Printing House, Inc. v. State, Department of Revenue

614 So. 2d 1119, 1992 Fla. App. LEXIS 13597, 1992 WL 389020
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedDecember 31, 1992
DocketNo. 92-2725
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 614 So. 2d 1119 (Printing House, Inc. v. State, Department of Revenue) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Printing House, Inc. v. State, Department of Revenue, 614 So. 2d 1119, 1992 Fla. App. LEXIS 13597, 1992 WL 389020 (Fla. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinions

KAHN, Judge.

This is an original petition for certiorari to review the order of the circuit court below granting the respondent’s motion to strike demand for jury trial. Petitioner, The Printing House, Inc., brought a two-count action against the State of Florida, Department of Revenue (DOR), challenging three separate Notices of Proposed Assessment of Tax, Penalty and Interest. These notices resulted from an audit done by DOR for the period June 1, 1985 through May 31, 1989. All three notices are dated December 26, 1989, and all three apply to the same issue regarding tax liability. One assessment is for sales and use tax1 from 1985 to 1989, one is for local government infrastructure surtax2 from 1978 through 1989, and one is for criminal justice tax3 for 1985. The total of the assessments together with penalty and interest through September 4, 1989, is $1,017,620.29 plus interest since September 5, 1989. Petitioner’s complaint is brought pursuant to Chapter 72, Florida Statutes,4 [1121]*1121and contests the legality of the assessed tax. Pertinent allegations of the complaint include:

11. During the audit period, The Printing House used a process called color separation in order to print color pictures in a number of the publications they produced. The Printing House bought the negatives used in the color separation process from a separate corporate entity, and The Printing House then sold the negatives used in the color separation process to its customers for an amount equal to or greater than The Printing House’s cost for the negatives.
12. During the audit period, The Printing House collected all appropriate taxes on the sale of the subject negatives over to customers of The Printing House, and therefore the ultimate product was properly taxed.
13. The Department of Revenue in its December 2, 1991 Final Position Letter finds that the negatives used by The Printing House, Inc. in the color separation process were purchased and consumed by The Printing House in such process and are therefore subject to taxation.
14. Additionally, The Printing House’s acquisition of the negatives is an exempt transaction under Florida law and, further, the overall creation or production of the color separation negatives is a service and therefore with the exception of a brief period im 1987, such services are exempt from Sales and Use tax.
⅜ ⅜ ⅜ ⅜ ⅛ *
18. The Printing House was audited by the State of Florida, Department of Revenue on at least two occasions prior to the audit period herein. The previous audits were for audit periods April 1, 1975 through March 31, 1978, and July 1, 1979 through June 30, 1982.
19. During the two previous audits by the Department of Revenue, the Department of Revenue determined that no tax liability had been incurred by The Printing House for the purchase of color separation materials in its color separation process, and specifically that no tax liability had been incurred regarding the purchase by The Printing House of such negatives. Such representations by the Department of Revenue in the prior audits directly contradicts (sic) the position taken by the Department of Revenue in the later audit period upon which the instant tax assessment is based. The Printing House relied on the previous [1122]*1122representations by the Department of Revenue, and did not change any procedures nor policies following the two previous audits.
20. If the previous audits by the Department of Revenue had placed The Printing House on notice that such methods during the color separation process would be subject to a tax assessment, The Printing House would have changed or altered its method of documenting such purchases by it for resale purposes of the negatives. As such, and in reliance on representations by the Department of Revenue, The Printing House has maintained its methods and procedures which the Department of Revenue finds to be detrimental to its financial interest in that the Department of Revenue now seeks to assess taxes based on such practices and procedures.

Certiorari is the appropriate remedy for review of an interlocutory order which erroneously denies a jury trial. Quality Coffee Service Inc. v. Tallahassee Coca-Cola Bottling Co., 474 So.2d 427 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985). If there is any question as to whether a party is afforded the right to a jury trial, such question should be resolved, if at all possible, in favor of the party seeking a jury trial. Hollywood, Inc. v. City of Hollywood, 321 So.2d 65 (FIa.1975). In the present case it is uncontested that petitioner timely demanded a jury trial at the time of filing its complaint. We find that the circuit court’s order striking the demand for jury trial at this stage of the proceedings was a departure from the essential requirements of law, and thus we grant the writ of certiorari.

Chapter 72 of the Florida Statutes, entitled “Tax Matters,” allows a taxpayer to contest the legality of certain assessments, including the types involved in the present case, by filing an action in circuit court, or alternatively by filing a petition under the applicable provisions of Chapter 120, Florida Statutes. § 72.011, Fla.Stat. (1991).

The DOR as respondent argues that “the right to a jury trial does not apply in tax cases, as the right and remedy is (sic) equitable in nature.” DOR points out that “tax cases” have been made the subject of equity jurisdiction by section 68.01, Florida Statutes, and therefore a statutory right to jury trial does not apply. DOR further directs our attention to Robbins v. Section 3 Property Corp., 609 So.2d 670 (Fla. 3d DCA 1992) (question certified), which finds no right to a jury trial in a property tax case involving the grant of an agricultural exemption. Robbins construed section 194.171, Florida Statutes (1991), as providing a remedy in equity and not allowing a jury trial.

Chapter 72, by its terms, applies to certain enumerated classes of taxes, fees, surcharges, permits, interest, and penalties, and does not encompass challenges to proposed property taxes. Judicial and administrative review of proposed property taxes, pursuant to notice provided under section 200.069, Florida Statutes (1991), is exclusively by administrative or judicial review as set out in Chapter 194, Florida Statutes. Accordingly, we find that case law adjudicating the right to jury trial in a proceeding pursuant to section 194.171, Florida Statutes (1991), or its predecessors,5 is not controlling as to the question now presented. On this basis, we distinguish Day v. City of St. Augustine, 104 Fla. 261, 139 So. 880 (Fla.1932), in which the court found that Chapter 8586, Acts of 1921, General Laws, the earliest predecessor to section 194.171, Florida Statutes (1991), conferred jurisdiction in tax cases upon “courts of equity.” 139 So. at 883.

While section 72.011(1), Florida Statutes (1991), provides for circuit court jurisdiction in challenges to certain specified taxes and assessments, section 68.01, Florida Statutes (1991), dating back to 1848,6 provides in general terms that when an assessment is made against any person or corpo[1123]

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Related

Department of Revenue v. Printing House
644 So. 2d 498 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1994)

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Bluebook (online)
614 So. 2d 1119, 1992 Fla. App. LEXIS 13597, 1992 WL 389020, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/printing-house-inc-v-state-department-of-revenue-fladistctapp-1992.