January 2014

By David Pope and Timothy Gustafson

The New Jersey Tax Court drafted a letter to the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division, to amplify the Tax Court’s August 9, 2013, taxpayer-favorable decision applying New Jersey’s “Throw-Out Rule” in Lorillard Licensing Co. LLC v. Division of Taxation, Docket No. A-2033-13T1. In Lorillard, the…

By Zachary Atkins and Prentiss Willson

The Missouri Department of Revenue issued a letter ruling in which it determined that the sale or rental of streaming video content is not subject to Missouri sales or use tax. The service in question allowed customers to purchase or rent video content and to stream the content through…

By David Pope and Andrew Appleby

The Indiana Department of Revenue determined that storage of advertising catalogs in Indiana, for a taxpayer’s out-of-state clients, did not create corporate income tax nexus for such clients. The taxpayer, located in Indiana, stored and distributed catalogs for its clients. Indiana does not define “doing business” statutorily, but the…

By Madison Barnett and Timothy Gustafson

In the first appellate decision arising from a Texas Margin Tax audit, the Texas Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the taxpayer, holding that a combined group’s eligibility for the cost of goods sold (COGS) deduction is determined on a group-wide rather than a separate-entity basis. The Comptroller…

By Zachary Atkins and Andrew Appleby

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that treating a merger between two in-state banks differently than a merger between an in-state bank and an out-of-state bank did not violate the Uniformity Clause of the Pennsylvania Constitution. If two in-state banks merged, Pennsylvania law formerly required the combination of the banks&rsquo…

By Derek Takehara and Andrew Appleby

The Oklahoma Tax Commission issued three Letter Rulings addressing the digital economy. First, the Commission ruled that receipts from sales of digital photos, videos and designs delivered via the Internet are not subject to sales tax when no tangible item is conveyed. The Commission also ruled that charges for…