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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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Use & Occupancy Tax

Sales Tax Audits

Dillon Tax Consulting
10/16/2023

ARE YOU READY?

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 ...

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The Quill ‘Physical Presence’ Standard – A “Perfect Storm” Brewing

Dillon Tax Consulting
3/15/2015

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 ...

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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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State Efforts to Define “Cloud Computing” Spell Opportunity for Taxpayers

Dillon Tax Consulting
11/27/2013

A recent Massachusetts letter ruling refines its definition of cloud computing, a rapidly evolving computer medium that includes, among other things, the Internet provision of Software As a Service (SAaS), Infrastructure As a Service (IAaS), and Platforms As a Service (PAaS). SAaS - the most common form of cloud computing – involves the provision of access to ...

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Sales Tax

Dillon Tax Consulting
10/16/2013

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 ...

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