Monthly Closing Deadlines

The August 2025 period in the general ledger has closed.  The current and future month-end processing deadline schedules are located at Monthly Closing Deadlines.

Florida Sales Tax Rate for Rental, Lease, or License to Use Real Property Repealed Effective October 1, 2025

Currently, Florida imposes a 6% sales tax on the sales of most goods and certain services. In addition, Florida counties can impose a local option surtax on top of the 6% rate that varies by county. Therefore, the sales tax rate is 7% in Miami-Dade County, Broward County, and Pinellas County (due to the additional 1% surtax).

The sales tax is also imposed on commercial leases and licenses to use real property, but at a reduced rate. Some examples of real property rentals that are subject to tax include (commercial office or retail space, conference rooms, ballrooms, stadiums, arenas, etc.). The sales tax rate imposed under Florida Statutes on the rent charged for renting, leasing, or granting a license to use real property is currently 3.0% (2.0% plus the additional 1% surtax).

Effective October 1, 2025, the sales tax rate imposed under Florida Statutes on the rent charged for renting, leasing, or granting a license to use real property is repealed. Therefore, the combined sales tax rate for any rental activity taking place on or after October 1, 2025, will be 0.0%.

However, if services are provided along with the rental activity, the services are still subject to the 7.0% sales tax rate and are not repealed.

To accurately collect and remit the sales tax collected by the University, rental related sales tax collections should only be posted to one of the following general ledger accounts shown below.

Account number 311318 (Sales Tax Liab MD Prop Rental) – this account is used to record/deposit sales tax for rental activity taking place in Miami-Dade County, which is subject to the current 3.0% sales tax rate (June 1, 2024 – September 30, 2025).Effective for rental activity on or after October 1, 2025, the sales tax is eliminated and the rate is 0.0%. 

Account number 311319 (Sales Tax Liab Bwd Prop Rental) – this account is used to record/deposit sales tax for rental activity taking place in Broward County, which is subject to the current 3.0% sales tax rate (June 1, 2024 – September 30, 2025).Effective for rental activity on or after October 1, 2025, the sales tax is eliminated and the rate is 0.0%.  

Account number 311320 (Sales Tax Liab PIN Prop Rental) – this account is used to record/deposit sales tax for rental activity taking place in Pinellas County, which is subject to the current 3.0% sales tax rate (June 1, 2024 – September 30, 2025).Effective for rental activity on or after October 1, 2025, the sales tax is eliminated and the rate is 0.0%. 

However, this reduction does not change the sales tax rate for all other taxable sales. All other sales tax activity (not rental related) should be posted to one of the following general ledger accounts.

Account number 311315 (Sales Tax Liab MD NOT Rental) – this account is used to record/deposit sales tax for goods or services being sold in Miami-Dade County which are subject to the 7.0% sales tax rate.

Account number 311317 (Sales Tax Liab BWD NOT Rental) – this account is used to record/deposit sales tax for goods or services being sold in Broward County which are subject to the 7.0% sales tax rate.

Please continue to use Department Number 110401000 and Activity Number 1104120007 for all sales tax deposits regardless of the general ledger account used.

If you have questions about this change or any other sales tax questions, please email Tax Compliance Services or call any of the Tax Compliance team members. You can also click this link to Florida Tax Information Publication (TIP) No. 25A01-04, which contains additional information related to the sales tax rate change.

Florida Sales Tax Holidays

The State of Florida recently passed several Sales Tax Holidays which includes back-to-school sales tax holidays, disaster preparedness and other supplies sales tax holidays, and hunting, fishing, camping sales tax holidays.

Disaster preparedness and other supplies

Consumers can purchase qualifying disaster preparedness and other supplies exempt from tax beginning August 1, 2025. The items listed are permanently exempted, there is no end date for the exemption.

Click on the following link for more information: https://floridarevenue.com/taxes/tips/Documents/TIP_25A01-05.pdf

2025 Hunting, Fishing, and Camping Sales Tax Holiday

Consumers can purchase qualifying hunting, fishing, and camping items exempt from tax during the Sales Tax Holiday which begins September 8, 2025, and extends through December 31, 2025.

Click on the following link for more information: https://floridarevenue.com/taxes/tips/Documents/TIP_25A01-09.pdf

Unrelated Business Income Tax (UBIT) – IRS Form 990-T

Florida International University is required by Federal law to prepare an income tax return for net income from activities unrelated to the exempt mission of the University. This tax return (Form 990-T) must be filed annually with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

The IRS has provided the following criteria to identify activities that are unrelated to the mission of an exempt organization. An activity is an unrelated business (and subject to unrelated business income tax “UBIT”) if it meets three requirements: (1) It is a “trade or business”; (2) It is “regularly carried on”; and (3) It is “not substantially related” to furthering FIU’s exempt purpose.  Since these terms are given a specific meaning within the rules set forth by the IRS and several important exceptions exist, guidelines for these criteria are available from the Tax Compliance office for your review.

