Breaking down results of significant state ballot initiatives
Posted on Nov 7, 2024 in State and Local Tax
On November 5, voters cast their ballots to determine who would fill a variety of federal, state, and local offices. Several states also considered tax related ballot initiatives. We describe some of the more significant ballot initiatives and their results. Sales Tax There were a few states with ballot initiatives that would exempt items from the state sales tax. For example, South...
Sifting through the complexities of San Francisco’s tax system
In the newest episode of the SALT Shaker Podcast, Eversheds Sutherland Counsel Jeremy Gove takes a close look at San Francisco’s tax system with the help of Eversheds Sutherland Counsel John Ormonde and Bart Baer, Chief Tax Counsel for The California Taxpayers Association. Jeremy, John and Bart review San Francisco from a tax perspective, specifically discussing its various gross...Legal Alert: Reforming San Francisco’s gross receipts tax
On February 5, 2024, the Offices of the Controller and Treasurer & Tax Collector for the City and County of San Francisco published a report outlining tax reform recommendations in time to inform a potential ballot measure for the upcoming November 2024 election. The report recommends significant changes to San Francisco’s gross receipts tax. Read the full Legal Alert...Illinois General Assembly passes $42 billion budget with several key tax provisions
Posted on Jun 1, 2021 in State and Local Tax
On Memorial Day, and stretching into the early hours of June 1, the Illinois Legislature approved the state’s $42 billion budget for fiscal year 2022. It is anticipated that the budget’s tax provisions are expected to generate more than $600 million in additional revenue by addressing what governor J.B. Pritzker and others in the General Assembly have deemed corporate tax “loopholes.”...
Georgia Governor Signs Taxpayer Fairness Act Limiting Administrative Deference in Georgia Tax Controversies
Posted on Apr 30, 2021 in State and Local Tax
On April 29, 2021, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp signed SB 185, limiting the application of administrative deference in Georgia tax controversies. This law seeks to level the playing field in state tax litigation matters by reducing the level of deference accorded to the Department of Revenue’s interpretations of ambiguous laws. The law provides that “all questions of law decided by a...
Tax on Broadband Service Providers is New York’s Newest Bad Idea
Posted on Dec 11, 2020 in State and Local Tax
Companion bills recently introduced in New York State (A. 11180 and S. 9112) would impose a temporary tax on businesses that provide broadband internet access service. Revenues generated from the tax would be earmarked to fund the provision of broadband internet access services to students in the state during the COVID-19 pandemic. The tax proposal would assess an “annual charge”...
Something to Keep an Eye On: Texas Comptroller Says Web-Based Services for Eye Doctors Is Taxable Data Processing
Posted on Oct 6, 2020 in State and Local Tax
The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts issued a private letter ruling concluding that several services provided to optometrists and ophthalmologists were subject to sales tax as data processing. Specifically, the Comptroller determined that the taxpayer’s web-based software system, which doctors use to manage patient relationships, schedule appointments, refill prescriptions,...
Mississippi DOR issues marketplace facilitator guidance for food delivery
Posted on Sep 22, 2020 in State and Local Tax
Mississippi Notice 72-20-09 provides additional guidance on Mississippi’s marketplace facilitator law, which took effect on July 1, 2020. The Notice explains that a sale facilitated and delivered by a third-party food delivery service is not a “retail sale” by the facilitator. Rather, the restaurant will charge sales tax on the selling price it charged for the food. But if a...
Washington Court Games the Sales Tax Trade-In Exclusion
Posted on Jun 21, 2019 in State and Local Tax
The Washington Court of Appeals upheld the Washington Department of Revenue’s denial of a sales tax exclusion for trade-ins of software and hardware. GameStop provides customers with a trade-in credit for software and hardware and allows customers to apply these credits towards future purchases of software and hardware. The Department denied GameStop’s exclusion for two reasons: the...
Georgia Bill Proposes Changes to Sales and Use Tax Reporting and Collection Rules
Posted on Feb 15, 2019 in State and Local Tax
On February 14, 2019, the Georgia House Ways and Means Committee voted in favor of House Bill 182. Effective for January 1, 2020, the bill would amend O.C.G.A. § 48-8-2(8)(M.1) to lower the sales threshold on the requirement to collect or report sales and use tax from $250,000 to $100,000 and would repeal subsection (c.2) of O.C.G.A. § 48-8-30 in its entirety to eliminate the option to...
Podcast: New Jersey apportionment of GILTI
Posted on Feb 6, 2019 in State and Local Tax
In this podcast, our state tax team discusses New Jersey guidance regarding the apportionment treatment of GILTI income.
New Jersey Tax Court Rejects Alternative Apportionment Formula
Posted on Feb 1, 2019 in State and Local Tax
The New Jersey Tax Court rejected the Division of Taxation’s application of a five-factor alternative apportionment formula as invalid rulemaking under New Jersey’s Administrative Procedures Act (APA). The Tax Court previously determined that an application of the statutory apportionment formula in effect prior to 2011 for companies without a “regular place of business” outside New...
Indiana Supreme Court Cites Business Purpose Requirement in Holding RV Dealership Liable for Uncollected Sales Tax
Posted on Jan 31, 2019 in State and Local Tax
On December 5, 2018, the Indiana Supreme Court in a 3-2 split decision held that an RV dealership was liable for uncollected sales tax on RV sales even though it delivered the RVs to buyers at out-of-state locations. The RV dealership’s protocol for transferring possession of its RVs to customers depended on the customer’s state of residence. Customers from Indiana—or from one of the...
Massachusetts ATB Finds that Indiana Utility Receipts Tax Not a Deductible Transaction Tax for Massachusetts Corporate Excise Tax
Posted on Jan 30, 2019 in State and Local Tax
The Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board disallowed a deduction for Indiana utility receipts tax (URT) paid by a natural gas distribution operator with operations in Indiana. The deduction for the URT was disallowed, for purposes of computing Massachusetts net income for corporate excise tax, because the URT is not a deductible “transaction tax.” The Board found that while the URT may...
It’s Not the Eggnog – New Jersey Proposes to Specially Allocate GILTI Based on GDP
Posted on Dec 24, 2018 in Presentations, State and Local Tax
On December 21, the New Jersey Division of Taxation released Technical Bulletin TB-85, which addresses how the Division will expect taxpayers to calculate the amount of so-called global intangible low-taxed income (GILTI) and foreign derived intangible income (FDII) that are taxable for New Jersey corporation business tax (CBT) purposes. Background: GILTI and FDII under Federal Tax Law...