OIG No. 24-04: Resort Tax Audit Activities SummaryJoseph M. Centorino, Inspector General
TO:
FROM:
PROJECT
PERIOD:
April 4, 2024
Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Commission
Joseph M. Centorino, Inspector General
Resort Tax Audit Activities Summary
OIG No. 24-04
October 1, 2023 through March 31, 2024
Within the City of Miami Beach Office of the Inspector General (OIG) Audit Division are Tax
Auditors who verify the compliance of registered businesses with the City Code's Resort Tax
provisions. They conduct audits of both annual filers and monthly filers. Annual filers generally
involve apartment buildings that remit little or no resort taxes to the City due to the frequency of
exemptions for continuous residencies exceeding six months. Monthly filers include hotels,
nightclubs, and restaurants, which have frequent daily transactions for which resort taxes are due
to the City. Annual filers are required to file once per year for the period of May through April by
May 20" (adjusted for weekends and holidays), while monthly filers must file each month prior to
or on the twentieth (adjusted for weekends and holidays) for the previous month's transactions.
The objective of these audits is to determine whether registered taxpayers have accurately
reported their revenues and timely remitted any taxes due.
The Finance Department determined that there were 4,292 active Resort Tax accounts as of April
2, 2024, comprised of 939 annual filers and 3,353 monthly filers. The number of monthly accounts
has increased significantly over the past several years due primarily to short-term rentals.
As the annual filers are expected to remit little or no resort taxes, OIG's primary focus is to conduct
audits of monthly filers. However, Tax Auditors also routinely conduct audits of annual filers,
concentrating primarily on determining whether tested tenants satisfy the requirement imposed
by City Code Section 102-308(3) that there be a continuous length of residency for longer than
six months to be exempt from taxation.
Although the OIG determines the assessment (if any) based on its audit, it is not involved
thereafter in the collection phase, initiated by the Finance Department, which may lead to
adjustment, appeal, settlement or other resolution involving other City processes and agencies.
This process helps achieve a proper segregation of duties between the department performing
the audit and those enforcing the assessment.
It should be noted that assessments are not always paid timely and may result in liens being
imposed by the City on local properties owned by the delinquent taxpayers or corporate officers.
These liens may remain in effect for up to twenty years. Any collected assessments based on
OIG audits represent additional revenues to the City that would otherwise not have been received
if the audits had not been performed.
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In addition, City Code Section 102-311 (6) states as follows: If any operator charged in this section
fails or refuses to make his records available for inspection so that no audit or examination has
been made of the books and records of such operator or person, fails or refuses to register as
an operator, or fails to make a report and pay the tax as provided by this division, or makes a
grossly incorrect report, or makes a report that is false or fraudulent, it shall be the duty of the
city to make an assessment from an estimate based upon the best information then available
to it for the taxable period of sales or rentals, together with interest, plus penalty, if such have
accrued, as the case may be. Then the city shall proceed to collect such taxes, interest and
penalty on the basis of such assessment, which shall be considered prima facie correct; and
the burden to show the contrary shall rest with the operator.
These estimated assessments are levied when the taxpayer has opted not to cooperate after
repeated attempts or has not maintained the supporting documentation necessary to complete
the audit. If the taxpayer subsequently provides sufficient records, the assigned Tax Auditor will
examine the information provided and revise the estimated assessment as warranted.
Conversely, some taxpayers pay the estimated assessments, or else fail to respond to or refute
the assessments, which renders them final.
In sum, Tax Auditors completed a total of 78 audits between October 1, 2023, and March 31,
2024, with net assessments levied of $1,312,769.09. The following points provide a more specific
breakdown, separated by annual and monthly filers, of the number of completed audits and their
corresponding assessments:
A Annual Filers - 29 audits completed with assessments totaling $279,967.89
1. Eight taxpayers did not provide the requested records which resulted in estimated
assessments totaling $273,620.35
2. Sixteen completed audits resulted in $0.00 assessments as no material differences
were noted from the amounts reported and remitted
3. Five completed audits resulted in assessments levied ranging from a low of
$264.96 to a high of $2,773.54 and totaling $6,347.54
B. Monthly Filers - 49 audits completed with assessments totaling $1,032,801.20
1. Three taxpayers did not provide the requested records which resulted in estimated
assessments totaling $776,721.41
2. Thirteen completed audits resulted in $0.00 assessments as no material
differences were noted from the amounts reported and remitted
3. Thirty-three completed audits resulted in assessments levied ranging from a low
of $263.54 to a high of $66,954.19 and totaling $256,079.79
~ector General
Mark Coolidge, Chief Auditor Date
OFFICE OF THE INSPECTOR GENERAL, City of Miami Beach
1130 Washington Avenue, 6" Floor, Miami Beach, FL 33139
Tel: 305.673.7020 Hotline: 786.897.1111
Email: CityofMiamiBeachOIG@miamibeachfl.gov
Website: www.mbinspectorgeneral.com
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