The Tax Compliance office has begun gathering the data for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2025, and cannot identify all activities that are unrelated and subject to Federal income tax from the accounting records alone. Therefore, we are asking that all Departments review their operations for the 2024-2025 fiscal year and determine what activities, if any, are potentially unrelated business income. Please keep in mind that Florida International University must account for and report all unrelated business income pursuant to the Internal Revenue Code.

Please note that due to recent changes in the tax law, departments that conduct multiple unrelated activities (rentals, advertising income, admission fee income, etc.) must complete a separate UBIT questionnaire and UBIT income statement for each activity. Do not combine multiple activities into a single questionnaire and income statement.

A reminder email has been sent to those Department Heads & Finance Managers with UBIT activity in prior years, with links to the UBIT questionnaire and additional UBIT information. If you did not receive the email and have UBI to report or want additional guidance, the information is also available on the Controller’s website at the following link: https://controller.fiu.edu/departments/accounting-reporting/tax-compliance-payroll/unrelated/ 

If your department does not generate Unrelated Business Income (UBI) and only conducts educational activities, you do not need to return the UBI Questionnaire. If you have questions about unrelated business income or are conducting a revenue generating activity, and are unsure if reporting is required, please contact tax@fiu.edu or call (305) 348-2655 for more information.

Please submit your UBI information as soon as possible.

UPS Shipment

We have seen an increase in the frequency of UPS deliveries being charged to the FIU master account. Whenever possible, the P-card should be used when scheduling the pick-up. Please make sure that the P-card is the default payment method.

To make your P-card default please follow the steps below:

If you are unable to use the P-card, it is very important that you include your activity or project number in the reference field.  This will ensure that the correct department is charged once we receive the invoice.

Pinnacle IT Billing System Migration to PCR-360

The billing system used by the Division of IT for posting charges related to telephones, telecommunications, and other IT services has migrated from Pinnacle to PCR-360.

If you currently access Pinnacle to view your bills, detailed instructions on how to access both new and historical bills in PCR-360 can be found at itbilling.fiu.edu. We encourage you to take a moment to familiarize yourself with the new system to ensure a smooth transition.

Beginning with the May 2025 bill, which currently posts in July 2025, ledgers will reflect the description, ” ITBilling” , instead of, “Pinnacle”.  Additionally, the journal ids in PeopleSoft will start with “PCR” instead of “PIN”.

As discussed in previous Finance Managers meetings, billing will occur 13 times in fiscal year 2025-26 to align billing cycles. The bills for July 2025 and August 2025 will be posted in September 2025.  Subsequently, your bill will reflect prior month charges rather than billing two months behind.

Should you have any questions or need further assistance, please visit askit.fiu.edu and complete a Billing Request form.

Credit Card Reconciliation: Supporting Documentation

As a reminder, when reconciling Pcard transactions, scanning and attaching receipts and supporting documentation is mandatory. While all charges must still be approved within 10 business days, Approvers will have through the end of the calendar month to complete attaching all documentation.

Examples of supporting documentation include:

• Flyers
• Receipts
• Print samples
• Agendas
• Quotes
• Attendance Sheets

If you have any questions, please reach out to the Credit Card Solutions Team at ccsteam@fiu.edu

New Electronic Gift Card Solution for Participant Payments

The Controller’s Office has partnered with a third-party vendor called Tango to offer the FIU Research community an online platform to manage and easily facilitate paying research participants digitally with electronic gift cards. The Tango platform has a catalog of different vendors to choose from for electronic gift cards including a prepaid MasterCard option. For guidance and direction on how to request this option, visit the Controller’s Office website and refer to the Participant Payment Fund Tango Procedure and related forms (Tango Gift Card Request Form/ PPF Tango Replenishment & Closure Form).  If you have questions or need clarification, feel free to email the Cash Requests team at cashrequests@fiu.edu or call 305-348-3888.

Invoices Delivery

When submitting invoices to invoices@fiu.edu, please keep the following in mind:

• Limit the supporting documentation to only what is necessary to approve the invoice for payment.  Any other documentation should be kept with the department.
• Only PDF documents are accepted.  All other documents will not be processed.
• Only one invoice per PDF file is accepted.  If more than one invoice is sent in one PDF file, only the first invoice is processed.
• Any supporting documentation required must be included in the PDF file.  The system cannot combine attachments.
• Market Place Orders – Do not send invoice copies, receipt information, or any other documentation to invoices@fiu.edu.  Market Place invoices (any voucher that begins with the letter I) are sent to Accounts Payable electronically by the vendor.
• When corresponding with an AP staff member, do not cc invoices@fiu.edu. 

Invoices@fiu.edu is system monitored and should only be used for invoice submissions.

