Gov. DeSantis OK’s legislation aimed at avoiding taxes on cash app transactions

Cash application companies such as Venmo and PayPal will be required to allow Florida users to mark the transactions as being for goods and services, to avoid taxes on some transactions, after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed HB 939.

The measure was a priority of Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, who said the IRS was unfairly taxing some transactions.

“As many people use their cash-apps for business and personal uses, we want to make sure people aren’t being unfairly taxed moving cash around, so this bill will force the tech companies to build tools where senders of cash will be able to specify whether they’re sending cash for a good-or-service, or something else and lessen the tax burden on small business owners,” Patronis said in a released statement.

Another part of the legislation allows homeowners to have a “buyer’s remorse” clause to get out of a roofing contract within 10 days.

“Thank you to the Governor and CFO Patronis for their hard work and help in seeing these vital consumer protections across the finish line,” said Rep. Griff Griffitts, a Panama City Republican who sponsored the bill. “I’m honored to work this session to ensure Floridians are not taken advantage of following hurricanes and they are protected from IRS overreach.”

But the final version of the measure didn’t include a provision Patronis had also pushed for, which would have banned local governments from using NewsGuard, a company that rates the veracity and trustworthiness of news outlets. Patronis was concerned it would lead to conservative outlets being shut out of local governments’ news events.

The Senate, though, never included the provision in its version of the bill and stripped the provision out when the bill was first sent over from the House.

The bill takes effect July 1.