“Business-friendly” Texas has been the leading poacher of California-based companies for over a decade, with relocations from tech-dominated California only accelerating during the pandemic. Oddly enough, at a time when Texas’s highest-profile new neighbors are known for cutting-edge research, the state seeks to narrow the scope of its research and development credit applicable to some
Loan packages taxable data processing in Texas
The Texas Court of Appeals ruled that a law firm’s purchases of loan packages for lending institution clients was the taxable purchase of data processing services. The law firm purchased loan packages consisting of promissory notes, deeds of trust, tax disclosures and other pertinent legal documents from vendors. The law firm argued that the “essence
Texas Comptroller determines medical record retrieval is taxable data processing
In a private letter ruling, the Texas Comptroller concluded that a medical record retrieval company was providing a taxable data processing service only to the extent it charged for copying of the records it retrieved. The Texas-based medical records retrieval company’s customers are attorneys and insurance companies. The company’s employees manually retrieve and review
At California State Court, streaming video providers notch another video service provider fee win
On September 20th, the Los Angeles County Superior Court held that local video service provider fees do not apply to streaming video providers. This decision is consistent with a prior decision by the United States District Court for the District of Nevada, which held that streaming video providers were not subject to Nevada localities’ franchise
Hawaii and Texas join growing list of states adopting federal rule restricting expert discovery
In an article for Bloomberg Tax, Eversheds Sutherland attorneys Dan Schlueter and Fahad Mithavayani highlight how Hawaii and Texas are the latest states to join the trend to restrict the discoverability of attorney communications with expert witnesses and what it means for state tax litigation.
A Texas-sized legislative update
In this episode of the SALT Shaker Podcast policy series, host and Eversheds Sutherland Partner Nikki Dobay welcomes Dale Craymer, President of the Texas Taxpayers and Research Association (TTARA), as well as Eversheds Sutherland Associate Dennis Jansen for a discussion about all things Texas. 
Dale provides an overview of TTARA’s work, as well as
Booze, ATVs, and a huge R&D backlog: Updates from the Texas Comptroller’s annual meeting
The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts held its annual meeting on August 17 and provided taxpayers with updates regarding legislation, audit procedures, staffing, and other related topics. The meeting, which was held virtually, struck a positive tone regarding Texas’ fiscal outlook and taxpayer-friendly procedural changes.
Audit updates: hope in sight for staffing shortages and the
Texas city seeks to enjoin Comptroller’s rule on sourcing of online sales
Last year, the Texas Comptroller proposed a regulation that affects how local sales tax is allocated for online sales, to become effective October 1, 2021. While Texas generally uses origin-based sourcing, under the new rule, online sales will generally be sourced to the destination of the sale. Local governments protested these amendments, arguing that
Taxable data processing does not include payment processing services in Texas
In an effort to curb the Texas Comptroller’s recent expansion of the tax imposed on data processing services, the Texas legislature has specifically excluded payment processing services from sales and use tax. Texas taxes data processing services, which includes “word processing, data entry, data retrieval, data search, information compilation, payroll and business accounting data production
Quick Update: Arkansas, Texas, California and North Carolina
In this episode of the SALT Shaker Podcast, host Chris Lee reviews an Arkansas determination that rent-to-own leases are subject to the short term rental tax, a Texas holding that a taxpayer’s refund claims fulfill the notice requirements, a California denial of a taxpayer’s refund claim for failing to exhaust the administrative remedies and a