The interest payments in question stem from an audit of the company’s 1994 Florida taxes. The company paid that year’s Florida taxes in 1995, but the audit found HCA owed an additional $843,173 in state taxes that year. HCA waited until 2008 to pay the additional amount, prompting the Department of Revenue to seek interest, according to the report. No reason was cited for the delay of payment.
HCA contends in its suit that collecting interest for the entire period is illegal, according to the report. A 2002 state law allows the state of Florida to seek interest on tax payments resulting from audits back to the year in question. However, HCA contends that since the bill was passed after 1994, HCA should not be assessed interest on the taxes.
Read the Miami Herald report on HCA.
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