Three’s company! Say hello to our December SALT Pets of the Month – Arthur Pendragon, DustyAnn and Boon. These furry friends belong to Betsy Vancura, Tax Accountant at Home Depot. Betsy is passionate about rescue animals, and this trio is just half of the fur babies who make her house a home.

Arthur Pendragon, the “A”-mazing black shorthair cat, is one of five rescue kittens born in Betsy’s dining room in 2021. When Arthur and his siblings were born, he was the first one they picked up, and they gave him the letter “A.” His favorite treat is a small, boiled shrimp, which he receives every morning. He also enjoys getting his hair brushed and laying on his back, prepared for pets.

DustyAnn, another one of Betsy’s rescue kittens born in 2021, gets her name from her beautiful “dusty” grey coat. While she doesn’t have a favorite treat, she enjoys cozying up in blankets and a good grooming session, like her brother.

The last of this terrier-ific trio is Boon, a seven-year-old Scottish Terrier. Betsy has had him since he was just a pup, and is grateful to continue the tradition of having Scotties in the family. While he isn’t food motivated, he loves to go for a ride or a walk around the block. Watch out for some of his hidden toys under blankets – his own game of doggie hide-and-seek!

We’re so excited to welcome these three to the SALT Pet of the Month family!

Arthur Pendragon
DustyAnn
Boon

The federal check-the-box entity classification rules allow certain entities to change their default classification. Unsurprisingly, not every state conforms to the federal check-the-box (CTB) election for state tax purposes. There are numerous implications resulting from state nonconformity to the CTB election rules. In this installment of A Pinch of SALT in Tax Notes State, Eversheds Sutherland attorneys Liz Cha, Maria Todorova and Chelsea Marmor review recent cases that highlight some of these implications.

Read the full article here.

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 legislature recently approved legislation that would allow the state’s revenue and justice departments to share taxpayer information under certain circumstances?

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

The prize for the first response to today’s question is a $25 UBER Eats gift card. This week’s answer will be posted on Saturday in our SALT Shaker Weekly Digest. Be sure to check back then!

On December 5, Eversheds Sutherland is a proud sponsor of the TEI Silicon Valley Chapter SALT day, a comprehensive SALT update covering a wide range of topics including the latest legislation, litigation and administrative developments.

Speakers and topics include:

  • Michele Borens, Jeff Friedman, Eric Tresh – 2023 Litigation and Legislative Roundup
  • Michele Borens, John Ormonde – San Francisco’s Troubled Tax System: Where We Are and Where We’re Going
  • Jeff Friedman, Eric Tresh – Transfer Pricing and Intercompany Transactions
  • Jeff Friedman, Tim Gustafson – Income Tax is Cooler
  • Michele Borens, Eric Tresh – No, Sales Tax Is Cooler

In addition, Eversheds Sutherland Partners Michele Borens, Jeff Friedman and Ted Friedman will present at COST’s Pacific Northwest Regional State Tax Seminar on December 6. The seminar will provide an update on significant state tax issues for California, the Pacific Northwest states and certain other significant states around the country.

Speakers and topics include:

  • Michele Borens, Jeff Friedman, Ted Friedman – Discussion of State Tax Cases, Issues & Policy Matters to Watch
  • Michele Borens, Jeff Friedman, Ted Friedman – Transfer Pricing and Intercompany Transactions

Finally, on December 6, Eversheds Sutherland Partner Todd Betor will present during the TEI New York Chapter’s 60th Annual Tax Symposium. During the full-day program, Todd’s panel will review where we are for SALT in 2023 and where we’re going in 2024. For more information and to register, click here.

View and learn more about past and upcoming events and presentations for the SALT team.

In this episode of the SALT Shaker Podcast, Federal Tax Partner Mary Monahan joins Associate Jeremy Gove for a discussion of Moore v. United States. 

Ahead of the oral argument scheduled for December 5, Mary provides Jeremy with a federal tax perspective about the case, including covering the case’s background, the tax constitutionality issue before the Supreme Court, the legal arguments presented and more. 

