Shaking things up in state and local tax
Shaking things up in state and local tax
By Mike Kerman and Timothy Gustafson
The Illinois Department of Revenue issued a General Information Letter explaining how it will apply retailers’ occupation tax (ROT) and telecommunications excise tax (TET) to videoconferencing services. The taxpayer that sought the letter acts as a broker to match customers that need videoconferencing services with affiliates that operate videoconferencing…
By Suzanne Palms and Timothy Gustafson
The Vermont Commissioner of Taxes determined that conference bridging and meeting collaboration software services provided to Vermont customers were not subject to sales and use tax. The service provider’s conference bridging service allowed customers to call into a number with an access code to participate in a conference call…
By Jessica Kerner and Madison Barnett
Colorado determined in two private letter rulings that a number of electronic messaging services are not subject to Colorado sales or use tax as a telephone or telegraph service or any other taxable service. The Company, which is not a regulated provider of telecommunications services, provides various messaging services…
By Zack Atkins
Reversing a district court decision, the Iowa Supreme Court held that a cable company selling Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) service can be assessed centrally as a telephone company for property tax purposes. Historically cable property has been assessed at the local level in Iowa. The property of telephone companies—owners or…
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By Evan Hamme and Timothy Gustafson
The Colorado Department of Revenue issued guidance to a taxpayer operating a colocation and hosting facility, which provided customers a place to securely store computer servers, on whether certain charges imposed by the taxpayer were subject to sales and use tax. Specifically, the taxpayer requested guidance on the applicability…
By Derek Takehara and Andrew Appleby
The Illinois Department of Revenue determined that a wholesale distributor of international telecommunications services could source its long-distance telephone receipts based on its Illinois property factor. The taxpayer, an intermediate international telecommunications carrier, owned and rented equipment in several states, including Illinois. Illinois law provides that a taxpayer must…
By Stephanie Do and Timothy Gustafson
The Washington State Department of Revenue determined that a telecommunications company’s leases of dark fiber were competitive telephone services and thus subject to retail sales tax. The taxpayer leased dark fiber – unused, unlit fiber optic cable – from various carriers and subsequently “lit” the dark fiber with its…
By Stephanie Do and Andrew Appleby
The Massachusetts Department of Revenue addressed the possible expiration and subsequent retroactive enactment of the federal Internet Tax Freedom Act (ITFA). The Department advised Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to continue to rely on Technical Information Release (TIR) No. 05-8 (July 14, 2005), until further notice, to determine the taxability…
By Jessica Kerner and Pilar Mata
The Georgia Department of Revenue determined that a company’s cloud-based applications and related services are not subject to Georgia sales and use tax. The company maintains and operates hardware and software on servers located outside of Georgia that it uses to support its customers’ telecommunications equipment, including voice, video…
