Policy and Legislation

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Even those of us who practice in the state and local tax (SALT) field have been exposed to federal judicial tax doctrines. Many have been applied by state courts in SALT matters and have even been codified by some states. Read about the origins of the following four lesser known doctrines, and learn how these doctrines…

The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance issued two advisory opinions determining that surplus lines insurance companies are subject to uncapped insurance franchise tax instead of premium tax.

  • The Department’s position treats authorized non-life insurance companies differently than unauthorized non-life insurance companies.
  • The Department rejected the insurance companies’ argument that New York’s direct

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By Hanish Patel and Eric Coffill

The Alabama Tax Tribunal held that a taxpayer was entitled to a refund of sales taxes paid on purchases of software that was modified for its exclusive use because it constituted nontaxable custom software. Relying on its regulation, the Alabama Department of Revenue (DOR) denied the refund, stating the…

By Charles Capouet and Todd Lard

The Supreme Court of Texas held that an oil and gas exploration and production company’s purchases of casing, tubing, other well equipment, and associated services were not exempt from sales tax under various processing exemptions. Texas provides multiple exemptions from sales tax for certain tangible personal property related to…

By Douglas Upton and Timothy Gustafson

The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance issued an Advisory Opinion concluding that a retail operator of kiosks selling various prepaid telecommunication plans and additional telecommunication rights for existing plans was subject to New York sales and use tax collection and remittance requirements, but was not subject…

By Andrew Appleby

The New York City Tax Appeals Tribunal reversed an administrative law judge (ALJ) and determined that a health maintenance organization (HMO) was subject to the New York City general corporation tax.

In Aetna, the parties stipulated that all the requirements for combination had been satisfied, so the sole issue was whether…

By Charles Capouet and Madison Barnett

The New York City Tax Appeals Tribunal held that a bank filing a combined New York City bank tax return properly excluded from its combined group a Connecticut investment subsidiary that primarily held mortgage loans secured by non-New York property. Where there are substantial intercorporate transactions among banking corporations…

By Stephen Burroughs and Scott Wright

The Supreme Court of Arkansas recently upheld use tax assessments imposed upon a contractor that purchased and installed equipment used in a water treatment facility expansion. Arkansas exempts from sales and use tax purchases of machinery and equipment used to create or expand a manufacturing or processing facility in…

By Marc Simonetti and Douglas Upton

The Louisiana Supreme Court concluded that limestone purchased for the dual purpose of absorbing sulfur during the generation of electricity and producing ash for sale to third parties was excluded from the definition of a “sale at retail” by application of the “further processing exclusion” under the Louisiana sales…