The California Court of Appeal ruled that nonresident shareholders were subject to California tax on their pro rata shares of intangible income from an S corporation’s sale of shares in a subsidiary. This sale of intangibles (goodwill of a business) was sourced as business income apportioned at the S corporation level, not as intangible income
apportionment
Get out of town! Court upholds New York City tax applying investee apportionment
On April 12, 2022, the Appellate Division, First Department dismissed a taxpayer’s appeal from the New York City Tax Appeals Tribunal, and held that the Tribunal’s decision to uphold a tax assessment on an out-of-state entity’s gain from the sale of a partnership interest was “rational.”[1]
The taxpayer was an investment vehicle that formed…
Virginia Tax Commissioner rules that remote worker payroll not included in BPOL payroll apportionment numerator
Following a taxpayer’s appeal of a local Virginia county (County) Business, Professional and Occupational License (BPOL) tax assessment, the Virginia Tax Commissioner held that the taxpayer’s remote employees’ payroll was properly excluded from the numerator of the payroll apportionment calculation. The taxpayer was headquartered out of state and maintained offices worldwide, including an office in…
Booted out of Indiana: Indiana DOR finds that parent holding company has no nexus for combined return
The Indiana Department of Revenue found that a holding company was properly excluded as a member of its affiliates’ financial institutions tax (FIT) combined group return because the company failed to establish nexus with the state. The Department also decided that for purposes of the FIT, there is no distinction between business and nonbusiness income.…
California Office of Tax Appeals shuts down refund claim related to 338(h)(10) election
The California Office of Tax Appeals (OTA) recently sustained the Franchise Tax Board’s (FTB) income tax treatment of an IRC 338(h)(10) election. In return for all the outstanding stock in the target S-Corporation taxpayer, third-party buyers paid an initial (fixed) purchase price and agreed to make deferred contingent earnout payments totaling up to $50 million…
What service? Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board rules that SaaS provider is a manufacturing corporation required to use single sales factor apportionment
The Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board found that software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider Akamai Technologies Inc. was a manufacturing corporation, rather than a service provider. Akamai, headquartered in Massachusetts, provided software-based cloud services allowing customers to manage the delivery of web and media content over the Internet. In Massachusetts, a manufacturing corporation must use single sales factor apportionment,…
Virginia Department of Taxation approves BPOL tax payroll apportionment
On August 24, 2021 (released November 2021), the Virginia Department of Taxation (the Department) concluded that a provider of professional and information technology services was entitled to payroll apportionment of gross receipts for a local Business, Professional and Occupational License Tax (BPOL Tax) refund claim. Virginia localities may impose a BPOL Tax on the gross…
Washington state refund claim enters no fly zone
The Washington Court of Appeals recently issued a divided (2-1) decision in a case involving Washington’s “benefits received” test for apportioning service income. The Court ruled that the “benefit” of an airplane design firm’s services were received in Washington, where the taxpayer’s direct customer, Boeing, manufactured the airplanes incorporating the taxpayer’s airplane designs, rather than…
Eco-friendly but not so taxpayer friendly: Wisconsin Tax Appeals Commission finds automaker’s sale of environmental credits generates apportionable income
The Wisconsin Tax Appeals Commission sided with the Department of Revenue, ruling that American Honda Motor Co.’s sale of environmental credits generated apportionable income for corporate income and franchise tax purposes. American Honda bought vehicles from related companies and resold them to car dealerships and other retailers in the U.S.
When American Honda sold its…
Michigan Court of Appeals reaffirms decision finding unconstitutional distortion
The Michigan Court of Appeals reaffirmed its March 2020 decision that application of the state’s statutory apportionment formula was unconstitutionally distortive as applied to a taxpayer’s Michigan Business Tax (MBT) liability. The Michigan Supreme Court vacated and remanded the Court of Appeals’ March 2020 decision, which was the topic of a prior SALT Shaker post…



