Interest Rates for Tax Payers

Interest is assessed on the amount of taxes or fees due that was not paid on time. This includes late or underpayments of taxes or fees, and collection allowances (credits) that have been reduced due to underpayments of tax or disallowed because the return was filed late. A floating rate of interest applies. Florida's interest rate is updated twice a year, on January 1 and July 1. Current and past year's interest rates are published in Tax Information Publications (TIPs).

• The floating rate of interest is 7% for January 1, 2021 through June 30, 2021. Read more in TIP #20ADM-02 .
• The floating rate of interest remains at 9% for July 1, 2020 through December 31, 2020. Read more in TIP #20ADM-01 .

To calculate interest due with your tax return:

1. Get the daily interest rate factor(s) for the filing period(s) from the appropriate Tax Information Publication.
2. Calculate the number of days your return is late by counting the number of days from the “late after” date on the return through the date the return and payment are postmarked by the U.S. Postal Service or hand-delivered to the Florida Department of Revenue. Include the day the return and payment are postmarked or hand-delivered when calculating the number of days late.
3. Multiply the amount of tax due by the number of days late and then by the appropriate daily interest rate factor(s).

Example 1: A taxpayer owed $1,000 with his November 2013 Florida sales and use tax return (due 12/20/13). The taxpayer filed the return and paid the tax due on March 10, 2014. The return and payment are 80 days late and the daily interest rate for December 2013 to March 2014 was used. The interest amount due is computed as follows:

Tax Due	x	Number of Days Late	x	Daily Interest Rate Factor	=	Interest Due
$1,000	x	80 (12/21/13-3/10/14)	x	.000191781	=	$15.34

Example 2: A taxpayer owed $5,000 with their September 2009 Florida sales and use tax return (due 10/20/09). The taxpayer filed the return and paid the tax on February 10, 2010. The return and payment are 113 days late. Two different daily interest rate factors must be used in the calculation because the interest rate changed on January 1, 2010. For the period 10/20/09 to 12/31/09 the daily interest rate is .000219178 and for the period 1/1/10 to 2/10/10 the daily interest rate is .000191781. The interest amount due is computed as follows:

Tax Due	x	Number of Days Late	x	Daily Interest Rate Factor	=	Interest Due
$5,000	x	72 (from 10/21/09 to 12/31/09)	x	.000219178	=	$ 78.90
$5,000	x	41 (from 1/1/10 to 2/10/10)	x	.000191781	=	$ 39.32
Total Interest Due: $118.22