Shaking things up in state and local tax
Shaking things up in state and local tax
By Kathryn Pittman and Andrew Appleby
The Virginia Tax Commissioner determined that an ink manufacturer’s purchase of cleaning chemicals did not qualify for the industrial manufacturing exemption from sales and use tax. To avoid color contamination, the taxpayer had to regularly clean the equipment used to produce the ink with special cleaning chemicals. The taxpayer…
By Stephanie Do and Timothy Gustafson
The Texas Comptroller has filed a reply supporting its petition for review to the Texas Supreme Court in Titan Transp., LP v. Combs, 433 S.W.3d 625 (Tex. App. 3rd 2014). The taxpayer in Titan was in the business of hauling, delivering and depositing aggregate at construction sites, providing…
By Todd Betor and Timothy Gustafson
A California Franchise Tax Board (FTB) Chief Counsel Ruling concluded that a taxpayer’s sales of assets pursuant to a plan of reorganization under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code were not “occasional sales” within the meaning of 18 Cal. Code Regs. § 25137(c)(1)(A)2. Instead, the sales of assets…
By Ted Friedman and Timothy Gustafson
The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance issued a Tax Bulletin addressing the application of sales tax to sales of computer software and related services. The Department explained that the sale of prewritten software is taxable, while the sale of custom software is not subject to tax.
By Stephen Burroughs and Pilar Mata
The California Franchise Tax Board (FTB) issued a legal ruling determining that it will attribute the business activities of a multiple-member limited liability company classified as a partnership for tax purposes (LLC) to its members when determining whether such members are “doing business” in California. As a result…
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By Derek Takehara and Andrew Appleby
The Texas Comptroller determined that a semiconductor manufacturer’s purchases of computer software-related services were subject to sales and use tax because the taxpayer failed to prove that such purchases qualified for the multistate benefit exemption. Taxable services performed for use in Texas are generally subject to tax. Because some…
By Stephen Burroughs and Andrew Appleby
Former Chicago Bears linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer and former Indianapolis Colts center Jeff Saturday challenged the City of Cleveland’s application of the “games-played” apportionment method to their football salaries before the Ohio Board of Tax Appeals. During their careers, both players were nonresidents whose respective NFL teams traveled to the…
By Mary Alexander and Timothy Gustafson
The Colorado Department of Revenue determined that a mail-order seller was required to collect state and local sales tax on orders shipped to localities where it had established nexus and state use tax (and any applicable special district use tax) on all other sales shipped to customers in Colorado.
The Alaska Supreme Court held that a foreign member of a water’s edge unitary group must include its foreign dividend income in the Alaska apportionable tax base, regardless of whether the income is “effectively connected income” (ECI) for federal income tax purposes. Alaska law incorporates the Internal Revenue Code, including the ECI…
