On May 14th, California Governor Gavin Newsom issued his proposed May revision to the state budget for fiscal year 2020-21. The budget proposal included two revenue-raising income tax measures, applicable for tax years 2020 through 2022: (1) limiting the amount of business tax credits a taxpayer can use to $5 million annually, and (2) suspending
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Podcast: Massachusetts retroactively denies income tax credits
This podcast discusses recent notices and assessments issued by the Massachusetts Department of Revenue denying taxpayers’ Economic Opportunity Area Credit and Economic Development Incentive Program Credit use and carryforward. It discusses:
- the 2016 statute amendment that imposed additional credit requirements and led to this issue
- the Department’s position on why it can deny new credit
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Georgia Tax Tribunal Issues Two New Decisions on Remote Seller Nexus and Georgia Tax Credit Elections
The Georgia Tax Tribunal, in its first published decisions in more than a year, held that:
- Scholastic Book Clubs has nexus in Georgia and must collect sales tax as a result of its relationship with teachers in the state; and
- In a case affording significant deference to the Department’s regulations, a taxpayer that elects to
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Here’s the Deal: Georgia Governor Signs Several Significant Tax Bills
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
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Texas Court of Appeals Chops Machete’s Hope for Texas Film Production Incentives
By Evan Hamme and Marc Simonetti
The Texas Court of Appeals held that sovereign immunity bars Machete’s Chop Shop’s declaratory judgment action because Machete failed to plead that the Texas Film Commission acted ultra vires when it denied Machete’s grant application for the 2010 film, Machete. Machete alleged that the Texas Film Commission lacked authority…
No Ifs, Ands, or Buts: California Court Invalidates Regulation Limiting Consultant Contingent Fee Arrangements
By Olga Goldberg and Marc Simonetti
The California Superior Court struck down a regulation that imposed a de facto ban on contingent fee arrangements between businesses and consultants applying for the California Competes tax credit. The Court ruled that the regulation improperly exceeded the scope of the related statute. Ryan U.S. Tax Services, LLC v.
Out of Steam: Nuclear Power Company Loses Bid for New York Manufacturing Tax Credits
By Chris Mehrmann and Open Weaver Banks
A New York appellate court denied a nuclear power company’s bid for manufacturing tax credits, finding that equipment used at two power plants to produce steam and water during the electricity generation process was not used for manufacturing. The taxpayer argued that the process of creating steam and…
Hog Wild: In Harley-Davidson, California Court of Appeal Finds Discrimination, Affirms Nexus
By Michael Penza and Andrew Appleby
The California Court of Appeal held that California’s disparate treatment of intrastate and interstate unitary businesses discriminated against interstate commerce. California requires taxpayers engaged in a unitary business within and without California to calculate their taxable income using combined reporting, but provides taxpayers engaged in a unitary business wholly…
Triple Threat: U.S. House Subcommittee Considers Three State Tax Bills
On June 2, 2015, the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law conducted a hearing on three state tax bills: the Mobile Workforce State Income Tax Simplification Act, the Digital Goods and Services Tax Fairness Act, and the Business Activity Tax Simplification Act.
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Recording Now Available – Sutherland SALT Quick Call: Deciphering Wynne with Professor Walter Hellerstein
A recording of the Sutherland SALT Quick Call: Deciphering Wynne with Professor Walter Hellerstein is now available. In this Quick Call, Jeff Friedman and Professor Hellerstein discuss the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Maryland Comptroller v. Wynne and its implications.