Shaking things up in state and local tax
Shaking things up in state and local tax
By Charles Capouet and Jonathan Feldman
The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court held that an in-state wholesaler was required to collect and remit sales tax on drop shipment sales made to Massachusetts customers. A drop shipment is a transaction in which an in-state customer purchases a product from an out-of-state retailer which then orders the product…
By Maria Todorova and Charles Capouet
The Rhode Island Division of Taxation ruled that a monthly or annual membership fee that allowed customers to access various benefits associated with shopping on a taxpayer’s website—including discounted shipping benefits; streaming or downloading movies and music; photo storage; and access to games and in-game content—is subject to sales…
By Maria Todorova and Chris Beaudro
Effective July 1, 2017, Indiana has added an economic nexus provision to its sales tax law. Indiana Code Section 6-2.5-2-1 has been amended to provide that a retail merchant with no physical presence in Indiana must collect sales tax on its sales made into the state if the retail…
On July 25, 2017, the US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law conducted a hearing on “No Regulation Without Representation: HR 2887 and the Growing Problem of States Regulating Beyond Their Borders.” This hearing was important for several reasons:
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The Georgia Senate Special Tax Exemption Study Committee held its initial meeting to plan evaluation of Georgia income and sales tax exemptions by December 1, 2017.
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By Charles Capouet and Tim Gustafson
On June 15, 2017, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court held that property tax recovery charges and carrier cost recovery charges imposed by a telecommunications service provider of long distance telephone service on its customers were not subject to service provider tax for the tax years 2008 – 2010. The…
By Dmitrii Gabrielov and Jonathan Feldman
An Indiana federal court remanded a lawsuit brought under the Indiana False Claims and Whistleblower Protection Act (False Claims Act) back to Indiana state court. The relator, Michael Harmeyer, alleges that Kroger and affiliates violated the False Claims Act by failing to collect sales tax on various items at…
On June 15, the California Legislature passed Assembly Bill 102, the Taxpayer Transparency and Fairness Act of 2017, which divests the California State Board of Equalization (BOE) of several key functions and creates two new government agencies—the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration and the Office of Tax Appeals—to perform many of the BOE’s…
By Liz Cha and Eric Coffill
The United States District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee held that Tennessee’s sales tax on railroad carriers for the purchase or use of diesel fuel was not discriminatory under the Railroad Revitalization and Regulatory Reform Act of 1976 (4-R Act) even though it did not similarly apply…
By Chris Lutz and Andrew Appleby
In Georgia Letter Ruling SUT-2016-24, the Georgia Department of Revenue ruled that sales of software equipment delivered to a Georgia assembly facility on an out-of-state customer’s behalf were subject to Georgia sales and use tax. In the ruling, the taxpayer sold technology solutions, which were comprised of licenses of…
