The Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts held that pipes and appurtenant equipment used by a taxpayer to produce, store and distribute steam for heating and power generation were exempt from local personal property tax as manufacturing property. Affirming the Appellate Tax Board, the court applied the “great integral machine” doctrine to find that the pipes

On November 1, 2017, the District of Columbia will begin implementing a new sales and use tax exemption application process for Qualified High Technology Companies (QHTCs). The new application procedure signifies a shift to essentially a pre-certification process and creates new documentation requirements for companies seeking QHTC benefits. Key considerations include:

  • Companies will now be

On July 25, 2017, the US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law conducted a hearing on “No Regulation Without Representation: HR 2887 and the Growing Problem of States Regulating Beyond Their Borders.” This hearing was important for several reasons:

  • State tax nexus legislation has been one of the

By Jessica Eisenmenger and Open Weaver Banks

The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania upheld the Philadelphia Beverage Tax (PBT) against a challenge by the American Beverage Association and other challengers. The PBT imposes a 1.5¢ per fluid ounce tax on sugar-sweetened beverages and is generally payable by the distributor of the beverages. The court decided in

On June 15, the California Legislature passed Assembly Bill 102, the Taxpayer Transparency and Fairness Act of 2017, which divests the California State Board of Equalization (BOE) of several key functions and creates two new government agencies—the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration and the Office of Tax Appeals—to perform many of the BOE’s

By Jeff Friedman and Stephanie Do

Following an unfavorable court decision, state legislatures have been able to effectively reverse a decision by retroactively changing the law. Several taxpayers have challenged the validity of retroactive state tax changes by arguing that the retroactive laws violate the US Constitution’s Due Process Clause, which requires that no state