CFO Patronis Applauds Gov. DeSantis on Signing of Consumer Protection Bill

~ Protects Consumers from IRS Over-taxation on Cash Apps & Roofing Contract Protections for Homeowners ~

Tallahassee, Fla. – Today, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Jimmy Patronis applauded Governor Ron DeSantis for signing HB 939, a Consumer Protection Bill. Among other provisions, this legislation mandates cash-app companies like Venmo, PayPal and Zelle create protections so users are not unfairly taxed by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for transactions that are unrelated to goods-or-services. The legislation also creates a 10-day recission period during declared disasters where policyholders can get out of bad roofing contracts.

CFO Jimmy Patronis said, “This Consumer Protection package includes vital protections for Floridians from IRS overreach when using cash apps like Venmo and Paypal. Washington’s been a dumpster fire, and they passed a law years ago allowing the IRS to collect taxes from transactions above $600, which was an absurd attack against poor and middle-class Americans. After a lot of outrage, the IRS subsequently backed off that absurd threshold, but the reality is the IRS is making these decisions completely outside the law, and Congress is so useless and so out of touch, Florida’s got to go to bat for our residents to make sure they are not unfairly taxed. 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.

“HB 939 also includes vital protections for homeowners following disasters, by helping them get out of bad roofing contracts within 10 days during a declared emergency. Sometimes following storms, homeowners enter into repair contracts and soon realize that the roofing company they signed up with isn’t providing good service or even worse, they’re caught up in a scam. This legislation allows the homeowner to cancel that contract and move on so they can recover quicker. Huge thank you to Governor DeSantis, Senator Burton, and Representative Griffitts for their hard work and support of this great consumer protection legislation.”

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

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About CFO Jimmy Patronis  
Chief Financial Officer and State Fire Marshal Jimmy Patronis is a statewide elected official and a member of Florida’s Cabinet who oversees the Department of Financial Services. CFO Patronis works each day to fight insurance fraud, support Florida’s firefighters, and ensure the state’s finances are stable to support economic growth in the state. Follow the activities of the Department on Facebook (FLDFS) and Twitter (@FLDFS).