Sales and Use Tax

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In response to California Governor Gavin Newsom’s Executive Order N-40-20, the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) has updated its guidance to taxpayers impacted by COVID-19 regarding relief from interest and penalties and extended filing deadlines for sales and use taxes and other various taxes. All taxpayers filing a return for less than…

On March 30, 2020, California Governor Gavin Newsom issued Executive Order N-40-20 (Order) regarding the state’s COVID-19 State of Emergency. The Order grants additional extensions to taxpayers and gives new authority to the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) to provide relief from interest and penalties to taxpayers impacted by the State of…

The Florida Department of Revenue issued a Technical Assistance Advisement concluding that an internet-based streaming video subscription service is subject to Florida’s communication services tax. The Taxpayer maintains a website where viewers can watch live or on-demand video of individuals (or, “Broadcasters”) playing video games, music or e-sports events. Among other things, the website provides…

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,…

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tax on its purchases of computer hardware, canned computer software, and related services because a statutory amendment superseded the bank’s relied-upon exemption regulation.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…

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…

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…

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…

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…