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Today is Cyber Monday, the Black Friday of internet shopping.  Deals abound to get you to part with your hard earned cash, but if you purchased something on line, you may be breaking the law if you don’t voluntarily pay the tax.

On line shoppers are being inundated with deals. Half off here, 40 percent there. All total, more than 2 and a half billion dollars is expected to be spent on line for Cyber Monday.

The impact is even being felt at Joe’s Bike shop in the shadow of the state capitol

Owner Joe  Mezzina says a customer brought a bike in for some additional equipment.

“Just now, somebody came in and brought a bike to us. He bought it on line, which is 80 to 90 dollars that did not come to me” says Mezzina.

Most Big Box retailers collect taxes on internet purchases because they have stores in the state. But the bike dealer who took business from Joe doesn’t collect the sales tax, and Rob Weissert from Florida taxwatch says the state is losing big time.  “It can cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars, but more importantly, it can cost the state jobs and investment.”

When you purchase something on the internet instead of a store like this one, You’re supposed to fill this form out and remit the tax. But few people do. Fewer than 5 thousand forms were filed last year. Most people don’t even know the tax is due. We talked with Dannielle Rivet and  Cassie Murray eating a picnic lunch. They both shop online regularly..

“Q:”Have you ever filled out one of these?”

“No, no”

“That’s called a DR15MO. And under state law you are required to pay sales tax. Did you know that?”

“No, no”

Earlier this year Amazon began collecting sales taxes on Florida purchases. That’s because it opened two distribution centers in the state. The tax collected for the first year is expected to hit close to a hundred million dollars.