Florida Department of Revenue Letter or Scam? How to Tell the Difference Before You Pay

The envelope looks official. The letterhead carries a seal-style logo, a due date, and a dollar amount. It uses words like “compliance” and “filing requirement.” A Florida business owner opens it, feels a flicker of panic, and mails a check for $150 to a company they have never heard of. That check did not go to the state. It went to a private business selling something the owner could have done directly, for less, or for free.

These mailers hit Florida small businesses every year, especially right after a new LLC or corporation is formed and the public record makes the owner easy to find. Here is how to tell a real Florida Department of Revenue letter, or a real Division of Corporations notice, from a lookalike ad — using checks that take a few minutes.

Start With the Fine Print, Not the Headline

Legitimate agencies do not need disclaimers. Misleading solicitations almost always include one, usually in small type at the bottom or on the back. Look for phrases like “this is not a government agency,” “this is a solicitation,” or “you are under no obligation to pay this amount.”

Federal and state rules push these companies to include that language somewhere on the page. They put it where a reader is least likely to see it. If you find it anywhere on the mailer, you are holding an advertisement, not a government notice.

Check Who Is Asking to Be Paid

This is the fastest test. A real Florida Department of Revenue notice directs payment to the State of Florida, through its official online portal or directly to the department. A solicitation asks for a check made payable to a business name with words like “Services,” “Filing,” “Compliance,” or “Records” in it, mailed to a P.O. box or a suite in another state.

Ask one question: is the payee the State of Florida? If the answer is anything else, stop.

Compare the Letter Against What the State Actually Charges

Scam mailers work because business owners do not know the real price of routine filings. Compare what the letter demands with the official cost.

The annual report for a Florida LLC, for example, carries a statutory state fee of $138.75 when filed between January 1 and May 1, and a profit corporation’s is $150 over that same window — both filed directly with the Division of Corporations through Sunbiz. Registering for sales tax with the Department of Revenue can likewise be done directly on the state’s own website, at no cost. If a mailer wants two or three times the published fee to file the same thing “on your behalf,” you are paying for a stamp and an envelope.

Read the Personalization Carefully

Solicitations feel personal because they pull from public records. They will have your exact business name, your registered address, and sometimes your formation date. That information is searchable by anyone on Sunbiz.

What they usually lack is anything private to your actual account. A genuine notice about a specific tax account will typically reference account or filing identifiers that are not public. If the only “personal” details on the page are ones anyone could look up on a state business search, treat the letter with suspicion.

Verify Independently, Never Through the Letter

Do not call the phone number or visit the website printed on the suspicious letter. Scammers control those. Instead:

1. Go to the official site yourself. Type floridarevenue.com into your browser for tax matters, or sunbiz.org for annual reports and corporate filings.
2. Log in to your own account. If you owe something or have a filing due, it will show there. If your account shows nothing due, the letter is not a real obligation.
3. Call the agency using the number on its official website, not the number on the mailer.
4. Ask your accountant. A CPA or tax advisor who handles your filings will know in seconds whether that deadline is real.

Confirm the web address ends in the official government domain, and check it letter by letter. Lookalike domains swap characters or add extra words to fool a quick glance.

What to Do If You Already Paid

It happens to careful people. If you sent money, act quickly.

• Contact your bank or card issuer and dispute the charge, or stop the check if it has not cleared.
• Keep the letter and the envelope — they are evidence.
• File a complaint with the Florida Attorney General’s office and the Federal Trade Commission.
• Confirm your real filings are current directly with the state, since paying a solicitation does not file anything with the government.

That last point matters most. The danger is not only losing the fee. Some owners believe they satisfied a requirement and miss the real deadline, which can lead to late fees or an administratively dissolved entity.

Build a Simple Rule for Your Mailbox

Set one policy for your business: no government-looking letter gets paid until someone checks it against the official website. Route all mail to one person, or to your accountant, and keep a calendar of your actual state deadlines so an urgent letter can be compared against a real date instead of a fear.

If a letter from the “Department of Revenue” or a corporate compliance notice just landed on your desk, do not pay it yet. If you want a second set of eyes before anything gets mailed, send it to our team — we would rather look at ten harmless letters than have a client pay for one fake one.