Digital Economy

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Last year, the Texas Comptroller proposed a regulation that affects how local sales tax is allocated for online sales, to become effective October 1, 2021. While Texas generally uses origin-based sourcing, under the new rule, online sales will generally be sourced to the destination of the sale. Local governments protested these amendments, arguing that…

The Indiana Department of State Revenue recently published Letter of Findings 01-20181612 (dated April 27, 2021), upholding the disallowance of a state research expense credit for the production of two enterprise level software applications. The Department found that the Indiana research expense credit claimed by the taxpayer was based on a similar federal credit, and…

The Arizona Department of Revenue recently released Private Taxpayer Ruling LR 21-003 (dated May 27, 2021), finding that gross income arising from the provision of temporary use of digital information and data is subject to the transaction privilege tax (TPT). The taxpayer is an information and analytics company that provides primarily publically available information and…

Effective July 1, 2021, Kentucky has enacted sales tax and utility gross receipts exemptions for certain transactions involving the commercial mining of cryptocurrency. The Kentucky DOR explained the two recently enacted bills here. HB 230 exempts the sale or purchase of electricity used or consumed in the commercial mining of cryptocurrency from sales tax and…

New Jersey’s 2022 Fiscal Year appropriations bill requires the New Jersey Division of Taxation to conduct a study of the state tax laws in relation to the “digital economy” and make recommendations on gaps in the current law. The Division’s study must “quantify how various taxes have expanded or reduced the economic activity, and State…

On June 30, 2021, Delaware’s Governor signed into law Senate Bill 103, which adds “virtual currency” to the definition of “property” subject to the reporting and remitting requirements of Delaware’s unclaimed property law. “Virtual currency” is “a digital representation of value, including cryptocurrency, used as a medium of exchange, a unit of account, or…

Louisiana codified an individual income tax exemption for “digital nomads.” SB 31 (Effective Jan. 1, 2022). “Digital nomads” are defined as individuals who establish residency in Louisiana after December 31, 2021, have health coverage, and work remotely, full-time for a nonresident business. The exemption applies to 50% of the digital nomad’s gross wages, not to…

On June 23, 2021, Colorado’s Governor signed legislation adding “digital goods” to the statutory definition of “tangible personal property” subject to sales and use tax. HB 21-1312 (Effective July 1, 2021). The bill states that it interprets the definition of “digital goods” consistent with “the department of revenue’s long-standing treatment of digital goods, as reflected…

In an effort to curb the Texas Comptroller’s recent expansion of the tax imposed on data processing services, the Texas legislature has specifically excluded payment processing services from sales and use tax. Texas taxes data processing services, which includes “word processing, data entry, data retrieval, data search, information compilation, payroll and business accounting data production…

On June 17, 2021, the Standing Subcommittee of the Multistate Tax Commission’s (“MTC”) Uniformity Committee discussed a potential new project recommendation for the Uniformity Committee. During the meeting, MTC staff presented a draft memo outlining the pros and cons of creating a uniform model statute for the taxation of digital products. Ultimately, however, the Committee…