Noteworthy Cases

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By Zack Atkins and Timothy Gustafson

The Oregon Tax Court held that the Multistate Tax Compact (Compact), which allows for an equally weighted, three-factor apportionment formula, was an illusory contract and its terms had been effectively disabled by the Oregon Legislature. The statute in question, ORS 314.606, provides that in case of conflict the provisions…

By Charles Capouet and Timothy Gustafson

The Oregon Supreme Court held that an out-of-state taxpayer providing voice and data telecommunications services over a global network was required to use a transactional approach to source sales of other than tangible personal property for Oregon sales factor purposes under Oregon’s costs of performance method. Sales are sourced…

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court vacated the decision of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court in First Marblehead Corp. v. Commissioner of Revenue and remanded the case back to the court for reconsideration in light of the holding in Comptroller of the Treasury v. Wynne. In First Marblehead, a taxpayer was denied the ability…

By Mike Kerman and Andrew Appleby

The Tennessee Supreme Court held that the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance (Department) improperly imposed retaliatory taxes on Pennsylvania-domiciled insurance companies doing business in Tennessee, because Pennsylvania workers’ compensation assessments were not imposed on Tennessee insurance companies, but rather on the insurance companies’ policyholders. Tennessee Code § 56-4-218…

In a significant rebuff of the California State Board of Equalization (BOE), the California Second District Court of Appeal held that a manufacturer’s sale of software on tangible media was exempt from sales tax under the technology transfer agreement (TTA) statutes. Lucent Technologies, Inc. v. State Bd. of Equalization, No. B257808, 2015 WL 5862533.

By Olga Goldberg and Amy Nogid

The Wyoming State Board of Equalization held that telecommunications equipment shipped to and temporarily stored in Wyoming by a purchaser before being transported by the purchaser for installation in Montana by the manufacturer was not subject to the state’s use tax. Range Telephone Cooperative, Inc. (Range), a Wyoming-based telephone…

By Evan Hamme and Charlie Kearns

A New York State Division of Tax Appeals Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) determined that two-way radio communications services, or walkie-talkie services, are not telephone services subject to New York State’s telecommunications excise tax imposed under Tax Law § 186-e (186-e Tax). The petitioner uses specialized equipment or “repeaters” to…

By Chris Mehrmann and Charlie Kearns

The Montana Supreme Court held that online travel companies (OTCs) – including Priceline, Expedia, Orbitz and others – are subject to the state’s sales taxes on accommodations, campgrounds and rental vehicles, but are not subject to the state’s lodging facility use tax. The court held that the reservation fees…

Direct Marketing Association continued its fight against Colorado’s use tax reporting regime during oral arguments today before the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. After getting sidetracked with a jurisdictional question that proceeded to the U.S. Supreme Court, DMA returned to the Tenth Circuit and urged it to affirm the decision of…