The BR State + Local Tax Spotlight: February 2022
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Note from the Editors
Welcome to the February 2022 edition of The BR State + Local Tax Spotlight. We understand the unique demands of staying on top of important State + Local Tax developments, which happen frequently and across numerous jurisdictions. Staying updated on significant legislative developments and judicial decisions helps tax departments function more efficiently and improves strategy and planning. That is where The BR State + Local Tax Spotlight can help. In each edition, we will highlight for you important State + Local Tax developments that could impact your business. In this issue, we will be covering:
- A recent New York tax appeals tribunal decision determining a service measuring advertising effectiveness is not an information service subject to state sales tax because the service provider did not have the technical ability to provide the information to its other customers;
- A recent petition for writ of certiorari asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Washington Supreme Court decision that allowed the state to impose an arguably discriminatory business and occupation surtax on financial institutions; and
- A recent New Jersey tax court decision rejecting the Division of Taxation’s attempt to offset a taxpayer’s refund against a purported liability from a closed tax year.
We invite you to share The BR State + Local Tax Spotlight with your colleagues and visit Blank Rome’s State + Local Tax webpage for more information about our team. Click here to add State + Local Tax to your subscription preferences.
Eugene J. Gibilaro and Anna Uger
ARTICLES
Service Excluded from New York Sales Tax Since It Was Not Furnished to Others
By Craig B. Fields
The New York State Tax Appeals Tribunal held that an information service was not subject to sales tax because although the service provider had the right to provide the information to others, it did not have the technical ability to do so. Read More »
A Battle against Discrimination
By Nicole L. Johnson
It is without question that when the Washington Legislature enacted the Business & Occupation surtax on financial institutions with consolidated net income of at least one billion dollars, the Legislature had a discriminatory intent—namely, they sought to impose the additional tax on out-of-state financial institutions. However, the question remains whether there is an impermissible discriminatory effect of the surtax. Read More »
New Jersey Tax Court Rules that the Division Cannot Offset a Taxpayer’s Refund against a Liability from a Closed Tax Year
By Eugene J. Gibilaro
On January 19, 2022, the New Jersey Tax Court issued a decision denying the Division of Taxation’s attempt to take away a refund due to a taxpayer and apply it against a purported liability from a tax period for which the four-year statute of limitations had lapsed, calling the Division’s attempted application of the refund to the closed tax period “tantamount to a[n unlawful] reopening and audit of closed years.” Read More »
WHAT’S SHAKING: BLANK ROME STATE + LOCAL TAX ROUNDUP
Blank Rome’s nationally prominent State + Local Tax attorneys are thought leaders in the community as frequent guest speakers at various local and national conferences throughout the year. Our State + Local Tax attorneys believe it is necessary to educate and inform their clients and contacts about topics that will impact their businesses. We invite you to attend, listen, and learn as our State + Local Tax attorneys interpret and discuss key legal issues companies are facing and how you can put together a plan of action to mitigate risk and advance your business in accordance with state and local tax laws. Read More »