Shaking things up in state and local tax
Shaking things up in state and local tax
By Ted Friedman and Jonathan Feldman
The Utah Supreme Court held that optional liability waiver fees paid by customers along with lease-to-own rental payments were not subject to sales and use tax. Customers that choose to pay this extra fee are not required to reimburse the corporation for any loss if the goods are damaged…
While we’re not sure what “Auld Lange Syne” really means, we are sure that many older New Jersey tax cases remain helpful in addressing current corporation business tax and sales tax issues and, therefore, should not be forgotten.
View this article, reprinted from the January 4, 2016 issue of State Tax Notes, which…
When a company undertakes a financing transaction, federal and state income tax considerations most frequently take priority in the tax department. In certain financing transactions, however, one would be remiss to ignore potential sales tax issues that can be traps for the unwary.
Reprinted from the Journal of Multistate Taxation and Incentives (Thomson Reuters/Tax &…
The Michigan Department of Treasury issued a Notice announcing that it will no longer impose sales or use tax on certain prewritten computer software accessed electronically and associated online services. The Notice comes on the heels of the Michigan Court of Appeals decision in Auto-Owners Insurance Company v. Department of Treasury and the Michigan Supreme …
By Samantha Trencs and Amy Nogid
The California Board of Equalization (BOE) voted to adopt an amendment to Ca. Code Regs. tit. 18, § 1525.4, to resolve a statutory ambiguity by clarifying that a taxpayer will qualify for the partial sales and use tax exemption available for certain manufacturing and research and development equipment purchases…
By Samantha Trencs and Andrew Appleby
A South Carolina administrative law judge (ALJ) determined that cell phone insurance is not subject to South Carolina sales tax even though the wireless provider sells it with taxable communication services.
Alltel provided its wireless customers with an option to purchase insurance for the loss, theft or damage to…
By Elizabeth Cha and Amy Nogid
Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court agreed with the Department of Revenue (Department) that the Department’s letter rulings addressing the taxability of actual transactions were not subject to review by the Board of Finance and Revenue (Board). Members of BJ’s Wholesale Club, Inc. (Taxpayers) alleged that they were due a refund of…
By Suzanne Palms and Charlie Kearns
The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania held that network infrastructure services (including local dial networks, telephone numbers and modems, i.e., Internet “backbone”) sold to Internet service providers (ISPs) to provide Internet access to end users were not subject to Pennsylvania sales and use tax. The commonwealth court found that the…
By Nick Kump and Charlie Kearns
On October 27, the Michigan Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s decision in favor of the taxpayer and held that several contracts for data processing services, access to computer programs and databases, and other online services did not include the use of taxable prewritten computer software. After considering…
By Nick Kump and Charlie Kearns
The Iowa Department of Revenue issued a policy letter declaring that the delivery of a digital software key on a tangible card is exempt from sales tax, as long as the software itself is delivered digitally and there is not a separate charge for the key. Iowa Code section…