Prohibited Expenditures BOG 9.01

Per the Florida Board of Governors (BOG) 9.016 Prohibited Expenditures regulation, expenses related to DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) are unallowable. The regulation became effective in January 2024 and university-wide compliance was effective July 1, 2024.

Budget managers must review all expenses before submitting to ensure these do not include unallowable services/deliverables. No purchases of goods or services related to DEI activities made with E&G funds can be approved as these are prohibited. 

Please use the following tools to determine if an expense is prohibited:

• PE Decision Tree – tool to determine whether an expenditure is permitted
• PE PowerPoint – presentation by the PE Team
• PE Justification Form – form to document justification for permitted expenditures

If you have any questions on prohibited expenses, please send an email to prohibitexps@fiu.edu.

Important GL Account Updates

The Office of the Controller has created some new GL Accounts to help the University track expenses in several categories more effectively.  Additionally, we will be inactivating GL Account 773801 Food Products. Please refrain from coding any expenses to this GL Account.

New Account 773607 – Instruct. Supplies Food Items – This account is to be used for food items utilized in instructional labs and programs (i.e. science, chemistry, hospitality management, research, etc.).

New Account 711608 – Food Items Noncatered Events – This account is to be used for food, including platters, sandwiches, bakery goods, pizza, desserts, non-alcoholic beverages, etc. purchased for meetings/events/trainings etc. with total food costs not exceeding $750.  On-campus events with food costs exceeding $750, are required to contract catering services from FIU’s approved catering vendors, unless the Office of Business Services approves an exception for the event.

Account 711601 is being renamed to Catering Services.  This account should be used for all catered events.

Property Manual Updates

The Controller’s Office has completed updating the Property Manual, please review to make sure your department is compliant with the latest property control guidelines.  In particular, please make sure you review the Attractive Property Guidance section starting on page 18 as we have provided additional guidance so departments can identify and track attractive property.  Following is the link to the Property Manual.

In addition, we have created an Attractive Property Tracking template for any department that does not currently have a mechanism for tracking their attractive property to use for tracking their attractive property.

If you have any questions, please contact Property Control at property@fiu.edu

Travel and Other Expenses Manual

The Controller’s Office has completed updating the Travel and Other Expenses Manual.  Please review this manual to be compliant with the latest guidance as it relates to Travel and Other Expenses procedures.  You can find the manual in the Controller’s website at the following link:  Travel and Other Expenses Manual.

Requirements for Athletics

All expense reports related to Recruiting and Professional Development must include a Per Diem Form to support per diem or actual meal claims. This form is required and must be attached as part of the supporting documentation of the expense report.

To streamline compliance, FIU has developed the following template:

• Per Diem Reimbursement Template

This template is mandatory to ensure compliance with the FIU Travel Policy and to facilitate accurate and timely reimbursement.

Important International Travel Compliance Reminder

Effective March 1, 2025, if you depart on an international trip prior to full Travel Authorization (TA) approval, a confirmation of which is emailed to you, there will be no reimbursement of travel expenses paid by you from personal funds, and repayment from the traveler to the University for expenses paid with University funds will be required. Further, an employee may be subject to discipline and/or restrictions on international travel privileges. Regardless of whether a proxy assists in the TA process, the traveler is responsible for verifying that the TA is fully approved before departing on the trip and will be held accountable if it is not.

Please reference the full memorandum, which also includes details from previous notifications.

Travel Authorization

 An approved Travel Authorization (TA) is a traveler’s permission to incur expenses and travel on behalf of Florida International University. Without an approved travel authorization (TA), the payment of travel expenses on behalf of the University, using the procurement card, or by the traveler is prohibited. This includes FIU employees, FIU students, and others who travel on the University’s behalf. The Authorization must include all known or projected travel expenses, a descriptive business purpose, and the correct trip start and end dates, as well as the business destination(s). It must also provide an estimated trip cost.

Requirement for Domestic and Foreign Travel

All expense reports must include a Meal Reimbursement Breakdown Template to support per diem or actual meal claims. This template is required and must be attached to the supporting documentation of the expense report.

To streamline compliance, FIU has developed two distinct templates:

• Domestic Meal Reimbursement Template
• Foreign Meal Reimbursement Template

Travelers are required to use the appropriate template based on their travel destination and include the completed form in the expense report documentation.

This template is mandatory to ensure compliance with the FIU Travel Policy and to facilitate accurate and timely reimbursement.

New Way to Share Feedback: “Rate My Service”

The Office of the Controller is excited to launch Rate My Service links in staff email signatures!

 Why it matters:

• Recognize and celebrate staff who provide exceptional service.
• Share valuable feedback that helps us improve how we serve you.

 Next time you see the link at the bottom of an email from our office, click and let us know how we’re doing!

Your voice helps us deliver service excellence!