Massachusetts

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The Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board (ATB) struck down a $17.9 million assessment and held that State Street Corp. (State Street), a bank holding company under the Bank Holding Company Act of 1956, was entitled to approximately $14 million in Massachusetts research tax credits because Massachusetts state tax provisions did not prohibit bank holding companies from…

The Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board (ATB) determined that a New Hampshire resident attorney, employed by a Massachusetts-based federal agency, was not entitled to a personal income tax refund for days he did not physically work in Massachusetts during the coronavirus pandemic.

In April 2020, Massachusetts implemented emergency regulation 830 CMR 62.5A.3, which required nonresident employees…

On March 10, 2023, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts held that capital gains resulting from the sale of an urban redevelopment project were not subject to Massachusetts personal income tax. As an incentive for private entities to invest in constructing, operating, and maintaining urban redevelopment projects, Massachusetts exempts these entities “from the payment of…

On December 22, 2022, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held that a taxpayer’s use of computer cookies did not constitute substantial nexus with the state for periods prior to the United States Supreme Court’s decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. The taxpayer sold auto parts entirely online and utilized cookies to track customers…

New York and Massachusetts are the latest states to introduce tax legislation targeting digital advertising and data collection. Like the similar bills introduced earlier in Connecticut, New York, and Indiana, proposals similar to these latest New York and Massachusetts bills have been rejected by the respective legislatures in prior sessions.

New York revisits …

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has accepted a direct appeal from an internet retailer contesting the Department’s position that the in-state presence of cookies and apps were sufficient to satisfy the physical presence nexus standards in place prior to the US Supreme Court’s decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. The Department assessed use…

The Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board ruled that a company that develops and sells software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is allowed a property tax exemption for the machinery it uses in its development process. The Appellate Tax Board previously ruled that the company was a manufacturing corporation, and thus was entitled to use single sales factor apportionment provided to…

Following on Maryland’s heels, there are currently five separate digital advertising tax measures pending before the Massachusetts legislature. H. 2894 would impose a 5% tax on the annual digital advertising revenue from companies generating more than $25 million in digital advertising sales in Massachusetts. H. 2928 would not impose a tax directly, but would create…

The Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board found that software-as-a-service (SaaS) provider Akamai Technologies Inc. was a manufacturing corporation, rather than a service provider. Akamai, headquartered in Massachusetts, provided software-based cloud services allowing customers to manage the delivery of web and media content over the Internet. In Massachusetts, a manufacturing corporation must use single sales factor apportionment,…

A Massachusetts representative has introduced House Bill 4179, a proposed 6.25% excise tax on gross revenue from digital advertising provided within Massachusetts. Following its introduction, House Bill 4179 was referred to the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Revenue for review. The bill proposes to tax revenue sourced to Massachusetts arising from banner advertisements, search engine…