Shaking things up in state and local tax
Shaking things up in state and local tax
By Dmitrii Gabrielov and Jonathan Feldman
An Indiana federal court remanded a lawsuit brought under the Indiana False Claims and Whistleblower Protection Act (False Claims Act) back to Indiana state court. The relator, Michael Harmeyer, alleges that Kroger and affiliates violated the False Claims Act by failing to collect sales tax on various items at…
By Zack Atkins and Marc Simonetti
A federal district court denied a taxpayer’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit brought under the New York False Claims Act (FCA) for lack of subject matter jurisdiction and remanded the action to state court. The relator, an Indiana University professor, alleges that Citigroup violated the FCA by deducting net…
By Nicole Boutros and Marc Simonetti
The Illinois Appellate Court held that a defendant out-of-state retailer was not liable under the state’s False Claims Act because it conducted a good faith inquiry into its use tax collection obligations for both its Internet and catalog sales. The defendant had franchisees operating in Illinois and sold products…
By Samantha Trencs and Open Weaver Banks
The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts and the New York Courts have treated a former in-house attorney turned whistleblower very differently—Texas made a substantial payment to the individual, and New York kicked him to the proverbial curb.
The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts paid $117,000 to David Danon…
By Nicole Boutros and Pilar Mata
The Illinois Cook County Circuit Court held that an Illinois law firm (the Relator) that filed a qui tam lawsuit against a taxpayer failed to meet its burden to prove the taxpayer knowingly failed to collect and remit Illinois use tax, as required under the Illinois False Claims Act.
By David Pope and Pilar Mata
The New York Attorney General’s office posted a press release on March 14, 2014 announcing that Lantheus Medical Imaging (Lantheus) and Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), Lantheus’s former parent, agreed to a $6.2 million settlement for a claim filed pursuant to New York’s False Claims Act (FCA). Under New York’s FCA…
In the latest edition of A Pinch of SALT, Carley Roberts, Jack Trachtenberg and Tim Gustafson discuss the significant increase in third-party enforcement actions, including consumer class actions and qui tam actions involving state tax questions, which is forcing corporate taxpayers to assess unfamiliar and possibly conflicting risks in connection with their compliance obligations.…