Their discussion concludes with a timely overrated/underrated question, likely debated by many last week – what are your thoughts on Thanksgiving turkey?

You can read the Eversheds Sutherland Tax team’s Legal Alert about Moore at this link.

Questions or comments? Email SALTonline@eversheds-sutherland.com. You can also subscribe to receive our regular updates hosted on the SALT Shaker blog.

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On July 13, 2023, the Pennsylvania Board of Finance and Revenue (“BF&R”) denied a pharmaceuticals developer’s corporate net income tax refund claim based on adjustments to its apportionment formula and taxable income. The taxpayer filed, and the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue denied, a refund claim for the 2019 tax year on three grounds: (1) the reduction of the sales factor numerator to the amount of receipts from product consumed in Pennsylvania (i.e., excluding sales to distributors in Pennsylvania that were subsequently shipped outside of the state); (2) the exclusion from taxable income and its sales factor numerator of its royalties, management fees, and research and development cost share relating to activities outside of the United States; and (3) the use of a three-factor formula – rather than single sales factor – because it was a manufacturer relying extensively on capital and labor.

The BF&R denied all three of the bases for the taxpayer’s refund claim. First, the BF&R found that products delivered to distributors in Pennsylvania were correctly included in the sales factor numerator because the taxpayer had sold its goods to Pennsylvania distributor customers and delivered the goods in Pennsylvania. The BF&R refused to look through to the distributors’ customers’ sales to calculate the taxpayer’s sales factor. Second, the BF&R denied the taxpayer’s “request for multiform income treatment” because of the “lack of sufficient evidence proving entitlement to such treatment.” Third, the BF&R denied the taxpayer’s request for special apportionment because it had “not shown that the standard apportionment methods did not fairly represent the extent of its business activity within Pennsylvania.”

In re Gilead Sciences, Inc., Dec. No. 2224811 (Pa. Bd. Fin. & Rev. Jul. 13, 2023).

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: The Maine Supreme Judicial Court recently held that an owner of property valued at more than $1 million can appeal an abatement denial to the local county commissioners or to which state administrative body?

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

The prize for the first response to today’s question is a $25 UBER Eats gift card. This week’s answer will be posted on Saturday in our SALT Shaker Weekly Digest. Be sure to check back then!

On Wednesday, December 6, Eversheds Sutherland Partner Todd Betor will present during the TEI New York Chapter’s 60th Annual Tax Symposium. During the full-day program, Todd’s panel will review where we are for SALT in 2023 and where we’re going in 2024. For more information and to register, click here.

View and learn more about past and upcoming events and presentations for the SALT team.

The Washington Court of Appeals affirmed a Board of Tax Appeals decision that found an out-of-state bank had a sufficient physical presence in the state to be subject to Washington’s Business & Occupation (B&O) tax. The bank did not have any employees or property in Washington, but issued credit cards, including private label credits cards, to customers in Washington. The Court of Appeals concluded that the bank had a physical presence in Washington because in-state retailers promoted the bank’s private label credit cards, accepted card applications and payments on the cards on the bank’s behalf, and the bank used Washington attorneys to file collection-related lawsuits against Washington residents.

The court also rejected the bank’s argument that even if it was subject to the B&O tax, no income could be apportioned to Washington because the bank did not engage in business activities in the state. The Court of Appeals stated that the ordinary meaning of the term “business activities” in the context of a credit card issuer included issuing credit cards in Washington and earning substantial income from those cards, and that the bank engaged in those activities in the state. Thus, the Court found that apportioning the bank’s income to Washington based on the billing address of Washington cardholders fairly represented the bank’s business activity in the state.

Citibank (South Dakota) National Association v. Dep’t of Revenue, No. 57127-7-II (Wash. Ct. App. Nov. 14, 2023).

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’s Department of Revenue recently issued guidance regarding the recently-enacted 4% surtax on individual income that exceeds $1 million?

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

The prize for the first response to today’s question is a $25 UBER Eats gift card. This week’s answer will be posted on Saturday in our SALT Shaker Weekly Digest. Be sure to check back then!