Shaking things up in state and local tax
Shaking things up in state and local tax
By Saabir Kapoor and Timothy Gustafson
The California Court of Appeal, in affirming summary judgment in favor of the City of Los Angeles, concluded that the taxpayer, j2 Global Communications, Inc., did not produce evidence to demonstrate that its purchase of telecommunications services was exempt from the City’s communication users tax (CUT) under the Internet…
By Nicole Boutros and Pilar Mata
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit determined that dial-up internet services were taxable local telephone services when analyzing an Internal Revenue Service bankruptcy claim for federal excise taxes (FET). The taxpayer, WorldCom, Inc., purchased central-office-based remote access (COBRA) services from local telephone companies to provide internet…
By Sahang-Hee Hahn and Andrew Appleby
Effective September 1, 2013, Texas will refund state sales and use taxes paid by providers of cable television, Internet access or telecommunications services on tangible personal property used in their businesses. On June 14, 2013, Governor Rick Perry signed H.B. 1133 into law, authorizing such refunds. Under the new…
We are pleased to provide the following updates on state tax issues impacting the digital economy. The Sutherland SALT Team will continue to monitor these and other Digital Economy developments. Please visit the Sutherland SALT Digital Economy Forum to learn more, and please contact one of us if you have questions regarding the Forum.
Texas…
By Kathryn Pittman and Andrew Appleby
The Utah Department of Revenue concluded that gift codes sold by an out-of-state seller (Gift Code Issuer) to Utah consumers were not subject to sales and use tax and that specified activities conducted by third parties in Utah relating to such sales of gift codes did not create nexus…
By Jessica Kerner and Pilar Mata
In an Advisory Opinion, the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance held that a taxpayer developing a data center for Internet services is eligible for the State’s sales and use tax exemption pertaining to Internet data centers. In order to qualify for the exemption, the tangible…
The Tennessee Department of Revenue issued an interesting ruling addressing the taxability of two types of Internet-based services. The Department determined that the first type (facilitating remote access to the user’s computer) was a non-taxable service and the downloaded Java applet was software but not the true object of the transaction. The Department determined that…
