By Sahang-Hee Hahn and Andrew Appleby

The California Franchise Tax Board amended its regulation governing the sourcing of sales of tangible personal property to reflect California’s statutory shift in 2009 to the Finnigan rule, effective for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2011. As amended, the regulation assigns receipts from sales of tangible personal property delivered or shipped to a purchaser in California to a taxpayer’s California sales factor numerator if the seller, or any member of the seller’s combined reporting group, is taxable in California. In addition, all receipts from sales of tangible personal property delivered to a state other than California are not assigned (thrown back) to the seller’s California sales factor numerator if any member of the seller’s combined reporting group is taxable in the destination state. Prior to California’s 2009 legislative change, California followed the Joyce rule to source the California-destination receipts of an out-of-state taxpayer. Under the Joyce rule, California-destination receipts from sales of goods by a seller that was part of a unitary business were included in the combined filing group’s California sales factor only if the seller was taxable in the state. Title 18, Cal. Code Regs. 25106.5, effective January 1, 2014; Cal. Rev. & Tax. Code § 25135.