Shaking things up in state and local tax
Shaking things up in state and local tax
By Evan Hamme and Tim Gustafson
In a rare Chief Counsel Ruling (the first of 2015), the California Franchise Tax Board (FTB) held that the sale of an entire line of business qualified as an “occasional sale” for corporate franchise tax purposes, thus requiring the selling taxpayer to exclude the resulting gross receipts from its…
Yesterday, the Multistate Tax Commission held meetings of its Litigation, Uniformity, and Strategic Planning Steering Committees. The meetings were generally dominated by discussions of evolving apportionment issues, including litigation and significant edits to existing regulations. The Uniformity Committee also advanced its new model “engaged in business” statute.
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By Mary Alexander and Timothy Gustafson
The Indiana Department of Revenue applied the State’s throwback rule to an Indiana company’s sales to California customers based on a determination that the taxpayer was not subject to tax in California due to P.L. 86-272. Under Indiana law, a sale is attributed to Indiana for sales factor apportionment…
By Jessie Eisenmenger and Timothy Gustafson
In a Technical Assistance Advisement, the Florida Department of Revenue determined the proper sourcing methodology for income from twelve different types of sales by an online service provider (OSP) for Florida sales factor purposes. The OSP collects data that it distributes to its customers by a variety of methods,…
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…
