Shaking things up in state and local tax
Shaking things up in state and local tax
Click here to read our April 2014 posts or read each article by clicking on the title. A printable PDF is also available here. To read our commentary on the latest state and local tax developments as they are published, be sure to download the Sutherland SALT Shaker mobile app.
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By Derek Takehara and Andrew Appleby
The Virginia Tax Commissioner issued a taxpayer-favorable ruling addressing Virginia sales and use tax on (1) computer software sold to manufacturers and (2) cloud computing services. The Commissioner determined that Virginia’s manufacturing exemption can apply to sales of computer software if the software is used directly in the manufacturer’s…
By Kathryn Pittman and Timothy Gustafson
The Oklahoma Supreme Court held Oklahoma’s deduction for capital gains arising from the sale of a company headquartered in the state for three or more years does not violate the dormant commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution. The taxpayer, a California company with its headquarters in Florida, sold…
By Jessica Kerner and Pilar Mata
The Michigan Court of Claims held that cloud computing, or software as a service (SaaS), is a nontaxable service rather than a taxable use of prewritten software. The taxpayer, an insurance company, entered into various transactions that provided the taxpayer with remote access to third parties’ software. The Michigan…
By Zachary Atkins and Pilar Mata
A California Court of Appeal held that a mobile telecommunications service provider could pursue refund actions against local taxing authorities in California without first having to refund the disputed taxes to its customers. Pursuant to a settlement agreement, New Cingular, the provider, filed refund claims against 132 California cities…
By Christopher Chang and Pilar Mata
The New Jersey appeals court ruled that BIS LP, Inc. (BIS) was entitled to receive a New Jersey Corporation Business Tax (CBT) refund in the ongoing BIS litigation saga. In 2011, BIS, an out-of-state limited corporate partner, prevailed before the appeals court, securing a decision that found BIS lacked…
By Jonathan Maddison and Andrew Appleby
The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania held that tax records detailing yearly totals of room rental tax and other occupancy data submitted by hotel taxpayers to a locality were not subject to disclosure under Pennsylvania’s Right-to-Know Law (RTKL). A newspaper, under the RTKL, requested that Lancaster County provide detailed tax…
By Nicole Boutros and Timothy Gustafson
A New York State Division of Tax Appeals Administrative Law Judge (“ALJ”) upheld the denial of corporation franchise tax refund claims, determining the taxpayers were not engaged in a unitary business. The taxpayers and their subsidiaries (“Group”) provided services in what the ALJ found were “similar and related lines…
By Ted Friedman and Timothy Gustafson
The Supreme Court of Missouri reversed and remanded a decision of the Administrative Hearing Commission (see our coverage of the Commission’s January 28, 2013 decision here) and held that income from a “rabbi trust”—a trust established by a corporation to fund a nonqualified deferred compensation plan for company…
By Zachary Atkins and Andrew Appleby
A New York appellate court held that the Department of Taxation and Finance could not retroactively apply a 2010 amendment to the Tax Law to a transaction entered into by a Florida couple nearly four years earlier. The nonresident taxpayers sold their stock in an S-corporation to a third…
