Digital Economy

Subscribe to Digital Economy via RSS

The Missouri Department of Revenue released a private letter ruling issued in December 2021 determining that a company’s private wireless network was not subject to Missouri sales tax. The company provides wireless services in Missouri, including voice, messaging, Internet access and private network services. The private network services provide machine-to-machine data transmission, which is segregated…

The Minnesota Department of Revenue has released updated guidance regarding the state’s requirement that out-of-state marketplace providers collect and remit Minnesota sales tax if their total sales (including facilitated sales) over the prior 12-month period total either 200 or more retail sales shipped to Minnesota, or more than $100,000 in retail sales shipped to Minnesota.…

The Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board found that software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider Akamai Technologies Inc. was a manufacturing corporation, rather than a service provider. Akamai, headquartered in Massachusetts, provided software-based cloud services allowing customers to manage the delivery of web and media content over the Internet. In Massachusetts, a manufacturing corporation must use single sales factor apportionment,…

An Alabama legislator has re-introduced a bill that would expressly exempt “virtual currency” from ad valorem tax. Alabama broadly imposes its ad valorem tax on all property, unless expressly exempt. Under current law, several other forms of currency are enumerated as exempt, such as “money on deposit in any bank or banking institution and all…

The New York Division of Tax Appeals determined that a multilevel marketing company’s provision of access to its web-based software that contains confidential and proprietary information and reports for use in developing business was neither the taxable sale of prewritten computer software, nor the sale of a taxable information service. The company, a multilevel marketing…

The Indiana Department of Revenue issued a protest ruling that an auto parts manufacturer was entitled to a refund on certain software service purchases for the 2017, 2018, and 2019 years. The taxpayer licensed software through a remote platform into which taxpayer loaded its own data for education services, cloud services, and manufacturing support services.…

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court’s ruling that online travel companies (OTCs) did not owe local sales and occupancy taxes on the fees charged by the OTCs to their customers for facilitating the customers’ online reservations with hotels located in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana nor were responsible for remitting the taxes collected…

The New York Division of Tax Appeals determined that an online loan marketplace was not a taxable information service. The taxpayer operates an online loan marketplace where it connects and matches prospective borrowers seeking loans (and other credit-based products) with lenders that are seeking qualified borrowers. The taxpayer generated revenue through agreements with each lender…

The Minnesota Department of Revenue updated its fact sheet relating to calculating sales tax for certain discounts, including online deals and cryptocurrency. Specifically, for “Daily Deal Website Vouchers and Coupons,” the fact sheet states that the purchase of the discount voucher is not taxable, but once redeemed, the retailer should charge tax on the amount…

In November 2021, the Wisconsin Department of Revenue published its updated Publication 240 regarding the taxability of digital goods. Among other updates, the publication clarifies that taxable “other news or information products” are those products that “disseminate news or information,” for example charges for access to online databases or websites where the payer may perform…