Digital Economy

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By Zachary Atkins and Timothy Gustafson
 
The New Jersey Tax Court held that a mobile telecommunications service provider was not required to reimburse its customers before seeking a $32 million refund of erroneously collected sales tax. As part of a federal court-approved 2010 settlement agreement involving AT&T Mobility and its subsidiaries and affiliates, New…

By Maria Todorova and Andrew Appleby
 
In a Technical Memorandum, the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance explained the impact of the holding in Echostar, which addressed the New York sales and use tax resale exclusion for certain purchases made by satellite and cable television service providers. In Echostar, the…

By Todd Lard

While meeting in Denver this week, the MTC’s Income Tax Uniformity Subcommittee advanced two separate projects to develop industry-specific apportionment regulations. The first project will examine the sourcing of electricity. MTC staff presented research on how states source electricity for income tax purposes. The staff concluded that while 31 states treat electricity as…

By Zachary Atkins and Andrew Appleby

The New York Supreme Court, Appellate Division, affirmed a 2013 trial court ruling denying Sprint Nextel Corporation’s motion to dismiss the attorney general’s False Claims Act complaint. In a slip opinion, the Appellate Division concluded that N.Y. Tax Law § 1105(b)(2), which the state attorney general contends imposes tax…

By Sahang-Hee Hahn and Pilar Mata

The Texas Comptroller has amended its regulation governing the sales tax treatment of cable television services. The revised regulation defines for the first time several terms related to the cable television services industry; adopts a destination-based sourcing rule for intrastate sales of streaming video; and taxes “bundled cable services.&rdquo…

By Jessica Kerner and Charlie Kearns

The Massachusetts Department of Revenue determined that the sale of access to an online database was not subject to sales and use tax because the “object of the transaction” was nontaxable data processing services rather than taxable prewritten software. The taxpayer sells subscriptions to a website that allows purchasers…

By Mary Alexander and Timothy Gustafson

In an administrative order, the Oregon Department of Revenue (1) repealed a rule related to Oregon’s Multistate Tax Compact (MTC) statute, (2) changed the method for utility and telecommunication providers to elect a double-weighted sales factor and (3) provided instructions on the time to adjust a return based on…

By Kathryn Pittman and Andrew Appleby

A Colorado state district court issued a preliminary injunction preventing the Colorado Department of Revenue from enforcing Colorado’s out-of-state seller use tax reporting statutes and related regulations. These rules require out-of-state sellers that do not collect Colorado sales tax to notify their Colorado purchasers—and the Department—of the amount of…

By Derek Takehara and Timothy Gustafson

The Virginia Tax Commissioner ruled that a taxpayer’s provision of electronic document and programming services in conjunction with its delivery of printed materials was not subject to sales and use tax. In addition to its sales of printed materials, the taxpayer provides electronic document services that allow customers and…