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Sales Tax Update – March 2024

Michael T Dillon, Dillon Tax Consulting LLC
3/21/2024

On March 11, 2024, Delegate David Moon (D) introduced H.B. 1515 to the House Ways and Means Committee of the Maryland General Assembly, through which he proposed to broadly expand the sales tax base to cover many services, while reducing the sales tax rate from 6% to 5%.  Delegate Moon proposed that expanding the sales and use tax to include services could result in a total revenue increase of approximately $1.4 billion in fiscal 2025 and $4.2 billion in fiscal 2029. This would significantly offset any rate reduction, resulting is significant increases to the State’s General ...

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South Carolina's Expansive Treatment of Cloud Computing Services as Taxable Communications

Dillon Tax Consulting
11/24/2014

As states continue to wrestle to define tax policy for the services that comprise the expanding world of cloud computing, South Carolina has again asserted its expansive approach for taxing anything that resembles communications services, including charges for Software As a Service (SAaS) or Platform As a Service (PAaS). [Private Letter Ruling #14-4, South Carolina ...

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An Interview with Bloomberg BNA: Will the Internet Tax Freedom Act Prohibit States From Taxing the 'Internet of Things'?

Dillon Tax Consulting
9/10/2014

Telematics services, or the "Internet of Things", require Internet access and Internet related services in order to be provided. The Internet Tax Freedom Act dictates that in most instances, "Internet access" shall be exempt from sales tax. It remains to be seen how states will define telematics and seek to apply existing or new sales ...

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Virginia Ignores ITFA and Issues Tax Rulings on Internet Activation and Reactivation Fees

Dillon Tax Consulting
9/10/2014

In two recent rulings, Virginia Ruling of the Commissioner PD 14-130 and 14-131 , the Virginia Commissioner ruled that Internet activation and Internet reactivation fees are not exempt under the Internet Tax Freedom Act. Rather they are subject to Virginia's communications sales tax. In Bloomberg BNA's 9/5 /14 Sales Tax Slice blog posting ...

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U.S. Supreme Court Grants Review of Jurisdictional Decision Regarding Colorado Notification Law

Dillon Tax Consulting
7/4/2014

On July 1, 2014, the United States Supreme Court granted the petition for writ of certiorari filed by Petitioner Direct Marketing Association (DMA) in a case involving Colorado’s controversial notification law. [Direct Marketing Association v. Brohl, U.S. Supreme Court, Dkt. 13-1032, petition for certiorari granted July 1, 2014] This case stems from Colorado ...

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Seeking What You Need To Hear vs. Seeking What You Want To Hear

Dillon Tax Consulting
6/30/2014

Sometimes my job can be quite difficult. I don’t enjoy telling the client that they have nexus, and/or that they have sales tax exposure in a state that they should address as soon as possible. Trust me, I would much rather share the news with a client that everything they are doing is ...

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Maryland High Court Attributes Nexus To Out-of-State Affiliates Due To Lack Of ‘Economic Substance’, Not Based On Unitary Nexus

Dillon Tax Consulting
4/2/2014

On March 24, 2014, Maryland’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, upheld a finding of nexus against two Delaware affiliates of W.L. Gore & Associates, Ltd. (Gore), on the premise that the affiliates lacked any economic substance [ Gore Enterprise Holdings, Inc. v. Comptroller of the Treasury, Md. Ct. App., No 36 (March 24, 2014 ...

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Judge Spares Remote Sellers From Colorado Notice Requirements

Dillon Tax Consulting
4/2/2014

On February 18, 2014, a Colorado judge enjoined the Colorado Department of Revenue’s enforcement of the remote seller sales and use tax notification requirements enacted by the Colorado legislature in 2010. [Direct Marketing Association v. Dep't of Revenue et al.; District Court, City and County of Denver, Case No. 13CV34855 (2/18/14 ...

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