Property insurance discount to policyholders; insurance premium deduction; insurer credit for deductions.

(1) An insurer must deduct the following amounts from the total charged for the following policies:

(a) For a policy providing residential coverage on a dwelling, an amount equal to 1.75 percent of the premium, as defined in s. 627.403.

(b) For a policy providing residential coverage on a dwelling, the amount charged for the State Fire Marshal regulatory assessment under s. 624.515.

(c) For a policy, contract, or endorsement providing personal or commercial lines coverage for the peril of flood or excess coverage for the peril of flood on any structure or the contents of personal property contained therein, an amount equal to 1.75 percent of the premium, as defined in s. 627.403. As used in this paragraph, the term “flood” has the same meaning as provided in s. 627.715(1)(b).

For the purposes of this section, residential coverage excludes tenant coverage.

(2) The deductions under this section apply to policies that provide coverage for a 12-month period with an effective date between October 1, 2024, and September 30, 2025. The deductions amount must be separately stated on the policy declarations page.

(3) When reporting policy premiums for purposes of computing taxes levied under s. 624.509, an insurer must report the full policy premium value before applying deductions under this section. The deductions provided to policyholders in subsection (1) do not reduce the direct written premium of the insurer for any purposes.

(4) For the taxable years beginning on January 1, 2024, and January 1, 2025, there is allowed a credit of 100 percent of the amount of deductions provided to policyholders pursuant to subsection (1) against any tax due under s. 624.509(1) after all other credits and deductions have been taken in the order provided in s. 624.509(7).

(5) An insurer claiming a credit against premium tax liability under this section is not required to pay any additional retaliatory tax levied under s. 624.5091 as a result of claiming such credit. Section 624.5091 does not limit the credit available to insurers in any manner.

(6) If the credit provided for under subsection (4) is not fully used in any one taxable year because of insufficient tax liability, the Department of Revenue must refund the unused amount of credit out of the General Revenue Fund to the insurer.

(7) In the event that an insurer refunds some or all of a policy that received a deduction pursuant to subsection (1), for which the insurer has received a credit under subsection (4) or a refund under subsection (6), the insurer must repay to the Department of Revenue for deposit into the General Revenue Fund that portion of the credit or refund received by the insurer that equals the deduction under subsection (1) on the portion of the policy that was refunded.

(8) Every insurer required to provide a premium deduction under this section must include all of the following information with its quarterly and annual statements under s. 624.424:

(a) The number of policies that received a deduction under this section during the period covered by the statement.

(b) The total amount of deductions provided by the insurer during the period covered by the statement.

(c) The total premium related to insurance policies providing residential coverage on a dwelling.

(d) The total premium related to policies, contracts, or endorsements providing personal or commercial lines coverage for the peril of flood or excess coverage for the peril of flood on any structure or the contents of personal property contained therein.

(9) The office must include the same information required under subsection (8) in the reports required under s. 624.315.

(10) In addition to its existing audit and investigation authority, the Department of Revenue may perform any additional financial and technical audits and investigations, including examining the accounts, books, and records of an insurer claiming a credit under subsection (4), which are necessary to verify the information included in the tax return and to ensure compliance with this section. The office shall provide technical assistance when requested by the Department of Revenue on any technical audits or examinations performed pursuant to this section.

(11) In addition to its existing examination authority and duties under s. 624.316, the office shall examine the information required to be reported under subsection (8) and shall take corrective measures as provided in ss. 624.310(5) and 624.4211 for any insurer not in compliance with this section.

(12) The Department of Revenue and the office are authorized, and all conditions are deemed met, to adopt emergency rules pursuant to s. 120.54(4) to implement the provisions of this section. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, emergency rules adopted pursuant to this subsection are effective for 6 months after adoption and may be renewed during the pendency of procedures to adopt permanent rules addressing the subject of the emergency rules.

(13) This section is repealed December 31, 2030.