Shaking things up in state and local tax
Shaking things up in state and local tax
The Washington Court of Appeals held that the sales of pre-paid telephone airtime purchased from third-party cellular networks by a business (Taxpayer) and resold to individual customers and retailers were subject to the City of Renton’s municipal utility tax.
The utility tax was imposed on the privilege of conducting a “telephone business” within city limits…
A New York appellate court affirmed the Division of Tax Appeals (DTA) denial of a telecommunications company’s refund request on sales tax paid on its purchases of electricity. The telecommunications company argued that its electricity purchases were exempt from sales tax under one of two alternative grounds. First, the company argued that its purchase of…
The Missouri Supreme Court held that a company’s sales of linens, mattresses, desks, garbage cans, and DVD players to a company operating a chain of hotels were not exempt from sales tax as sales for resale. The court rejected the furnishing company’s argument that the sales were exempt because the hotels built the cost of…
The Colorado Court of Appeals held that the City of Aurora correctly levied use tax on American Multi-Cinema, Inc.’s (AMC’s) license agreements with film distributors. The court concluded that the true object of the arrangement was to obtain tangible personal property (i.e., the data files) rather than being a nontaxable, intangible right. In the past,…
The Texas Court of Appeals held that a hotel owner was not entitled to a resale exemption for the hotel consumables it offered to its guests during their stay. Alamo National Building Management (“Alamo”) purchased items such as soap, lotion, cups and coffee, among other things, using a resale certificate. The items were not separately…
On January 9, 2019, the South Dakota Supreme Court upheld the denial of South Dakota’s advertising services use tax exemption to a Sioux Falls-based company (Company) that designs and maintains websites that allow individuals and car dealerships to advertise vehicles for sale. On audit, the Company was assessed use tax for purchases it made for…
