UPwords - Prepaid Discount Vouchers: The Not-So-Final Frontier
In addition to A Pinch of SALT (our monthly State Tax Notes column on hot issues in state and local tax), Sutherland SALT regularly publishes UPwords, which covers the latest developments in unclaimed...
View ArticleReady, Set, Go - File Your Refund Claims! California Nortel Decision Is Final
On April 27, 2011, the California Supreme Court denied the State Board of Equalization’s (SBE) petition for review of Nortel Networks v. State Board of Equalization, 191 Cal.App.4th 1259 (2d. Dist....
View ArticleNexus Explosion: California Governor Signs Bill Expanding California Sales...
With all the drama and suspense of a Hollywood movie, California Governor Jerry Brown signed AB X1 28 on June 29—more than two weeks after the bill originally passed the California legislature. AB X1...
View ArticleColorado Repeals Software Tax Faster Than a Silver Bullet
In what is surely a sign of more good things to come, Colorado repealed its short-lived sales tax on “standardized” (canned) software other than canned software delivered by tangible storage medium....
View ArticleVirginia Supreme Court Includes Internet-Related Revenue in Tax Base (Sort of)
The Virginia Supreme Court recently issued an interesting decision related to the minimum tax on telecommunications companies. The court held that the State Corporation Commission (“SCC”) did not have...
View ArticleCalifornia Supreme Court Allows Telecom Tax Class Action Lawsuit
The California Supreme Court held that taxpayers may file a class action claim against a municipal government entity for the refund of the telephone users tax (TUT). Ardon v. City of Los Angeles, Case...
View ArticleCalifornia State Board of Equalization to Hold Annual Meeting with Assessors
The California State Board of Equalization will hold its annual meeting with assessors in which they will discuss a split roll property tax and taxation of embedded software (click here to view the...
View ArticleVirtual Chaos: Two States Log In to the Online Gaming Arena
Businesses that sell video games and related content online and by remote access have been pondering an essential sales and use taxability question: What is the proper characterization of the goods and...
View ArticleNexus? Who Said Anything about Nexus?: A Summary of the Federal Nexus Bills
Recently, there has been significant activity in Congress related to sales tax nexus. In July, Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) introduced the Main Street Fairness Act (the “Durbin Bill”), the first of...
View ArticlePower of Attorney: An Interview with Stephen Kranz
Sutherland SALT Partner Steve Kranz talks all things state and local tax in an interview with Billy Hamilton of State Tax Notes. Steve gives his candid take on the relationship between taxpayers and...
View ArticleWe Know Where You Live: California's Billing Address Sourcing
A recently released California Chief Counsel Ruling authorized a corporate taxpayer to use its customers’ billing addresses as a proxy for the customers’ “commercial domicile” in calculating the...
View ArticleIowa and Kansas: Remote Access to Software is Not Taxable . . . Or Is It?
Iowa and Kansas recently issued rulings regarding the taxability of cloud-based software applications and online training services. While the conclusions reached by both states—that the services are...
View ArticleColorado Court of Appeals Drops the "Ball" in Online Software and Data...
The Colorado Court of Appeals issued an opinion interpreting the City of Boulder’s software definition very broadly to impose use tax on downloaded software and, even more problematically, access to an...
View ArticleJoin Us at the Bloomberg BNA Tax Policy and Practice Summit
We hope you will join us on November 13-14 at the Bloomberg BNA Tax Policy and Practice Summit in Washington, D.C. Sutherland is pleased to sponsor the Summit and to offer our clients and friends a...
View ArticleDon't Touch That Dial: Virginia Department of Taxation Finds Set-Top Boxes...
On October 16, 2012, the Virginia Department of Taxation issued two identical determinations in which it found cable set-top boxes (a/k/a “converters”) exempt from the Business Tangible Personal...
View ArticleMissouri Issues Gift Certificate Guidance
The Missouri Department of Revenue (Department) issued guidance stating that gift certificates sold below face value by a radio station, which are redeemable for goods and services purchased at local...
View ArticleVirginia Commissioner: Reseller of Mobile Telephone Services Not a "Telephone...
The Virginia Tax Commissioner concluded in two recent rulings that a reseller of mobile telephone services is not a “telephone company” for purposes of the Virginia Business, Professional and...
View ArticleThe Clicks Keep on Coming in Pennsylvania
While most states that have “click-through nexus” sales tax laws have issued little to no guidance addressing the scope of their provisions, the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue (Department) issued...
View ArticleThe Lone Star State Swings the Lasso Around E-Commerce Services
In two reletter rulings, the Texas Comptroller’s office evaluated the sales and use taxability of certain unique web-based services. In Tex. Policy Letter Ruling 201207531L (July 31, 2012), the...
View ArticleCalifornia Court Finds in Favor of Microsoft, Upholds Costs of Performance
On December 18, 2012, the California Court of Appeal ruled that receipts from the right to replicate software are sourced as sales “other than tangible personal property.” In reversing the trial court,...
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