Tax News

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It’s no secret that states are running the most significant budget shortfalls in the Post-WWII era. As a remedy, they can either raise tax rates, increase the base, add more taxes, or heighten enforcement. Clearly the most pragmatic thing, and least politically problematic thing to do is heighten enforcement. And the ...

Ever since, and even before, the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark 1992 decision in Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, in which it affirmed the Commerce Clause ‘physical presence’ standard for sales tax nexus, Congress has continually grappled with the increasing sales tax revenue shortfalls and perceived unfair advantage that online and mail-order retailers have ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

YOU DON’T KNOW THAT YOU DON’T KNOW

When I am referred in to a new client, the client and I go through a set of diagnostic questions designed to help us evaluate the company’s taxable presence, current sales tax compliance, and historical sales tax exposure. Often times, as I begin asking the ...

REPEALED!!

In case you missed the recently effective sales tax in Massachusetts on certain computer services, its over. Effective September 30, 2013, recent legislation, St. 2013, c. 95, retroactively repeals recently effected imposition of the Massachusetts sales and use tax to certain services relating to computer system design and to modification, integration, enhancement, installation, or ...