Articles Posted in Issues

On April 20, Carley Roberts presents “State Tax Tribunals – Perspectives from Both Sides of the Bench” during Council on State Taxation’s 2018 Income Tax Conference.

On April 13, Pillsbury senior counsel Richard Nielsen presents “Sales Taxation of Digital Commerce in the United States” during the the “Digital Economy in the Crosshairs” panel session at the American Bar Association’s 18th Annual Tax Planning Strategies U.S. and Europe Conference.

(Note this originally appeared in March 26, 2018, edition of State Tax Notes) Nearly every state that imposes a corporate income tax includes a sales factor in its apportionment formula. Generally, the sales factor in computed by comparing a taxpayer’s “in-state” sales to its total sales. Determining in-state sales of…

TAKEAWAYS New initiative seeks to eliminate Proposition 13 protection for commercial and industrial property by requiring fair market value reassessments at least every three years Initiative seeks to add a $500,000 tangible personal property tax exemption for all taxpayers and a full exemption for taxpayers with less than 50 California…

TAKEAWAYS It is estimated that about $65 million annually would be collected from the commercial real estate industry under the Housing for All tax. It is estimated that about $150 million annually would be collected from the commercial real estate industry under the Universal Childcare for San Francisco Families tax.…

(This article originally was published by Law360 on October 10, 2017.) States historically have had one major impediment to their ability to collect sales tax—the decision in Quill Corporation v. North Dakota to uphold a physical presence test standard for determining nexus.[1] Since the Quill decision, states have applied various…

The majority of states impose a form of a corporate income tax. However, currently five states—Delaware, Ohio, Nevada, Texas and Washington—impose a broad-based, statewide corporate gross receipts tax. The most recent addition to that list is Nevada, which in its 2015 Legislative Session enacted a new Commerce Tax that is…

As consumer products become more high tech, the line between computers and traditional devices has blurred. Even basic products, such as toothbrushes, alarm clocks, doorbells, smartphones, cameras, home security systems, printers and copiers now include technical software that enables new functionality options for the device. As a general principle, tangible…

(This article originally was published in Vol. 25, No. 4 of the California Lawyers Association’s California Tax Lawyer.) Section 995 and 995.2 of the California Revenue & Taxation Code exempt all software except for basic operational programs from property taxation. Basic input output systems, known as BIOS, draw the line…

(This article originally was published by Law360 on March 17, 2016.) A New York state Division of Tax Appeals administrative law judge issued three determinations addressing the tax implications for unauthorized insurance companies, both life and nonlife.[1] Significant uncertainty has surrounded New York state’s taxation of unauthorized insurance companies since…