On May 22, 2020, the Idaho Supreme Court held that the gain realized by a corporate holding company on the sale of its 78.54 percent ownership interest in an LLC was nonbusiness income and therefore not subject to apportionment in Idaho. The LLC was formed in 2003 and manufactured and sold tangible personal property. The
Noteworthy Cases
First Things First: Cincinnati Billboard Tax Does Not Violate First Amendment
On June 18, 2020, the Ohio Court of Appeals held that Cincinnati’s excise tax on the gross receipts generated by billboards does not violate the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. The court found persuasive Clear Channel Outdoor, Inc. v. Director, Department of Finance of Baltimore, 223 A.3d 1050 (Md. Ct. Spec. App.…
Keep the Change – Oregon Federal Court Partially Denies Motion to Dismiss Bottle Deposit Class Action
On June 12, 2020, a federal court partially denied Kroger Co.’s motion to dismiss a putative class action complaint regarding Oregon’s bottle deposit on beverages. The complaint alleged that Kroger had misrepresented the cost of certain beverages by charging a ten-cent bottle deposit for beverages that were exempt from the bottle deposit and failing to…
Alabama Tax Tribunal Held that Payments to An Affiliate for Employee Services Not Included in Payroll Factor
The Alabama Tax Tribunal held that a taxpayer’s payments to an affiliated entity for employee services were not included in the payroll factor of the apportionment formula for business-income tax purposes because the payments were not made directly to the taxpayer’s employees.
During the years at issue, an Alabama regulation stated that only amounts paid…
Read This! South Carolina Court of Appeals Holds Book Club Membership Fees Are Subject to Sales Tax
The South Carolina Court of Appeals affirmed the Administrative Law Court’s holding that proceeds from a book retailer’s sales of book club memberships should have been included in the retailer’s “gross proceeds of sales” and subject to sales tax. The Court of Appeals concluded that South Carolina case law provides that the gross proceeds of…
Maine Takes a Jumbo Slice of Taxpayer’s $3.6 billion Frozen Pizza Business Sale
The Maine Supreme Judicial Court recently held that a taxpayer was not entitled to alternative apportionment for approximately $3 billion in gains earned from the sale of a business unit.
The taxpayer was a food and beverage manufacturer that sold its frozen pizza division in 2010 for $3.6 billion. The taxpayer took the position on…
Cleveland Gets Personal Taxing Nonresident Retiree’s Stock Options
The Ohio Board of Tax Appeals (BTA) affirmed the Cleveland Board of Income Tax Review’s (Board) decision that it properly denied a refund claim of municipal income tax paid on income from stock options that a nonresident was granted while working in the city but exercised after she retired and moved to Florida. Willacy v.
Tennessee Court of Appeals Holds Legal Malpractice Settlement Proceeds are Taxable Business Earnings
The Tennessee Court of Appeals held that a manufacturer’s proceeds from a legal malpractice action are business earnings subject to the Tennessee excise tax. The malpractice action arose when the taxpayer’s attorneys improperly filed a European patent. The damages awarded in settlement of the claim were based on profits the taxpayer would have earned if…
Michigan Supreme Court Rules Service Revenues Must be Sourced to the Location where the Services are Performed for City Income Tax Purposes
The Michigan Supreme Court held that revenue from the performance of services must be sourced to the location where the service provider’s employees performed the work, not where the services were delivered, for purposes of the City of Detroit’s income tax. Detroit imposes an income tax under the Uniform City Income Tax Ordinance (“UCITO”), which…
There’s No Turning Back: New York State Tax Appeals Tribunal Holds Retroactive Application of Statutory Amendments Violates Due Process
The New York State Tax Appeals Tribunal struck down the retroactive application of legislative amendments to a taxpayer who reasonably relied on a precedential decision of the Tribunal that was final and irrevocable at the time the taxpayer sold his shares in an S corporation.
On July 31, 2009, the non-resident taxpayer sold shares in…



