directly at (850)717-6701.
Sincerely,

Shundra Me fear

Shundra McClean
Tax Law Specialist
Office of Technical Assistance

cc:

Record ID: 7001413764

Technical Assistance Advisement
September 5, 2025
Page 7
Office of Technical Assistance Satisfaction Survey

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Notification number: 7001413764
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Tax type: Sales and Use Tax
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Thank you.