State & Local
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May 02, 2024
Calif. Bill Eyes Data Extraction Tax, Akin To Digital Ad Tax
California would levy the 7.25% state sales and use tax on large online companies with digital advertising revenue above $2.5 billion and would direct the tax revenue raised toward tax credits for local journalism outlets under a bill introduced by a key state senator.
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May 02, 2024
Fiserv Presses Fla. Appeals Court To Revive Tax Sourcing Suit
A Florida appeals court should overturn a lower court's dismissal of a tax sourcing challenge from Fiserv entities for failure to pay the contested amounts because state precedent doesn't allow the jurisdictional issue to negate the case, the companies argued.
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May 02, 2024
Mass. Property Is Agricultural, Appellate Board Says
A 14-acre property should be classified as agricultural, as the owner proved the land's main use was farming, the Massachusetts Appellate Tax Board said in a ruling released Thursday.
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May 02, 2024
Wyden Pushes Intuit To Help Users Get Refunds After Error
The Senate's top tax writer told Intuit's CEO that the company needs to help taxpayers in Oregon, the senator's home state, receive the full refunds they're entitled to after a reported error in its TurboTax product caused some Oregonians to overpay their state taxes.
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May 02, 2024
NY Assembly Bill Would Increase Tax Exemption For Clothing
New York would increase its tax exemption for items of clothing to $200 per item under a bill introduced in the state Assembly.
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May 02, 2024
Iowa Accelerates Transition To Flat Tax, Cuts Rate
Iowa is accelerating its transition to a flat individual income tax rate, slightly reducing the rate and extending the targeted jobs withholding credit, among other changes, under a tax omnibus signed by the governor.
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May 02, 2024
Nixon Peabody Adds Two Community Finance Attys In DC
Nixon Peabody LLP has hired two partners, who will focus their practices on helping nonprofits and other clients understand and obtain tax credits for a range of community development projects, to its community development finance practice in Washington, D.C., the firm announced Thursday.
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May 02, 2024
Colorado To Revise, Modernize Sales And Use Tax Statutes
Colorado will update the state's sales and use tax statutes and require more coordination between local taxing jurisdictions and the state Department of Revenue under legislation signed into law by Gov. Jared Polis.
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May 02, 2024
Iowa Creates Tax Break For Products Sold To Fairs
Iowa will provide a sales and use tax exemption for tangible personal property, digital products and services sold to a county or district fair and will designate such fairs as exempt entities under a bill signed by the governor.
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May 02, 2024
Mich. General Revenue Through March Drops $307M
Michigan's general revenue fund collection from October through March was down $307 million compared with the same period last year, the State Budget Office reported.
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May 02, 2024
W.Va. Revenues $637M Over Budget Forecast
West Virginia's general fund collections from July through April were $637.4 million ahead of budget estimates, according to the state budget office.
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May 02, 2024
Mont. Revenue Through April Sinks $263M, Dept. Says
Montana general fund revenue from July through April was down $263 million from the same period last year, the state Department of Revenue said.
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May 02, 2024
Colo. House OKs MTC Method For Corp. Tax Reporting
Colorado would change its method for determining the makeup of a combined corporate group to conform with other states and Multistate Tax Commission standards under legislation approved by the state House that also expands income tax credits.
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May 02, 2024
Colo. Lawmakers OK Lodging Tax Simplification Study
Colorado would look at ways to simplify administration of its local lodging taxes under legislation approved Thursday by the state Senate.
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May 02, 2024
Former Mich. Speaker, Wife Arraigned On Embezzling Charges
A former speaker of the Michigan House of Representatives and his wife pled not guilty on Thursday to multiple financial crimes and received the judge's blessing to travel out of state to attend the Kentucky Derby, in their first court appearance since the charges were announced.
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May 01, 2024
T-Mobile Gets Tax Reimbursement Suit Tossed For Good
T-Mobile has convinced a New Jersey federal court to toss for good a suit brought by a middleman seeking to collect tax reimbursements the mobile behemoth had supposedly promised a landlord after it didn't fix the deficiencies in its suit the third go round.
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May 01, 2024
Senate Dems Reintroduce Bill To Tax And Regulate Cannabis
Senate Democrats on Wednesday reintroduced a cannabis legalization bill that would remove the drug entirely from the ambit of the Controlled Substances Act and impose a tax-and-regulate scheme akin to what is currently in place for alcohol and tobacco.
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May 01, 2024
Colo. House OKs Tax Credits For Middle-Income Housing
The Colorado House approved a pilot program Wednesday to provide a tax credit to developers of housing aimed at middle-income residents
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May 01, 2024
Mont. Tax Dept. Floats Updated Regs For Water's-Edge Filers
Montana would carry out recently enacted legislation that eliminated a requirement for a so-called water's-edge return to include income and apportionment factors from corporate affiliates incorporated in a now-defunct list of tax havens under regulatory updates proposed by the state Department of Revenue.
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May 01, 2024
RI Corp. Not Entitled To Untimely Refund, Division Rules
A corporation doing business in Rhode Island is not entitled to a refund of sales tax overpayment despite signing a statute of limitations waiver during an audit, the state Division of Taxation ruled.
