Shaking things up in state and local tax
Shaking things up in state and local tax
By: Stephen Burroughs & Timothy Gustafson
The Georgia Tax Tribunal held that for sales and use tax purposes contractors are per se consumers of tangible personal property and thus are ineligible for: (1) the sale for resale exclusion, and (2) a regulatory exclusion for property temporarily stored in Georgia while in interstate commerce. The taxpayer…
By David Pope and Timothy Gustafson
The Virginia Tax Commissioner determined that an out-of-state manufacturer was subject to use tax on “local marketing group” fees charged to its customers because the true object of the transaction was the sale of tangible personal property. The taxpayer manufactured heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems for sale…
By Kathryn Pittman and Andrew Appleby
The Arizona Department of Revenue determined that a taxpayer providing online backup and restoration services was subject to Arizona’s transaction privilege tax (TPT) after concluding that the receipts from such services were taxable as rentals of prewritten software. The taxpayer provided services that automatically backed up and restored files. As…
By Mary Alexander and Prentiss Willson
The Arizona Department of Revenue determined in a private letter ruling that gross receipts from “renting” prewritten software available online are subject to Arizona’s transaction privilege tax (TPT). The definition of tangible personal property for purposes of the TPT includes the electronic delivery of software. Thus, according to the…
By Zachary Atkins and Timothy Gustafson
The Iowa Supreme Court passed on an opportunity to breathe life into equal protection jurisprudence and, instead, rejected Qwest Corporation’s challenge under the Iowa Constitution to a property tax regime that taxes the personal property of incumbent local exchange carriers (ILECs) but not competitive long distance telephone companies (CLDTCs)…
By Suzanne Palms and Andrew Appleby
The Michigan Court of Appeals held that a taxpayer was not liable for additional single business tax (SBT) and use tax because the taxpayer was making sales of tangible personal property at its Michigan facility rather than performing a service. The taxpayer’s business activities at issue consisted of…
California’s Fourth Appellate District ruled that taxpayers must include the value of intangible emissions reduction credits (ERCs) when they determine the fair market value of an independent power plant’s property. Elk Hills Power, LLC v. Bd. of Equalization, No. D056943 (May 10, 2011). Elk Hills sets a disturbing precedent regarding the taxation of intangibles…
On April 27, 2011, the California Supreme Court denied the State Board of Equalization’s (SBE) petition for review of Nortel Networks v. State Board of Equalization, 191 Cal.App.4th 1259 (2d. Dist. 2011), paving the way for refund claims based on the Court of Appeal’s decision (for a full discussion of Nortel, click here…
A significant decision by the Texas Court of Appeals clarified the size and scope of the Texas sales tax resale exemption. In Combs v. Health Care Services. Corp., the taxpayer purchased tangible personal property and services for use in administering employee benefit programs for the federal government. After paying sales tax on the…
The South Carolina Tax Realignment Commission (TRAC) has released its Final Report, which includes proposed draft legislation to achieve its recommendations. As expected, the recommendations include the expansion of the sales tax base to include “data processing, software delivered over the Internet, and digital products.” In addition, the recommendations include language to expand sales tax…
