Shaking things up in state and local tax
Shaking things up in state and local tax
This is the fourth edition of the Eversheds Sutherland SALT Scoreboard for 2025. For an entire decade, we have tallied the results of what we deem to be significant taxpayer wins and losses and analyzed those results.
This edition includes discussion of exemption certificates and domicile, as well as a spotlight on Washington cases.
Dive …
The Suffolk County Superior Court ruled that the Massachusetts Department of Revenue exceeded its authority by engaging its own licensed site professional (LSP) to re-examine a taxpayer’s environmental hazard remediation efforts for purposes of the state’s environmental cleanup tax credit. The taxpayer acquired contaminated property in 2015 and engaged an LSP-of-record the following year to…
The Virginia Tax Commissioner determined that a taxpayer’s gross receipts from refueling services performed under government contracts at U.S. military installations in a foreign country were properly sourced to its place of performance abroad, concluding that the totality of the circumstances established that the taxpayer had a “definite place of business” at those foreign locations…
The Washington Court of Appeals held that, for purposes of the Business and Occupation (B&O) Tax, a law firm’s gross income from insurance litigation services were properly sourced to the state where litigation occurred. A law firm with offices in Washington and Oregon that provides insurance defense litigation sought a refund of B&O Tax on…
The Washington Court of Appeals held that a Washington-based consulting firm was not entitled to a refund of Washington Business and Occupation (B&O) Tax because the taxpayer failed to show that the benefit of services provided to its client were received outside of Washington.
The taxpayer provided technology information services to a number of software…
The Indiana Tax Court held that the Indiana Board of Tax Review misapplied the law by applying a “per-se” burden-of-proof standard, which deemed the taxpayer to have satisfied its burden of proof merely by offering an appraisal that was prepared by an expert in accordance with generally accepted appraisal principles. The taxpayer, the owner and…
The Missouri Court of Appeals, Eastern District, held that Jefferson City could not proceed with its collection action against Sprint, T-Mobile, US Cellular, AT&T, and Verizon affiliates for delinquent business license taxes. The court held the city lacked standing because, under Missouri law, suits against telecom companies must be brought by a “person” or “corporation,”…
In Guild Mortgage Company v. Washington Department of Revenue, the Washington Board of Tax Appeals considered whether certain fees associated with mortgage sales – guaranty fees, loan-level price adjustments (LLPAs), and lender credits – should be included in the taxpayer’s gross income for purposes of the state’s business and occupation (B&O) tax.
The taxpayer…
This is the third edition of the Eversheds Sutherland SALT Scoreboard for 2025. Since 2016, we have tallied the results of significant taxpayer wins and losses and analyzed those results.
This edition includes developments in state and local False Claims Acts, corporate income tax apportionment, and manufacturing exemptions. We also spotlight a couple of recent…
The Washington Board of Tax Appeals upheld the Department’s determination that certain fees and credits related to mortgage sales to government-sponsored enterprises are included in the lender’s gross income for B&O tax purposes. Specifically, the Board concluded that guaranty fees and loan-level price adjustment fees are part of the lender’s cost of doing business and…
