Read our November 2014 posts on stateandlocaltax.com or read each article by clicking on the title. 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.

• You’re Gonna Have to Do More Than That: Passive Investment in California Limited Liability Company Insufficient to Meet Statutory Nexus Threshold
  A California Superior Court held that passive membership in a limited liability company (LLC) is insufficient to meet California’s statutory “doing business” standard.
• SALT Pet of the Month: Hades
  Meet Hades, the mischievous Husky-Corgi mix belonging to Sutherland SALT’s newest member, Robert Merten III and his wife, Whitney.
• Colorado Colocation Consternation: Department of Revenue Gives General Guidance on Application of Sales and Use Tax to Colocation and Hosting Facility
  The Colorado Department of Revenue issued guidance to a taxpayer operating a colocation and hosting facility, which provided customers a place to securely store computer servers, on whether certain charges imposed by the taxpayer were subject to sales and use tax.
• Sometimes, Breaking Up Isn’t Hard To Do: Florida Grants Taxpayer’s Request for Deconsolidation
  The Florida Department of Revenue permitted a taxpayer to discontinue filing Florida consolidated corporate income tax returns because the taxpayer established that its affiliated group’s business focus had changed significantly since making its election.
• Prove It!: Illinois Cook County Circuit Court Finds That Relator Failed to Meet Burden Under the Illinois False Claims Act
  The Illinois Cook County Circuit Court held that an Illinois law firm (the Relator) that filed a qui tam lawsuit against a taxpayer failed to meet its burden to prove the taxpayer knowingly failed to collect and remit Illinois use tax, as required under the Illinois False Claims Act.
• Southern Stipulation: Tennessee and South Carolina Agree Cloud Collaboration is Taxable Communication
  In what appears to be the latest in a series of conflicting rulings issued to the same company from at least seven other states, Tennessee and South Carolina have rendered their own opinions addressing the application of sales tax to cloud collaboration service.