Meet April! This sweet lady belongs to Mark Coffeen, Director of U.S. Federal Taxes at Lear.

April is the perfect mix of Border Collie and Springer Spaniel, and joined the Coffeen family in 2011. According to Mark and his wife, Nancy, it was love at first sight at a local humane society. His son, Chris, dubbed her April so she could match their other shelter pet at the time, May.

Since her daily food isn’t too tasty, she loves to go for a ride to Mark’s local frozen custard stand for a delicious “pup cup” – a small serving of vanilla frozen custard with a dog treat! When she isn’t devouring her sweet treat, she loves to go on walks with her family or spend time on the couch watching TV. While she may be a furry friend, she becomes animated when there are other dogs on the screen!

She’s occasionally visited by her best dog friend, Rocco, for play time while she’s outside, but don’t let that fool you – she has no time for dog toys. She also prefers you rub her belly, please.

Her only bad habit is that she’s afraid of storms, and as a result, she likes to stretch out in Mark’s bed. She knows the basic commands such as sit, stay, down and wait. One of her unique features is that in addition to barking, she almost “talks” sometimes and can be lovably sassy!

 

We’re pleased to feature April this month!

The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts recently released guidance explaining the application of Texas sales and use tax to online sales. In particular, online buyers must pay sales and use tax on taxable items delivered or brought into Texas. Remote sellers required to collect tax can do so based on either the shipping destination rate or the 1.75% single local use tax rate. For marketplace providers required to collect and remit sales and use tax, the local tax rate is based on the shipping destination.

On December 18th, the three-member Board of the Franchise Tax Board (FTB) will hold its final quarterly meeting of 2020.  At the meeting, the Board will consider the 2021 Rulemaking Calendar.  The Calendar contains the agency’s schedules for its administrative rulemaking processes on various regulation projects.  Two significant corporate franchise tax regulation projects on the Calendar include amendments to California’s market-based sourcing regulation, FTB Regulation 25136-2 and California’s alternative apportionment regulation, FTB Regulation 25137.

FTB’s 25136-2 regulation project aims to provide more clarity and detail surrounding the state’s market-based sourcing regime for sales of services and intangibles.  The most recent iteration of the proposed regulation provides additional guidance around terms used in the regulation and provides new sourcing rules for specific industries. The draft language also includes new presumptions for sourcing sales of services to business and government entity customers based on the type of services performed.  For a more detailed discussion of the 25136-2 regulation project, please see our previous post: How Does California Source Sales of Services and Intangibles for Apportionment Purposes?

The 25136-2 regulation project has been ongoing since 2017 and FTB has held five interested parties meetings to obtain public comment on different iterations of the proposed amendments.  Those meetings were contentious at times as FTB’s proposed changes have raised significant questions on both substantive and procedural issues, including the effective date of the final regulation. The proposed 2021 Rulemaking Calendar provides that this regulation project will be completed by spring 2021 and that the regulation will be finalized by fall 2021.

Next, FTB’s 25137 regulation project is intended to provide guidance on the state’s process for petitioning the Board to use an alternative apportionment formula.  The latest iteration of the proposed regulation provides guidance on how taxpayers can preserve their rights and privacy during the alternative apportionment petition process.  For a more detailed look at the 25137 regulation project, please see our previous post: The Long Road to Clarity: FTB Holds Latest Meeting in Multiyear Project to Clarify Alternative Apportionment Petition Process.

This regulation project also has been ongoing since 2017 and FTB has held a total of four interested parties meetings on the proposed amendments.  The proposed Rulemaking Calendar provides that this regulation project will be completed in late spring 2021 and that the regulation will be finalized by late 2021.

The Board meeting is open to the public and will be hosted virtually.  Information on how to attend the meeting is available here, and interested parties have the opportunity to make comments at the meeting.  Please contact the Eversheds Sutherland SALT team if you have questions or concerns about these draft regulations or the meeting process.

On December 1, 2020, the Tennessee Department of Revenue announced that the filing and threshold requirements for marketplace facilitators and sellers established in Senate Bill No. 2932 – effective October 1, 2020 – do not apply for purposes of the business tax or franchise and excise tax. Rather, the bill’s nexus requirements apply to only the sales and use taxes.

Calling all trivia fans! Don’t miss out on a chance to show off your SALT knowledge!

We will award prizes for the smartest (and fastest) participants.

This Week’s Question: What Oregon County increased income taxes this year to fund a universal pre-K program?

E-mail your response to SALTonline@eversheds-sutherland.com.

The prize for the first response to today’s question is a $20 UBER Eats gift card.

Answers will be posted on Saturdays in our SALT Weekly Digest. Be sure to check back then!

On December 9, Eversheds Sutherland SALT lawyers will present a “SALT Survival Guide” as part of the TEI New York Chapter’s 57th Annual Tax Symposium, held virtually this year.

Presentation topics include:

For more information about the symposium or to register, click here.

Washington lawmakers may soon begin debate on a digital advertising tax, prompted by a draft copy of a yet-to-be-filed bill. Washington currently applies its business and occupation tax to digital advertising services under the service and other activities classification (1.5%). This bill would instead subject digital advertising services to the business and occupation tax retailing classification (0.471%) and sales tax (6.5% state rate plus local tax) as a digital automated service. Borrowing from current B&O tax language, the bill defines “digital advertising services” to include online referrals, search engine marketing and lead generation optimization, web campaign planning, the acquisition of advertising space in the internet media, and the monitoring and evaluation of website traffic for purposes of determining the effectiveness of an advertising campaign and excludes web hosting services and domain name registration.

Legislative committees are meeting to discuss new business during the week of November 30, and Washington’s legislature will convene its 2021 session on January 11.

Calling all trivia fans! Don’t miss out on a chance to show off your SALT knowledge!

We will award prizes for the smartest (and fastest) participants.

This Week’s Question: Which state recently issued guidance resolving a “trapped dividend exclusion” problem?

E-mail your response to SALTonline@eversheds-sutherland.com.

The prize for the first response to today’s question is a $20 UBER Eats gift card.

Answers will be posted on Saturdays in our SALT Weekly Digest. Be sure to check back then!

In this episode of the SALT Shaker Podcast, host Chris Lee discusses recent sales tax rulings from Colorado (PLR-20-2008) and Missouri (Ltr Rul 8095) and an ALJ income tax nexus decision from New York City (In the Matter of Mars Holding Inc.).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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The Wisconsin Department of Revenue has published a guidance document on the taxation of traditional and remote learning materials. Live in-person and digital online educational services are generally a non-taxable educational service. The guidance provides that the sale of a pre-recorded webinar is generally taxable as the sale of personal property, although it may be exempt from taxation if the webinar is incidental to a non-taxable educational service. Indicia that a webinar is incidental to an educational service include evaluation by an instructor, the ability of a webinar participant to connect with other participants and presenters, or certification as a continuing-education credit.