SALT Blog - SALT Blawg

As our previous post explains, the U.S. Supreme Court had extended the time to file petitions for certiorari in Crutchfield Corp. v. Joseph W. Testa, Tax Commissioner of Ohio (U.S. Supreme Court Docket No. 16A774), involving the Ohio Commercial Activity Tax (“CAT”).  However, prior to the deadline, the parties agreed to forego further litigation and entered into an undisclosed settlement agreement.  As such, the Ohio Supreme Court’s decision upholding the Ohio CAT stands. See Crutchfield Corp. v. Joseph W. Testa, Tax Commissioner of Ohio, 2016 WL 6775765 (2016).

Those hoping ...

As previously reported on the SALT Blawg, Chamberlain Hrdlicka attorneys Stewart M. Weintraub and Adam M. Koelsch, together with Peter L. Faber of McDermott, of Will & Emery LLP, filed in the U.S. Supreme Court an amicus brief on behalf of the American College of Tax Counsel in support of the petitioners challenging a retroactive repeal of tax legislation by the state of Michigan.  Although the petitioners and the amici had asserted various reasons for granting certiorari, the most prominent of those assertions was that the repeal, stretching seven years into the past, violates the Due ...

Just a few months after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the decision of the Tenth Circuit in Direct Mktg. Ass’n v. Brohl -- which upheld Colorado’s sales tax notice and reporting requirements for out-of-state retailers -- a Pennsylvania lawmaker has reintroduced a bill requiring online retailers to notify Pennsylvania purchasers when sales and use tax is due on their purchases.

In 2010, the Colorado legislature enacted a statute which requires a remote retailer that sells products to Colorado customers, but does not collect Colorado sales tax, to notify those ...

In less than two (2) months, Pennsylvania's 2017 Tax Amnesty Program will commence.  Those individuals with potential Pennsylvania tax liabilities should consider taking advantage of the program, which is slated to run from April 21, 2017 through June 19, 2017.  During those sixty (60) days, the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue (“Department”) will waive all penalties and half of the interest for anyone who participates.

The program applies to delinquencies existing as of December 31, 2015 – whether or not the delinquency is known to the Department.  The litany of taxes ...

Crutchfield appealed from imposition of the CAT upon revenue it earned from sales of electronic products within Ohio. Crutchfield is based outside of Ohio, maintains no employees in Ohio, and maintains no facilities in Ohio. The sole business that Crutchfield conducts in Ohio is via the shipment of goods from outside the state to consumers within the state using the United States Postal Service or common-carrier delivery services. Crutchfield contested the issuance of CAT assessments contending that substantial nexus within a state is a necessary prerequisite to imposing the tax ...

Recently, in Elan Pharm. v. Division of Taxation, the Tax Court of New Jersey issued a non-binding opinion that further limits the Division of Taxation’s enforcement of the controversial “throw out rule.”

Sometimes, when a multi-state taxpayer apportions its income, that taxpayer will source a receipt to a state in which the receipt is not subject to tax, either because the state has chosen not to tax it or because the state is not able to do so. One reason that a receipt may not be taxable, and a reason at issue in Elan Pharm., is P.L. 86-272 -- a federal law that prohibits a state from ...

In an unreported opinion, on February 6, 2017, the Commonwealth Court vacated an order of the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas, which had granted the motion of a Sheriff’s sale purchaser to intervene and to extend time to complete payment of the Sheriff’s sale purchase price.  The Commonwealth Court characterized the Purchaser’s motion as a “restart” of the Sheriff’s sale subject to the same detailed notice and hearing procedures as the initial sale.

In City of Philadelphia v. Singhal, No. 128 C.D. 2016, it was undisputed that the City of Philadelphia had properly ...

Just a few weeks ago, Chamberlain Hrdlicka attorneys Stewart M. Weintraub and Adam M. Koelsch, together with Peter L. Faber of McDermott, Will & Emery LLP, filed in the U.S. Supreme Court an amicus brief on behalf of the American College of Tax Counsel in support of the petitioners challenging the Michigan Court of Appeals’ September 2015 decision in Gillette Commercial Operations N. Am. v. Dep't of Treasury.

In the amicus, the attorneys argued that the Court of Appeals  had misapplied the holding of the Supreme Court in United States v. Carlton in order to sustain a retroactive repeal ...

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 ...