On November 8, 2022, Maryland voters approved a constitutional amendment to change the names of Maryland’s appellate courts from the Court of Appeals to the Supreme Court of Maryland and from the Court of Special Appeals to the Appellate Court of Maryland. New York is now the only state to designate its highest court as
D.C. Attorney General alleges gig-economy company misclassifies workers as independent contractors
D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine announced on October 27th that his office filed suit against a delivery service company, claiming that the company’s workers are employees, not independent contractors.[1] The AG argues that the Company’s delivery drivers “bear all the hallmarks of employee status.”[2] This lawsuit follows another tax-related complaint filed by
D.C. Attorney General pursues False Claims Act case in individual income tax matter
On August 31, 2022, the D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine announced that his office was pursuing an action against an individual, Michael Saylor, for allegedly owing individual income tax to the District as a resident under a “fraudulent scheme.” The Attorney General is also pursuing a violation of the False Claims Act related to his
Income tax rate reduction legislation – watch list
In just the first few months of the 2022 tax year, we have already seen several states introduce legislation that would decrease corporate and individual income tax rates. Idaho became the first state to pass such legislation this year, on February 4. The Eversheds Sutherland SALT team expects other states to follow and will provide
Northern exposure: No ambiguity in Alaska reporting
The Alaska Supreme Court found that Alaska’s combined reporting statute requiring taxpayers to include certain foreign affiliates in its income tax return was constitutional. The court rejected the taxpayer’s arguments that Alaska’s tax haven corporation reporting statute was (i) void for vagueness as it violated the Due Process Clause, (ii) discriminated against interstate commerce in
Pro tip: Maryland limits sales taxation of certain digital products
On July 1, 2022, the Maryland Comptroller of the Treasury revised its Business Tax Tip #29, to acknowledge the exclusion of certain business purchases of digital products. In addition, the revised guidance clarifies the taxability of data processing, information, web hosting, and digital advertising services. This is the Comptroller’s third set of revisions to
Booked! Montana Supreme Court finds resort services fee decision is here to stay
The Supreme Court of Montana affirmed a lower court’s determination that a taxpayer was liable for accommodations sales tax on its resort service fees, but did not owe accommodations sales tax for forfeited guest deposits or lodging facilities use tax on its resort service fees. The taxpayer, Boyne USA, Inc. owns and operates Big Sky
Perspectives on a UK online retail sales tax proposal
In this episode of the SALT Shaker Podcast policy series, host and Eversheds Sutherland Partner Nikki Dobay welcomes back SALT Partner Charlie Kearns for a lively conversation with Partner Ben Jones, head of the firm’s London Tax Group.
Ben provides an update on a recent UK proposal, in which the UK is seeking feedback
Maryland releases digital advertising tax payment form
After a long wait, the Maryland Comptroller of the Treasury recently released Maryland Form 600D, Declaration of Estimated Digital Advertising Gross Revenues Tax. The Maryland Digital Advertising Tax went into effect on January 1, 2022. Taxpayers subject to the tax are required under Maryland law to make estimated payments. The first one is due
Tennessee Department of Revenue rules platform is software, implementation and content fees taxable
The Tennessee Department of Revenue ruled recently that an information technology company’s platform product was subject to Tennessee sales and use tax. The platform was used to support a decision-making process.
The platform was hosted on Taxpayer or third-party servers, and users accessed the platform from their employer’s electronic software system. The platform was highly