SALT Blog - SALT Blawg

On July 11, 2024, Governor Josh Shapiro signed into law a $47.6 billion budget for the 2024-2025 fiscal year. The new budget includes significant tax reform in an attempt to address some of the financial issues facing Pennsylvania residents and businesses.  

First, the budget includes some important, business-friendly changes.  The Net Operating Loss (“NOL”) deduction limitation will increase by 10% over four years. For tax year 2024, the NOL carryforward deduction is limited to 40% of a corporation’s taxable income. However, beginning January 1, 2026, the NOL deduction ...

On Friday, June 30, New Jersey lawmakers approved the state’s budget and enacted new legislation that would overhaul several provisions of the corporate tax system. The $54.3 billion budget was approved closely along party lines with contention, while the new provisions of the corporate tax system were approved unanimously without debate.

2024 Budget

Significant tax changes were made in the 2024 budget to help increase affordability for working and middle class families. One of the major programs that will receive funding through the new budget is the property tax relief ...

Real estate assessment appeal deadlines are quickly approaching in Pennsylvania for 2024 assessed values.  Taxpayers should review their assessed values and determine whether an appeal is appropriate.  The following is a list of upcoming appeal deadlines for 2024 assessments for each county:

• August 1^st: Adams, Bucks, Butler, Cambria, Chester, Dauphin, Erie, Fayette, Franklin, Indiana,  Lackawanna, Lancaster, Lawrence, Lehigh, Luzerne, Monroe, Montgomery, Northampton and York
• August 15^th: Berks
• August 31^st: Wyoming
• September 1^st: Armstrong, Bedford, Blair, Bradford ...

On February 28, 2023, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued its evenly divided opinions in GM Berkshire Hills LLC v. Berks County Board of Assessment Appeals, 16 MAP 2022 (“Berkshire”).  In Berkshire, the Wilson School District (“WSD” or “school district”) adopted a policy of appealing recently sold properties that were potentially underassessed by at least $150,000. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court granted cert, agreeing to review two issues:

• whether the school district’s selective real estate tax assessment appeals violate the uniformity clause when the ...

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decision in Synthes v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, 11 MAP 2021, a closely watched case dealing with differing interpretations of Pennsylvania’s costs of performance (“COP”) statute, which ultimately had the Department of Revenue (“DOR”) and the Office of Attorney General (“OAG”) on opposite sides. 

Prior to 2014, the statute required services to be sourced to the location of the “income-producing activity.”  Where the income-producing activity occurred both within and without Pennsylvania ...

In an opinion released September 9, 2022, the Online Merchants Guild (“Guild”) secured a victory against the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue (“Department”) in its attempt to collect information and back taxes on an estimated 11,000 out-of-state sellers who stored inventory in Amazon’s warehouses in Pennsylvania. See Online Merchants Guild v. Hassell, Pa. Commw. Ct. No. 179 MD 2021, 9/9/2022.

During 2012, Amazon and the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue (“Department”) entered into an agreement whereby Amazon agreed to voluntarily collect and remit ...

On August 3, 2022, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court upheld a panel decision finding that a senior living facility failed to qualify as a “purely public charity” and therefore was not entitled to exemption from sales tax. See Friends Boarding Home of W. Quarterly Meeting v. Commonwealth, No. 332 F.R. 2018 (Pa. Commw. Ct. Aug. 3, 2022) (op. not reported).  In order to satisfy the requirements for a “purely public charity,” an institution must satisfy the five-part HUP test, which requires that an institution:

• Advance a charitable purpose;
• Donate or renders gratuitously a ...

Pennsylvania and Philadelphia have implemented important changes to their taxes, affecting both businesses and individuals.  Below are the highlights of those recent changes.   

Pennsylvania Tax Changes

Pennsylvania’s 2022-2023 Budget Bill (H.B. 1342), adopted July 8, 2022, implements significant corporate net income tax (CNIT) and personal income tax (PIT) changes for taxpayers.  While many taxpayers within Pennsylvania will be happy to hear of these changes, those outside of Pennsylvania may not be so jubilant.

CNIT Rate Reduction

Under the new law, the corporate net income ...

With the start of the new fiscal year comes another change: a reversion to standard nexus policies for Pennsylvania and Philadelphia.  During the pandemic, both Pennsylvania and Philadelphia implemented temporary nexus policies.  Pennsylvania implemented temporary nexus waivers for purposes of its Corporate Net Income Tax (“CNIT”), while Philadelphia implemented similar waivers for purposes of its Business Income and Receipts Tax (“BIRT”).  Those temporary waivers for both Philadelphia and Pennsylvania expired on June 30, 2021.  While nothing has changed with ...

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear the case of New Hampshire v. Massachusetts, but this is not the last we will hear of the underlying issue.  During October 2020, Massachusetts adopted an emergency regulation addressing remote workers’ tax obligations.  The emergency regulation adopted a “status quo” approach, whereby Massachusetts treated employees who had been working in Massachusetts before the pandemic, but were now working remotely, as if they were still working in Massachusetts.  The tax implication of that policy was that nonresidents working entirely out ...