The Colorado Court of Appeals held that the City of Aurora correctly levied use tax on American Multi-Cinema, Inc.’s (AMC’s) license agreements with film distributors. The court concluded that the true object of the arrangement was to obtain tangible personal property (i.e., the data files) rather than being a nontaxable, intangible right. In the past,
Regulation De-construction: Pennsylvania Court Holds Statutory Amendment Superseded Regulation
On October 16, 2019, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court held that a bank was required to pay sales tax on its purchases of computer hardware, canned computer software, and related services because a statutory amendment superseded the bank’s relied-upon exemption regulation. The court held that the bank complied with the regulation, which exempted from sales tax
Survey Says: Online Survey Results Not a Taxable Communication Service in South Carolina
The South Carolina Department of Revenue issued a private letter ruling advising a company that its charges for developing and conducting surveys tailored to its clients’ needs are not subject to sales and use tax as communications services. Although taxable communications services include “charges to access an individual website,” and the company provided its clients
Sticker Shock! New York Court of Appeals Holds Price Comparison Services Are Subject To Sale Tax
On June 26, 2019, the New York Court of Appeals held that a price comparison service was taxable as an information service because the information was not personal or individual in nature, which would exclude the service from sales tax.
The taxpayer operated a chain of grocery stores. As part of its pricing strategy, the
Washington Court Games the Sales Tax Trade-In Exclusion
The Washington Court of Appeals upheld the Washington Department of Revenue’s denial of a sales tax exclusion for trade-ins of software and hardware. GameStop provides customers with a trade-in credit for software and hardware and allows customers to apply these credits towards future purchases of software and hardware. The Department denied GameStop’s exclusion for two
Incidentally, Damage Waivers Are Subject to South Carolina Sales Tax
The South Carolina Court of Appeals upheld the imposition of sales tax on sales of optional “waivers,” which were sold to renters and relieved them from liability of damaged or stolen rental property. Rent-A-Center East, Inc. and Rent Way, Inc. (collectively, the “Taxpayers”) operated retail stores in South Carolina from which customers could rent-to-own durable
Texas Court of Appeals holds Hotel Consumables not Purchased for Resale
The Texas Court of Appeals held that a hotel owner was not entitled to a resale exemption for the hotel consumables it offered to its guests during their stay. Alamo National Building Management (“Alamo”) purchased items such as soap, lotion, cups and coffee, among other things, using a resale certificate. The items were not separately
Videocast: SALT Scoreboard – 2018 Year in Review
The quarterly Eversheds Sutherland SALT Scoreboard tallies significant state and local tax litigation wins and losses. In this Bottom Line videocast, Charles Capouet and Chelsea Marmor share 2018 year-end observations, including:
- the overall results for 2018, including a breakdown of corporate income tax and sales and use tax case results
- comparative results from 2016-2018
Georgia Bill Proposes Changes to Sales and Use Tax Reporting and Collection Rules
On February 14, 2019, the Georgia House Ways and Means Committee voted in favor of House Bill 182. Effective for January 1, 2020, the bill would amend O.C.G.A. § 48-8-2(8)(M.1) to lower the sales threshold on the requirement to collect or report sales and use tax from $250,000 to $100,000 and would repeal subsection
Missouri Director of Revenue Finds Sales Fulfilled and Shipped from Warehouse in Missouri Subject to Sales Tax.
The Missouri Department of Revenue, in a letter ruling, found that a taxpayer’s sales of exercise products were subject to state and local sales taxes because the transactions were not in commerce, since the orders were fulfilled and shipped to Missouri customers by a third-party warehouse in Missouri. The Department of Revenue also found that