use tax

Subscribe to use tax via RSS

By Zachary Atkins and Prentiss Willson

The Missouri Department of Revenue issued a letter ruling in which it determined that the sale or rental of streaming video content is not subject to Missouri sales or use tax. The service in question allowed customers to purchase or rent video content and to stream the content through…

By Sahang-Hee Hahn and Timothy Gustafson 

Less than two months after Massachusetts enacted a tax on computer design and software services (Tech Tax), the legislation was repealed with the passage of House Bill (HB) 3662 (for Sutherland’s previous coverage of this development, click here). The Tech Tax expanded Massachusetts’s sales and use tax…

By Mary Alexander and Andrew Appleby

The Tennessee Court of Appeals held a wide area network (WAN) service provided by IBM was not taxable because the true object of the service was not a “telecommunications service.” IBM’s WAN service was a technological infrastructure that enabled remote access to information by linking geographically separated computers. The…

In a 6-1 decision, the Illinois Supreme Court affirmed an Illinois Circuit Court holding that Illinois Public Act 96-1544 (The Click-Through Nexus Act), requiring out-of-state retailers to collect and remit use tax, violates the Internet Tax Freedom Act. Performance Marketing Ass’n v. Hamer, Docket No. 114496 (Oct. 18, 2013).

View the full Legal Alert

By Saabir Kapoor and Andrew Appleby

After the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit denied an en banc rehearing on October 1, 2013, the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) is expected to bring suit in Colorado District Court to challenge the constitutionality of the Colorado law that requires out-of-state retailers without a physical presence…

By Shane Lord and Timothy Gustafson

The Tennessee Court of Appeals held that a taxpayer’s wholesale service of converting end-user information into Internet protocol was an “enhanced” service for which the true object or primary purpose was to provide the non-taxable service of “Internet access” and not the taxable service of “telecommunications.” Adopting definitions set forth…

By David Pope and Timothy Gustafson

The Virginia Tax Commissioner determined that an out-of-state manufacturer was subject to use tax on “local marketing group” fees charged to its customers because the true object of the transaction was the sale of tangible personal property. The taxpayer manufactured heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems for sale…