Shaking things up in state and local tax
Shaking things up in state and local tax
By Jessica Kerner and Timothy Gustafson
The Georgia Court of Appeals dismissed a customer class action lawsuit seeking a sales tax refund from a utility company, holding that the applicable statutory provisions for claiming a refund of sales taxes did not authorize the customers to bring a direct refund cause of action against the seller.
By Saabir Kapoor and Pilar Mata
The California Court of Appeal reversed the trial court’s decision in favor of the State Board of Equalization (BOE), holding that a taxpayer’s evidence of communications with the BOE presented triable issues of material fact as to whether the BOE should be equitably estopped from relying on administrative exhaustion…
By Scott Booth and Prentiss Willson
The Vermont Supreme Court held that coupon books distributed monthly, within a free weekly newspaper and also separately distributed on news racks, were not “component parts” of the newspaper, and thus were not exempt from Vermont sales and use tax as newspapers. Vermont exempts newspapers and tangible personal property…
By Kathryn Pittman and Andrew Appleby
The Utah Department of Revenue concluded that gift codes sold by an out-of-state seller (Gift Code Issuer) to Utah consumers were not subject to sales and use tax and that specified activities conducted by third parties in Utah relating to such sales of gift codes did not create nexus…
By Jessica Kerner and Pilar Mata
In an Advisory Opinion, the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance held that a taxpayer developing a data center for Internet services is eligible for the State’s sales and use tax exemption pertaining to Internet data centers. In order to qualify for the exemption, the tangible…
We recently launched the Sutherland SALT Digital Economy Forum, which provides comprehensive state tax resources regarding the taxation of the digital economy. Following is a summary of recent digital economy administrative guidance, noteworthy cases and legislation. If you would like to learn more about the Sutherland SALT Digital Economy Forum or any of the issues covered here, please contact us.
Administrative Guidance
Continue Reading Digital Economy Update: Administrative Guidance, Noteworthy Cases and Legislation
Retailers and banks continue to get whipsawed on sales tax bad debt deductions where a retailer provides a private label credit card program in conjunction with a third party bank. The Kentucky Board of Tax Appeals ruled that a retailer was not entitled to a bad debt deduction because it was not the party that…
The Tennessee Department of Revenue issued an interesting ruling addressing the taxability of two types of Internet-based services. The Department determined that the first type (facilitating remote access to the user’s computer) was a non-taxable service and the downloaded Java applet was software but not the true object of the transaction. The Department determined that…
We are pleased to announce the launch of the new Sutherland SALT Digital Economy Forum, which provides resources, legislative monitoring and advocacy, and strategic counsel on the state taxation of the Digital Economy. To access free resources on the taxation of the Digital Economy, click on the Digital Economy Forum link at the top of…
The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance (Department) issued a pair of advisory opinions regarding the sales taxability of consulting services and software. New York’s Tax Law generally imposes sales and use tax on receipts for furnishing information services. N.Y. Tax Law § 1105(c)(1). However, in both advisory opinions, the primary transactions were not subject to New York sales tax because they were within the exception for personalized information services and information services provided orally. See 20 NYCRR § 527.3(b)(2) & (3).Continue Reading Software in Conjunction with Information Services: What’s Your Function?
