The Oregon Tax Court, Regular Division, held that P.L. 86-272 did not preclude Oregon from imposing its excise (income) tax on an out-of-state manufacturer of cigarettes and other tobacco products based on two activities. First, the court held that the manufacturer’s mandate that the in-state wholesalers accept product returns was not a protected activity. The
income tax
Northern exposure: No ambiguity in Alaska reporting
The Alaska Supreme Court found that Alaska’s combined reporting statute requiring taxpayers to include certain foreign affiliates in its income tax return was constitutional. The court rejected the taxpayer’s arguments that Alaska’s tax haven corporation reporting statute was (i) void for vagueness as it violated the Due Process Clause, (ii) discriminated against interstate commerce in…
Getting personal with New York personal income tax
On this episode of the SALT Shaker Podcast, Eversheds Sutherland Associates Jeremy Gove and Chelsea Marmor discuss all things New York personal income tax. They touch on two recent decisions that came out in New York – one from the Tax Appeals Tribunal and one from the Appellate Division (as Chelsea is quick to correct…
Waiting for Superman in Metropoulos
In this episode of the SALT Shaker Podcast, Eversheds Sutherland Associates Jeremy Gove and Annie Rothschild delve into a recent decision out of the California Court of Appeal – Metropoulos Family Trust v. Franchise Tax Board. The court ruled for the Franchise Tax Board, affirming the trial court’s decision that non-resident S corporation shareholders…
California Court of Appeal rules shareholders’ flow-through S corporation intangible income is apportionable, not sourced to shareholders’ domiciles
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…
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…
New York False Claims Act case remains in federal court
The Southern District of New York denied a plaintiff-relator’s motion to remand a dispute over the defendant’s transfer pricing arrangement brought under the New York’s False Claims Act to New York state court. The plaintiff initiated the suit on behalf of the State of New York in state court alleging that the company did knowingly…
Idaho Governor Little signs rate reductions and income tax rebate bill into law
On February 4, Idaho Governor Little signed into law HB 436, which will decrease individual and corporate income tax rates. HB 436 was passed and signed into law in just over 20 days after being introduced. Specifically, the legislation lowers the corporate income tax rate from 6.5% to 6% and consolidates the personal income…
Breaking domicile is hard to do: Arkansas OHA holds couple did not abandon Arkansas domicile
In a decision dated January 18, 2022, the Arkansas Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) held that a married couple remained domiciled in and residents of Arkansas for individual income tax purposes for the 2013 through 2018 tax years, rejecting the couple’s assertion that they had abandoned their Arkansas domicile by relocating to another state.…
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…



