Shaking things up in state and local tax
Shaking things up in state and local tax
By Chelsea Marmor and Tim Gustafson
The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts issued a franchise tax letter clarifying that “total mileage” for purposes of computing the Texas special apportionment formula for transportation receipts may either include or exclude “empty miles” provided symmetry is maintained between a taxpayer’s numerator and denominator. “Empty miles,” or deadhead miles…
By Charles Capouet and Todd Lard
The Supreme Court of Texas held that an oil and gas exploration and production company’s purchases of casing, tubing, other well equipment, and associated services were not exempt from sales tax under various processing exemptions. Texas provides multiple exemptions from sales tax for certain tangible personal property related to…
By Mike Kerman and Amy Nogid
The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts concluded that a Texas-based national radio network must apportion its advertising receipts based on the ratio of radio stations that license and broadcast its programming from Texas compared to the total number of radio stations that license and broadcast such programming. The taxpayer…
By Evan Hamme and Marc Simonetti
The Texas Comptroller upheld a taxpayer’s separate Franchise Tax return filing position, rejecting an Administrative Law Judge’s finding that the taxpayer and its affiliate shared a strong centralized management structure that required a unitary combined report. Although the companies were commonly owned and shared an administrator, the Comptroller found…
By Elizabeth Cha and Charlie Kearns
In Hegar v. CheckFree Serv. Corp., a Texas Court of Appeals affirmed the trial court’s decision and held that the taxpayer’s online bill pay service was not a taxable data processing service for Texas sales tax purposes. Based on the trial court’s uncontested factual findings, the taxpayer provided…
By Elizabeth Cha and Scott Wright
The Texas Court of Appeals held that a seismic data gathering company was entitled to a cost of goods sold (COGS) deduction for costs of labor and materials incurred to acquire and process seismic data for its clients. Pursuant to Tex. Tax Code § 171.1012(i), a taxpayer may include…
By Evan Hamme and Marc Simonetti
The Texas Court of Appeals held that sovereign immunity bars Machete’s Chop Shop’s declaratory judgment action because Machete failed to plead that the Texas Film Commission acted ultra vires when it denied Machete’s grant application for the 2010 film, Machete. Machete alleged that the Texas Film Commission lacked authority…
By Samantha Trencs and Open Weaver Banks
The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts and the New York Courts have treated a former in-house attorney turned whistleblower very differently—Texas made a substantial payment to the individual, and New York kicked him to the proverbial curb.
The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts paid $117,000 to David Danon…
In his State of the State address at the beginning of the year, Texas Governor Greg Abbott tasked the Legislature with enacting meaningful business tax relief. The Legislature responded by reducing the franchise (also called the margin) tax rate and creating new exemptions and incentives for sales tax. At the same time, however, the Legislature…
By Olga Goldberg and Andrew Appleby
The Texas Court of Appeals held that a taxpayer was not entitled to elect the Multistate Tax Compact (MTC) three-factor formula because the Texas franchise (margin) tax is not an “income tax,” as defined in the MTC. Specifically, the court ruled that the franchise tax is not…
