This week, SALT Partners Michele Borens, Jeff Friedman and Ted Friedman look forward to joining the speaker lineup of COST’s Pacific Northwest Regional State Tax Seminar in Redmond, WA.

Their panels will cover tax cases, issues and policy matters to watch, as well as an update on the taxation of digital goods and services.

Learn more and register here.

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

We will award a prize for the smartest (and fastest) participant.

This week’s question: Which state’s governor is weighing a special session to accelerate cuts to personal income tax rates?

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 included in our SALT Shaker Weekly Digest, distributed on Saturday. Be sure to check back then!

This is the third edition of the Eversheds Sutherland SALT Scoreboard for 2025. Since 2016, we have tallied the results of significant taxpayer wins and losses and analyzed those results.

This edition includes developments in state and local False Claims Acts, corporate income tax apportionment, and manufacturing exemptions. We also spotlight a couple of recent decisions on digital taxation.

Dive into the Eversheds Sutherland SALT Scoreboard for the third quarter of 2025 now!

In this installment of Across State Lines in Tax Notes State, Eversheds Sutherland Senior Counsel Eric Coffill interviews Shane Hofeling, now chief counsel of the California Franchise Tax Board’s Technical Resources Bureau.

In their conversation, Shane shares insights on his vision for the Legal Division, the evolving role of artificial intelligence at the FTB, collaboration between Legal and Audit, the impact of federal changes on state tax administration, and ongoing efforts to improve transparency, customer service and operational efficiency within California’s Franchise Tax Board.

Read the full article here.

In this episode of the SALT Shaker Podcast, SALT Counsel Jeremy Gove and Chelsea Marmor dive into the nuanced world of state and local tax penalties.

They explore why penalty abatement standards, such as “reasonable cause” and “ordinary care,” remain ambiguous despite the frequent appearance of penalties in tax assessments. With limited statutory and case law guidance, these standards often leave taxpayers navigating uncertainty.

Their discussion highlights:

  • New York’s penalty framework and how it compares to other states
  • Practical defenses for abating penalties, including their self-coined “reliance plus” standard
  • The importance of contemporaneous documentation in supporting taxpayer positions

Ultimately, Jeremy and Chelsea underscore the highly technical and interpretive nature of penalty imposition and abatement. For a deeper dive into this topic, read their article in Tax Notes State.

This week’s overrated/underrated segment takes a seasonal turn: Is turkey really the star of Thanksgiving?

For questions or comments, email SALTonline@eversheds-sutherland.com. Subscribe to receive regular updates hosted on the SALT Shaker blog.

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The Washington Board of Tax Appeals upheld the Department’s determination that certain fees and credits related to mortgage sales to government-sponsored enterprises are included in the lender’s gross income for B&O tax purposes. Specifically, the Board concluded that guaranty fees and loan-level price adjustment fees are part of the lender’s cost of doing business and cannot be deducted because they are required payments to participate in a mortgage-backed securities program.

On the other hand, the Board reversed the Department’s determination on lender credits (amounts paid toward borrower closing costs in exchange for higher interest rates. These credits were deemed part of the lender’s capital investment in the loan and therefore excluded from gross income.

The matter was remanded for recalculation of tax due based on these findings.

Guild Mortgage Co. v. Wash. Dep’t of Revenue, Docket No. 20-122 (Wash. Bd. of Tax Appeals Aug. 29, 2025).

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

We will award a prize for the smartest (and fastest) participant.

This week’s question: Which Virginia city will begin levying a $0.05 disposable bag tax beginning January 1, 2026?

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 included in our SALT Shaker Weekly Digest, distributed on Saturday. Be sure to check back then!

On October 24, 2025, the Tennessee Department of Revenue ruled that subscription fees for a mobile heart-health app were subject to sales and use tax. The taxpayer charged an annual flat per-user subscription fee to clients who make subscription offerings available as part of medical benefits to their employees and employees’ dependents. For the subscription fee, the taxpayer granted its clients (and the users) software licenses for access to the app, which tracked their blood pressure and activity.

Since 2015, remotely accessed computer software is subject to sales tax in Tennessee. However, sales tax does not apply to “information or data processing services,” nor subscriptions to data processing and information services, where the true object of the transaction is the processed data or information. Here, the Department ruled that the true object of the transaction was the sale of software rather than data processing services. The Department reasoned that tracking biometric data like blood pressure and other activity performed by the software in the app is not “data processing” because it was not converting raw data into a readable form that is processed by a computer.  Thus, the Department found that the subscription fees were taxable.

Tenn. Dep’t of Rev. Ltr. Rul. 25-08 (Oct. 24, 2025).

SALT Partner Jeff Friedman is pleased to speak at the 2025 NCSL Fiscal Institute Symposium, which brings together legislative fiscal leaders from across the country for an interactive program. During the program, Jeff will join the Tax Appeals panel.

In addition, SALT Partner Todd Betor is looking forward to speaking at the TEI New York Chapter’s 62nd Annual Symposium. During the full-day program, Todd will examine how the One Big Beautiful Bill Act is influencing the application of key federal, state and local corporate tax provisions, including:

  • Section 174 & new Section 174A – Research & Experimental (R&E) costs
  • Section 163(j) – Business interest expense limitation
  • Section 168(k) – Bonus depreciation

Find out more about this year’s event and register here.

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

We will award a prize for the smartest (and fastest) participant.

This week’s question: Last week, Seattle voters overwhelmingly approved changes to which city-imposed tax?

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 included in our SALT Shaker Weekly Digest, distributed on Saturday. Be sure to check back then!