Working accounts in Daytona Beach with FPL. Florida has the 6% state sales tax plus a discretionary sales surtax that varies by county — Volusia County is currently 0.5%. I noticed my client's bill is showing 7% total tax but the correct combined rate for Volusia County should be 6.5%. FPL is charging 0.5% too much. Is this a common error?
Florida discretionary sales surtax — additional local tax that's often miscalculated
It happens when the county surtax rate changes and the utility's billing system doesn't update promptly. Florida counties can change their discretionary surtax annually through voter referendum. I've seen this with FPL and Duke Energy Florida in counties where the surtax rate changed. The fix is to notify FPL of the incorrect rate and request a correction. They'll usually adjust once you point them to the current rate published by the Florida Department of Revenue. Also check neighboring counties if your client has multiple locations — each county has its own surtax rate.
Mike's finding illustrates why checking the actual tax rate against the current published rate is a standard audit step. Florida's discretionary surtax changes more frequently than most people realize because individual counties can adjust it. The Florida Department of Revenue publishes the current rate for every county on their website — Form DR-2X provides the county-by-county listing. Compare the rate on the bill against the published rate for the service address county. This takes about 30 seconds per account and catches errors that run indefinitely until someone notices.
FPL corrected the rate and issued a 14-month retroactive credit for the 0.5% overcharge. Only about $840 total but it was the easiest finding of the entire audit — literally just comparing two numbers. Added the tax rate verification to my standard checklist for every Florida account.