SALT Blog - SALT Blawg

Chamberlain Hrdlicka’s SALT Practice Chair, Stewart Weintraub, recently wrote an article about Philadelphia RAR Overpayments for the Journal of Multistate Taxation and Incentives.

His article, “Philadelphia RAR Overpayments – Not for the Faint of Heart,” discusses a recent Philadelphia case in which a statute of limitations barring a refund did not prohibit credits against future taxes.

Stewart outlined the Philadelphia Business Income and Receipts Tax (BIRT) structure, the facts of the case, the statute of limitations issues and the case’s conclusion. The ...

by Stewart Weintraub

I am pleased to share with you that I will be speaking at the upcoming meeting of the ABA Tax Section State & Local Tax Committee, in Boston MA.  The panel presentation is titled: “Selling Your Business: Where’s Our Share?  State Taxes on the Sale of an Interstate Business or Subsidiary,”.

From AmericanBar.org:

“The panel will discuss the key SALT issues that arise from the sale of a business or a subsidiary, including stock sales that are treated as asset sales under IRC Section 338. The panel will review how these transactions were treated under UDITPA's ...

by Stewart Weintraub and Jennifer Weidler

On February 2, 2012, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court (“Commonwealth Court”) affirmed the decisions of the Philadelphia County Common Pleas Court and the City of Philadelphia Tax Review Board (“TRB”),finding Expedia, Inc. (“Expedia”)was not an operator of a hotel and was not subject to the City of Philadelphia’s (“City”) Hotel Room Rental Tax (“Hotel Tax”).

Expedia is an online travel company that allows travelers to make reservations for hotel rooms, flights, rental cars, events and other travel ...

by Stewart Weintraub and Jennifer Weidler

The Tennessee Court of Appeals held that an out-of-state book distributor, Scholastic Book Clubs, Inc. (“Scholastic”), was obligated to collect Tennessee sales and use taxes because the distributor had substantial nexus with the state.

The court found the substantial nexus to be present through the local schools and teachers who participated in Scholastic’s program, holding that those teachers acted as agents for the company.  It found that Scholastic utilized teachers to effectuate its sales, creating a de facto ...

by Stewart Weintraub and Jennifer Karpchuk

Pennsylvania is now attempting to join the list of states which have challenged the use of the so-called Delaware Loophole.  In the past, other states have challenged the Delaware Loophole by litigation or by legislation.  The legislative remedies involved enacting either combined reporting or disallowing the deduction for the royalty payments.  OnWednesday January 25^th, House Bill 2150, Printer’s No. 3019 (“Bill 2150”), was introduced into the Pennsylvania Legislature.  If enacted,Bill 2150 would amend the Pennsylvania ...

by Stewart Weintraub and Jennifer Weidler

Each year the Pennsylvania State Tax Equalization Board ("STEB") calculates and publishes the common level ratio ("CLR") for each county in the state.  The Pennsylvania General County Assessment Law provides that there cannot be more than a 15% differential between the STEB CLR and the county's Established Predetermined Ratio ("EPR"). 72 P.S. § 5020-511(c).  For decades the STEB CLR for Philadelphia County fell slightly below, but within 15% of the county's EPR of 32%.  This year marked a drastic change for Philadelphia.  For tax year ...

by Stewart Weintraub and Jennifer Weidler

As a means of increasing corporate tax collections, some states have turned to contingent-fee audit contractors – sometimes referred to as "bounty hunters."  These bounty hunter firms are compensated based upon a percentage of the amount of tax assessed, creating an incentive for the firms to not only aggressively audit taxpayers, but to stretch interpretations of the law to and beyond the limits.  Having an economic interest in the assessments resulting from the bounty hunter audits, creates an inherent conflict of interest.

Not ...

by Stewart Weintraub and Jennifer Weidler

The Washington Supreme Court is currently considering the legality of the state legislature's attempt to create a statutory amendment barring the granting of twenty-four (24) years of tax refund claims.  Tesoro Refining & Marketing Co., No. 39417-1-II (Wash. Ct. App. Dec. 21, 2010).  Tesoro Refining and Marketing Company ("Tesoro") is a manufacturer of bunker fuels.   Prior to 2009, Washington law permitted companies that manufacture and sell a qualifying fuel (e.g. bunker fuel) to deduct the amount derived from the sale of the fuel ...

by Stewart Weintraub and Jennifer Weidler

This past week, Michigan senior citizens packed into the Michigan Supreme Court to hear oral arguments over the legality of a proposed change that would impose a tax upon their public pensions.  Notably, this is not the first time that Michigan was involved with litigation concerning its taxation of pension plans.  During the late 1980s, the U.S. Supreme Court decided a case involving the Michigan Income Tax Act ("Act").  The Act provided an exemption from taxation for all retirement benefits paid by the State or its political ...

by Stewart Weintraub and Jennifer Weidler

Earlier this week, the New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division, affirmed a decision of the Tax Court of New Jersey finding that a lack of nexus existed for distributions made to a foreign limited liability partner from a partnership with an in-state presence. See, BIS LP Inc. v. Division of Taxation, Docket No. A-1172-09T2 (NJ Super. Ct. 2011).

BIS, the taxpayer at issue, was a foreign corporation with no place of business, property, employees or agents in the state of New Jersey.  Its only interest was its ninety-nine percent (99 ...