Florida/Georgia Personal Injury & Workers Compensation

...e arguments into three basic issues: 1) the non-profit status of TPL; 2) the charitable nature of TPL's purposes and activities; and 3) whether TPL used the property for charitable purposes. As to non-profit status and TPL's purposes and activities, section 196.195(4), Florida Statutes (1981), provides that: No application for exemption may be granted for religious, literary, scientific or charitable use of property until the applicant has been found ......

...3d DCA 1964), who must supply "such fiscal and other records showing in reasonable detail the financial condition, record of operation, and exempt and nonexempt uses of the property for the immediately preceding fiscal year as are requested by the property appraiser or the value adjustment board," § 196.195(1), Fla....

...At trial, appellant, Public Housing Assistance, Inc. (PHAI), and appellees, Lake County Property Appraiser Edward Havill and Lake County Tax Collector T. Keith (Havill), stipulated to the following: 1. PHAI is a nonprofit corporation as defined by Section 196.195, Florida Statutes....

...3d 1256, 1257-58 (Fla. 1st DCA 2018) (emphasizing strict construction against tax exemptions). II. The Chamber’s Exemption Claim. To qualify for a tax exemption, the applicant has the burden of proving first that it is a nonprofit organization. § 196.195(2), (4), Fla....

...In addition, “[e]ach applicant must affirmatively show that no part of the subject property, or the proceeds of the sale, lease, or other disposition thereof, will inure to the benefit of its members, directors, or officers or any person or firm operating for profit or for a nonexempt purpose.” § 196.195(3), Fla....

...chambers of commerce, boards of trade, and the like. 3 The Chamber did not show that “no part” of its property “will inure to the benefit of . . . any person or firm operating for profit or for a nonexempt purpose,” nor even address that specific statutory requirement. See § 196.195(3), Fla....

...The contrary is obvious from the nature and specifics of the Chamber’s extensive evidence. That failure alone is sufficient to disqualify the Chamber from receiving a tax exemption, because it makes it impossible for the Chamber to satisfy the statutory definition of a nonprofit applicant. See § 196.195(4), Fla....

valorem taxation. (Emphasis supplied.) Accord: Section 196.195(2), (3) and (4), F.S. The former exemption

...§ 42 , was a benefit received from the property. The taxpayers appeal the final summary judgment. This case presents us with an issue of first impression: Whether a federal income tax credit inuring to a taxpayer is a benefit that disqualifies a taxpayer from exempt entity status under section 196.195(3), Florida Statutes (1991), and therefore disqualifies the taxpayer from receiving an ad valorem tax charitable exemption....

...poses-” § 196.192(1), Fla. Stat. (1991). The parties stipulated that the property was used exclusively for an exempt purpose. However, the Property Appraiser correctly took umbrage with the VAB’s finding that the taxpayers were exempt entities. Section 196.195, Florida Statutes, provides the criteria for determining whether an entity is a nonprofit venture eligible for an exemption....

...that no part of the subject property, or the proceeds of the sale, lease, or other disposition thereof, will inure to the benefit of its members, directors, or officers or any person or firm operating for profit or for a nonexempt purpose.” *1325 § 196.195(3), Fla....

...taxpayers is a benefit which disqualifies the entities from exempt status. We agree with the trial court that the latter interpretation is consistent with the plain language of the statute and the underlying legislative intent. The plain language of section 196.195(3) requires an exemption applicant to demonstrate that the entity, its members or directors, are not receiving any benefit from the property....

...Indisputably, a tax credit is an advantage and a benefit in a tangible financial sense. See generally Housing Pioneers, Inc. v. C.I.R., 58 F.3d 401 (9th Cir.1995)(income tax credit is a benefit that inures to those who receive it). We are not persuaded that the only benefit the legislature was contemplating in enacting section 196.195(3) is the receipt of proceeds or profits. This is demonstrated by the grammatical construction of section 196.195(3), wherein the legislature requires a showing, in the disjunctive, 4 that “no part of the subject property, or the proceeds of the sale, lease, or other disposition thereof, will inure to the benefit” of the taxpayers....

...The trial court arrived at the following conclusions: (1) As of January 1, 1995 (based on 1994 information) Foundation was “nonprofit” and was designated as a 501(e)(3) organization by the IRS. Additionally, Foundation was “nonprofit” as that term is defined in section 196.195, Florida Statutes....

...John Knox Village of Fla., Inc., 547 So.2d 1044 (Fla. 4th DCA 1989) (holding that section 196.1975 is an indirect homestead exemption for the aged). McIntyre contends that in addition to the criteria set forth in section 196.1975, Fairhaven must also meet the requirements of section 196.195 (determining the profit or nonprofit status of an applicant) and section 196.196 (determining whether property is entitled to charitable, religious, scientific, or literary exemption), which are provisions of the Florida Statutes related *112 to article VII, section 3(a), of the Florida Constitution....

...the requirements of section 196.1975(1) and (2), it was entitled to the homestead exemption relief sought for the years 1996, 1997, and 1998, without regard to the “charitable” use of the property. Therefore, the trial court’s consideration of section 196.195(4), and its finding that this section of the statute was unconstitutional, was error....

...1 The trial court’s inquiry should have been based solely on the application of section 196.1975. Accordingly, we reverse the judgment of the trial court and remand for further proceedings consistent with our decision. Reversed and remanded. FULMER, A.C.J., and STRINGER, J., Concur. . It should be noted that section 196.195(4), Florida Statutes (1997), was repealed by the legislature, effective January 1, 2001....