Shaking things up in state and local tax
Shaking things up in state and local tax
In a rare special meeting on February 24, 2017, the Multistate Tax Commission (MTC) adopted amendments to the MTC’s Model General Allocation and Apportionment Regulations that it has worked on since 2014. Among other things, the 94-page Model Regulations:
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By Jessica Allen and Jonathan Feldman
The New York City Tax Appeals Tribunal administrative law judge (ALJ) determined that a taxpayer’s receipts for consulting services should be allocated based on where the services were rendered, not where the solicitation and payment for the services occurred. The taxpayer’s non-commissioned salespeople entered into lump-sum subscription agreements with…
By Elizabeth Cha and Timothy Gustafson
On October 26, 2016, the South Carolina Court of Appeals reversed a lower court ruling and determined the Department of Revenue (Department) failed to satisfy its burden of showing that the statutory apportionment formula did not fairly represent Rent-A-Center West Inc.’s (RAC) business activities in South Carolina. This case…
By Douglas Upton and Andrew Appleby
The New Jersey Tax Court determined that credit card issuers must source to New Jersey all of their interest and interchange fee receipts, and half of their credit card service fees, from New Jersey accountholders. The Tax Court concluded that the Division of Taxation’s regulations required the taxpayers to…
By Zachary Atkins and Open Weaver Banks
The New Jersey Tax Court held that apportioning all of a company’s income to New Jersey for corporate business tax purposes, even with the allowance of a credit for taxes paid to separate-return states, failed to fairly reflect the company’s business activities in New Jersey. The court also…
By Chelsea Marmor and Tim Gustafson
The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts issued a franchise tax letter clarifying that “total mileage” for purposes of computing the Texas special apportionment formula for transportation receipts may either include or exclude “empty miles” provided symmetry is maintained between a taxpayer’s numerator and denominator. “Empty miles,” or deadhead miles…
By Nick Kump and Scott Wright
The Louisiana Court of Appeal held that income derived from diagnostic testing of Louisiana patients’ blood samples and other medical specimens performed in Texas should be sourced to Texas for corporate income tax apportionment purposes. The taxpayer, which operates a multistate network of laboratories where it performs medically prescribed…
By Chris Mehrmann and Open Weaver Banks
The Michigan Supreme Court denied an application for leave to appeal a Michigan Court of Appeals decision that sanctioned the Michigan’s Legislature’s retroactive withdrawal from the Multistate Tax Compact. The court summarily denied the appeal—which was filed by Harley Davidson Motor Company, Inc. and 13 other taxpayers—explaining that…
By Mike Kerman and Eric Coffill
On remand from the Oregon Supreme Court, the Oregon Tax Court ruled that receipts from sales of electricity to California purchasers cannot be sourced to Oregon. The Oregon Supreme Court had ruled in Powerex Corp. v. Dept. of Rev., 357 OR. 40 (2015) that sales of electricity are sales…
By Chris Mehrmann and Carley Roberts
An administrative law judge (ALJ) of the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration upheld the denial of a taxpayer’s corporate income tax refund claim, after the taxpayer attempted to amend its returns to apply the cost of performance method of sourcing income. Arkansas has adopted section 18 of the…
