Policy and Legislation

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In their article for State Tax Notes, Sutherland attorneys Jonathan Feldman, Stephen Burroughs and Timothy Gustafson analyze the Multistate Tax Commission’s Arm’s-Length Adjustment Service (ALAS) program. While most taxpayers instinctively cringe at any new MTC initiative, the ALAS program is a potential positive for corporate taxpayers due to some disturbing trends arising in state…

Georgia Governor Nathan Deal has signed into law several significant tax bills, affecting various Georgia tax matters, including sales and use taxes, property taxes, corporate income taxes and state tax credits, which:

  • Adjust Georgia’s statutory interest rates applicable for both assessments and refunds for all tax types, as well as create new procedural requirements for

…

By Mike Kerman and Amy Nogid

The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts concluded that a Texas-based national radio network must apportion its advertising receipts based on the ratio of radio stations that license and broadcast its programming from Texas compared to the total number of radio stations that license and broadcast such programming. The taxpayer…

The Ohio Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in three cases that could test the constitutionality of the Ohio commercial activity tax (CAT). These cases turn on whether the CAT’s “bright-line” nexus standard violates the dormant Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution. The Ohio Department of Taxation argues, among other things, that the taxpayers&rsquo…

By Charles Capouet and Jeff Friedman

In a 4-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court affirmed the Nevada courts’ exercise of jurisdiction over the California Franchise Tax Board (FTB), but held, by a majority of the justices, that the taxpayer could only receive the damages Nevada provides for suits by private citizens against Nevada agencies. The…

By Evan Hamme and Marc Simonetti

The Texas Comptroller upheld a taxpayer’s separate Franchise Tax return filing position, rejecting an Administrative Law Judge’s finding that the taxpayer and its affiliate shared a strong centralized management structure that required a unitary combined report. Although the companies were commonly owned and shared an administrator, the Comptroller found…

By Elizabeth Cha and Charlie Kearns

In Hegar v. CheckFree Serv. Corp., a Texas Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s decision and held that the taxpayer’s online bill pay service was not a taxable data processing service for Texas sales tax purposes. Based on the trial court’s uncontested factual findings, the taxpayer provided…

By Stephen Burroughs and Michele Borens

The Circuit Court of Henrico County, Virginia, recently affirmed a ruling by the Commissioner of the Virginia Department of Taxation (Commissioner) that determined a cable provider’s set-top boxes are not “machines” for local property tax purposes and therefore not subject to Henrico County property tax. Virginia statute classifies property…

By Ted Friedman and Leah Robinson

The Michigan Court of Appeals reversed a trial court ruling and held that three companies did not constitute a statutorily defined “unitary business group” for Michigan Business Tax (MBT) purposes. It was undisputed that there was insufficient “direct” ownership among the companies to give rise to a “unitary business…