Florida Surplus Lines Service Office to Act as Clearinghouse for NIMA, Inc.
The member states of NIMA, the Non-Admitted Insurance Multi-State Agreement, approved a Premium Tax Clearinghouse services agreement and license agreement, through which NIMA, Inc. contracted with the Florida Surplus Lines Service Office (“FSLSO”) to act as its central clearinghouse for the collection and allocation of surplus lines premium tax payments for multi-state surplus lines policies. The FSLSO will begin receiving filings, as the NIMA clearinghouse, for policies issued or renewed on or after July 1, 2012. The FSLSO will also serve as the clearinghouse administrator and technology platform provider.
“The FSLSO strives to deliver leading edge technology to all its customers, and we are proud to have the opportunity to provide that same level of service to the states of NIMA, Inc.,” said Gary Pullen, Executive Director of the Florida Surplus Lines Service Office. “As an organization, we are pleased to be a part of this national effort to streamline the collection and remittance of surplus lines taxes.”
NIMA, Inc., a non-profit corporation, was established by the NIMA member states to establish a mechanism to report, collect, allocate and distribute surplus lines tax revenues in accordance with the Non-Admitted and Reinsurance Reform Act (“NRRA”). The NRRA, part of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform legislation, passed in 2010 and provides that only the “home state” may collect premium tax payments for non-admitted insurance. However, through the NIMA agreement, member states are able to collect premium taxes owed to their state even when they are not the home state of the policy, thus protecting each participating state’s tax revenue on surplus lines policies.