Why is Florida rounding strangely?

Overview

Florida calculations in AvaTax are off by a penny or so. It appears to be due to rounding errors.

Important change: Florida's bracket system was repealed and replaced with modern rounding requirements as part of Senate Bill 50, effective July 1, 2021. See Changes to Florida rounding requirements for more information.

Environment

Avalara AvaTax

Resolution

Before July 1, 2021, Florida used a table-based bracket tax system for certain goods and services. This was repealed and replaced with modern rounding requirements as part of Senate Bill 50, effective July 1, 2021. See Changes to Florida rounding requirements for more information.

Transactions dated before July 1, 202 use the old bracket system, where the amount of a taxable sale is cross-referenced with the sales tax due for a specific tax bracket. Because AvaTax automatically applies the old bracket system logic to old transactions, earlier transactions in Florida may be off by a penny or so and you may not see different calculation results when adjusting your Rounding Level company setting. 

Find detailed bracket tables in Florida's Department of Revenue form library, in the Sales and Use Tax section.

While Florida has changed their rounding requirements, Maryland still uses a bracket tax system for certain goods and services. Learn more about these bracket systems over at the Avalara blog.