Read our July 2016 posts on stateandlocaltax.com or read each article by clicking on the title. For the latest coverage and commentary on state and local tax developments delivered directly to your phone, download the latest version of the Sutherland SALT Shaker app.

• Software + Services = No Tax: Bundles of Electronically-Transferred Software and Related Services Not Subject to Georgia Sales and Use Tax
  The Georgia Department of Revenue (Department) released a letter ruling stating that a taxpayer’s sales of computer software and related services were not subject to sales and use tax.
• SALT Pets of the Month: Noel and Honey
  Meet Noel and Honey, the beloved guinea pigs of Sutherland SALT Counsel Open Weaver Banks.
• Money for Nothing: Massachusetts Appeals Court Finds Intercompany Financing Transactions Did Not Constitute Genuine Indebtedness
  The Massachusetts Appeals Court upheld an Appellate Tax Board decision disallowing interest expense on certain intercompany financing transactions because the underlying agreements did not establish an “unqualified obligation to repay.”
• Compact, But No Contract: Minnesota Supreme Court Holds Compact Did Not Create Binding Contractual Obligation
  The Minnesota Supreme Court held that Minnesota’s adoption of the Multistate Tax Compact (Compact) did not create a binding contractual obligation and, as a result, the state’s subsequent repeal of the Compact’s alternative apportionment election provision was not prohibited as unconstitutionally impairing contractual obligations.
• Keep It in the Family: North Carolina Appellate Court Finds Taxation of Trust Violates Due Process
  The North Carolina Court of Appeals held that it would violate Due Process to impose income tax on an out-of-state inter vivos trust because the trust lacked a sufficient connection with North Carolina.
• Washington ALJ Rules Out-of-State Insurance Provider’s Marketing Subject to Business & Occupation Tax as Other Services
  An administrative law judge (ALJ) held that a taxpayer’s activities in Washington were not selling, soliciting or negotiating insurance in the state, but rather marketing other in-state insurance companies’ products and receiving commissions from those marketing materials.
• Don’t Take This Personally: Wisconsin Court Holds State Does Not Have Jurisdiction Over Mississippi DOR
  The Wisconsin Court of Appeals held that Wisconsin courts lacked personal jurisdiction over the Mississippi Department of Revenue so as to subject it to a lawsuit in the state.