Shaking things up in state and local tax
Shaking things up in state and local tax
By Stephanie Do and Open Weaver Banks
The Indiana Department of Revenue determined that an out-of-state taxpayer improperly sourced tuition received from its Indiana students taking online learning courses on a cost of performance basis. The taxpayer provided educational services through local campus courses and online learning programs. In computing its Indiana sales factor, the…
By Sahang-Hee Hahn and Pilar Mata
The Illinois Department of Revenue determined that a taxpayer’s cloud computing receipts should be sourced for sales factor purposes using a market-based approach because the receipts were derived from services. The taxpayer was an information technology hosting services provider engaged in a business that focused on the delivery and…
By Todd Lard
While meeting in Denver this week, the MTC’s Income Tax Uniformity Subcommittee advanced two separate projects to develop industry-specific apportionment regulations. The first project will examine the sourcing of electricity. MTC staff presented research on how states source electricity for income tax purposes. The staff concluded that while 31 states treat electricity as…
By Mary Alexander and Timothy Gustafson
In an administrative order, the Oregon Department of Revenue (1) repealed a rule related to Oregon’s Multistate Tax Compact (MTC) statute, (2) changed the method for utility and telecommunication providers to elect a double-weighted sales factor and (3) provided instructions on the time to adjust a return based on…
By Madison Barnett and Timothy Gustafson
The Michigan Court of Appeals held that a provider of event planning and coordination services presented sufficient evidence to support its costs of performance sales factor sourcing method, under which it sourced services receipts to the location where the event occurred. Over the Department’s arguments that the taxpayer failed…
By Zachary Atkins and Prentiss Willson
The Oregon Supreme Court held that the state’s sales factor exclusion for gross receipts from intangible assets not derived from a taxpayer’s primary business activity applies to all types of intangible assets. The taxpayer, Tektronix, sold its printer division to Xerox for approximately $925 million, of which almost $600…
By Todd Betor and Andrew Appleby
The Illinois Department of Revenue granted a taxpayer’s request to use an alternative apportionment method, determining that application of the standard single sales factor formula did not fairly represent the market for the taxpayer’s goods, services or other sources of income. The taxpayer’s only sale during the year in…
By Zachary Atkins and Andrew Appleby
An Arizona Department of Revenue hearing officer determined that the gross receipts from a taxpayer’s deemed asset sale pursuant to I.R.C. § 338(h)(10), including gross receipts attributable to goodwill, could not be included in the taxpayer’s sales factor for corporate income tax apportionment purposes. The taxpayer asserted that goodwill…
By Zachary Atkins and Pilar Mata
The Colorado Department of Revenue issued a private letter ruling permitting a financial institution to deviate from Colorado’s special industry rules and use an alternative method of apportionment for corporate income tax purposes. The taxpayer, a savings and loan holding company with subsidiaries separately engaged in broker-dealer and banking…
By Madison Barnett and Jack Trachtenberg
The Michigan Court of Appeals ruled in two consolidated cases that the state’s estimated corporate income tax assessments were invalid because the taxpayers’ sales factors were improperly calculated using an alternative population-based formula rather than the statutory costs of performance (COP) formula. The two taxpayers were out-of-state book publishers…
