Shaking things up in state and local tax
Shaking things up in state and local tax
By Stephen Burroughs, Jonathan Feldman and Open Weaver Banks
In a significant taxpayer win, the Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board (ATB) held that intercompany interest payments from a wholly owned subsidiary to Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company (MassMutual) were bona fide loans and were deductible for excise tax purposes. The subsidiary (HoldCo) was a holding…
New Jersey’s related-member addback provision has five statutory exceptions, but only one is really worthy of comment.
In their article for State Tax Notes, Sutherland attorneys Leah Robinson and Open Weaver Banks examine the exceptions to New Jersey’s related-member addback provision, focusing on the only exception successfully relied on in the state’s tax court—the…
Undoubtedly, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, the State Legislature, the Tax Court and the Division of Taxation have their own lists of resolutions for 2015.
However, in their article for State Tax Notes, Sutherland attorneys Leah Robinson and Open Weaver Banks suggest numerous New Year’s resolutions for New Jersey, including publishing an audit manual and…
By Ted Friedman and Andrew Appleby
The New Jersey Tax Court held that a corporation was not required to add back electric utilities taxes paid to North Carolina and South Carolina to determine the corporation’s entire net income subject to the New Jersey Corporation Business Tax (CBT). The Tax Court concluded that the electric utilities…
By Kathryn Pittman and Andrew Appleby
In a post-audit challenge by a taxpayer, the Virginia Tax Commissioner addressed entity classification, nexus and royalty add-back issues. The Commissioner found that the taxpayer did not provide sufficient evidence that its single member LLC was a disregarded entity or that certain entities were financial institutions. Turning to nexus,…
By Kathryn Pittman and Timothy Gustafson
The Virginia Tax Commissioner ruled a taxpayer’s licensing arrangements with a subsidiary intangible holding company (IHC) did not meet the unrelated party exception to Virginia’s intangible expense add-back statute. The taxpayer, a national operator and franchisor of fast food restaurants, created the IHC to hold its intangible property…
By Todd Betor and Timothy Gustafson
The Virginia Tax Commissioner ruled that the state’s intangible expense add-back exception is not all inclusive and does not apply to the gross amount of royalty payments made to a taxpayer’s affiliate based solely on the gross amount of the payments shown on another state’s tax return. The taxpayer…
By Jessica Kerner and Andrew Appleby
The Virginia Tax Commissioner concluded that a taxpayer was not permitted to deduct a portion of the royalties it had paid to an affiliate by narrowly construing the “subject to tax” exception to the state’s addback statute. This exception provides that the deduction will be permitted if the “corresponding…
By Mary Alexander and Andrew Appleby
The Indiana Department of Revenue disallowed a taxpayer’s deduction for interest expenses accrued to a subsidiary because the Department considered the loan a sham. Unless eligible for an exemption under Ind. Code § 6-3-2-20(c), a taxpayer that is subject to Indiana’s adjusted gross income tax is required to add…
By Madison Barnett and Timothy Gustafson
The Tennessee Department of Revenue announced that the existing opportunity to compromise prior year liabilities related to the disallowance of certain intangible expense deductions will be closing on September 30, 2013. For several years, Tennessee has been issuing wide-scale assessments—using the Department’s discretionary authority—to taxpayers that deducted intangible expenses…
