CopyPublished | Florida 2nd District Court of Appeal | 2009 Fla. App. LEXIS 17294, 2009 WL 3878543
...roposed Refund Denial," which indicated Catalina owed an additional forty-seven thousand *1030 dollars for years 1996 through 1998. [1] In May, Catalina sent a letter intended to invoke its right to the administrative review procedures authorized by section 220.717, Florida Statutes (2001). Section 220.717 describes this initial remedy as a "protest of proposed assessment." Upon the filing of a protest, DOR is then to review the protest and, if it disagrees with the protest, issue a "Notice of Decision." See Rule 12-6.003(3)(b), F.A.C....
...The "bill" submitted in September, 2003, while not employing the caption "notice of deficiency," nevertheless complies with section
220.711. Once the taxpayer has received such a notice, it has sixty days within which to file a written protest. See §
220.717(1). As stated above, this was the intent of Catalina's May, 2002, letter. With regard to the "bill," however, although Catalina was similarly advised of this right, it did not file a protest pursuant to section
220.717....
...Even if this is so, however, DOR's positionthat a "bill" is equivalent with a notice of deficiencydoes not change. On the first page of the September, 2003, notice, Catalina is informed of its right to "file a written protest ... within sixty days," which is the procedure called for under section 220.717(1) after a notice of deficiency has been received....