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May 01, 2024
Collecting, Not Paying May Mean Penalties In MTC Program
The Multistate Tax Commission will make clear that a taxpayer that has collected but not remitted certain taxes during a grace period for liability will likely forfeit at least part of the grace period, an official said Wednesday.
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May 01, 2024
Miss. Narrows Tax Break For Entities That Support Colleges
Tax exemptions for Mississippi nonprofit foundations that support colleges will only be provided to properties that are exclusively used to benefit the schools under a bill signed by the governor.
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May 01, 2024
Ala. Extends Deadline For 2023 Pass-Through Entity Election
The Alabama Department of Revenue announced Wednesday that it has extended the due date for pass-through entities to file the election to be taxed as such in 2023.
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May 01, 2024
Colo. House OKs Boost To Affordable Housing Tax Credit
Colorado would increase the funds available for the state's affordable housing tax credits for six years under legislation approved Wednesday by the state House of Representatives.
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May 01, 2024
Miss. To Provide Tax Break For Aircraft Used In Commerce
Mississippi will provide a sales tax exemption for the sale, lease or transfer of aircraft to certified common carriers for the transport of people or property in interstate, intrastate and foreign commerce under a bill signed by the governor.
Expert Analysis
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Why Supreme Court Should Allow Repatriation Tax To Stand
If the U.S. Supreme Court doesn't reject the taxpayers' misguided claims in Moore v. U.S. that the mandatory repatriation tax is unconstitutional, it could wreak havoc on our system of taxation and result in a catastrophic loss of revenue for the government, say Christina Mason and Theresa Balducci at Herrick Feinstein.
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For Lawyers, Pessimism Should Be A Job Skill, Not A Life Skill
A pessimistic mindset allows attorneys to be effective advocates for their clients, but it can come with serious costs for their personal well-being, so it’s crucial to exercise strategies that produce flexible optimism and connect lawyers with their core values, says Krista Larson at Stinson.
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Trump's NY Civil Fraud Trial Spotlights Long-Criticized Law
A New York court’s recent decision holding former President Donald Trump liable for fraud brought old criticisms of the state law used against him back into the limelight — including its strikingly broad scope and its major departures from the traditional elements of common law fraud, say Mark Kelley and Lois Ahn at MoloLamken.
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Speaking Of Ideas Hard To Swallow: SALT In Review
From a Pennsylvania bill that would force corporate tax disclosure to a proposed candy tax in California, RSM's David Brunori offers his thoughts on noteworthy state and local tax news.
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Requiring Leave To File Amicus Briefs Is A Bad Idea
A proposal to amend the Federal Rules of Appellate Procedure that would require parties to get court permission before filing federal amicus briefs would eliminate the long-standing practice of consent filing and thereby make the process less open and democratic, says Lawrence Ebner at the Atlantic Legal Foundation and DRI Center.
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4 Ways To Motivate Junior Attorneys To Bring Their Best
As Gen Z and younger millennial attorneys increasingly express dissatisfaction with their work and head for the exits, the lawyers who manage them must understand and attend to their needs and priorities to boost engagement and increase retention, says Stacey Schwartz at Katten.
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Former Minn. Chief Justice Instructs On Writing Better Briefs
Former Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Lorie Gildea, now at Greenberg Traurig, offers strategies on writing more effective appellate briefs from her time on the bench.
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Stay Interviews Are Key To Retaining Legal Talent
Even as the economy shifts and layoffs continue, law firms still want to retain their top attorneys, and so-called stay interviews — informal conversations with employees to identify potential issues before they lead to turnover — can be a crucial tool for improving retention and morale, say Tina Cohen Nicol and Kate Reder Sheikh at Major Lindsey.
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Neb. Justices Should Weigh IRC Terms In Dividend Tax Case
Nebraska’s highest court, which will hear oral arguments in Precision CastParts v. Department of Revenue on April 1, should recognize that the Internal Revenue Code provides key clues to defining “dividends received or deemed to be received,” and therefore limits Nebraska’s tax on foreign-sourced corporate income, says Joseph Schmidt at Ryan.
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Strange But True, Here And There: SALT In Review
From a confusing proposal to relocate the Louisiana Tax Commission to a perplexing legislative vote on a citizen initiative in Washington state, RSM's David Brunori offers his thoughts on noteworthy state and local tax news.
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Judicial Independence Is Imperative This Election Year
As the next election nears, the judges involved in the upcoming trials against former President Donald Trump increasingly face political pressures and threats of violence — revealing the urgent need to safeguard judicial independence and uphold the rule of law, says Benes Aldana at the National Judicial College.
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Spartan Arbitration Tactics Against Well-Funded Opponents
Like the ancient Spartans who held off a numerically superior Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae, trial attorneys and clients faced with arbitration against an opponent with a bigger war chest can take a strategic approach to create a pass to victory, say Kostas Katsiris and Benjamin Argyle at Venable.
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What Recent Study Shows About AI's Promise For Legal Tasks
Amid both skepticism and excitement about the promise of generative artificial intelligence in legal contexts, the first randomized controlled trial studying its impact on basic lawyering tasks shows mixed but promising results, and underscores the need for attorneys to proactively engage with AI, says Daniel Schwarcz at University of Minnesota Law School.