State and Local

Nexus: Reports of Its Death Are Clearly Premature
Nexus must still be addressed before taxes can be imposed

In the wake of South Dakota v. Wayfair Inc.1 and the U.S. Supreme Court’s endorsement of economic nexus, a subject of wide discussion has been whether nexus issues are dead in the context of sales tax and corporate income tax. Two recent developments indicate that, while the framework for analyzing… Read more »

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Technology and Automation: A Road Map for State and Local Tax Professionals
Challenges include spreadsheet-based calculations, manual tax software inputs and overrides, and cumbersome work papers

Tax functions today are under increased pressure to make processes more efficient and ensure proper compliance and reporting, while still taking time to analyze and synthesize growing volumes of raw data to provide more strategic insights. Predictably, the increased focus on analytics and strategic reporting drives the need for organizations… Read more »

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Reforming SALT—Assessing the Impact of Tax Reform on States
Since each state has its own approach to corporate taxation, impacts are likely to vary

Unless you have very recently awakened from a lengthy hibernation (and if you have, we hope it was restful), you are no doubt familiar with the federal tax reform bill known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (hereinafter called “federal tax reform”), the most comprehensive tax legislation passed since… Read more »

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Fair Is Fair—How to Assert For and Defend Against Alternative Apportionment
Alternative apportionment presents opportunities and challenges for taxpayers

The concept of apportionment in state taxation is an exception to the rule that life can be unfair. State apportionment must be fair. A wooden reading of a generally applicable apportionment law may not stand if that law yields an unfair result in a particular case. Alternative apportionment exists to… Read more »

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Unfair Apportionment: Consider the Alternatives
The taxpayer’s task is to assess both constitutional and statute-based options

When must state apportionment be fair? Always. If a state’s normal apportionment formula is operating unfairly with respect to your company, you need to consider the alternatives. The United States Supreme Court has articulated a four-part test for determining whether a state tax burdens interstate commerce in violation of the… Read more »

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Nexus Is Crucial, Complex Connection for State Tax Professionals
After financial crisis, states enacted broader laws to increase revenues

Nexus is a wondrous word, replete with meanings. A quick search turns up all kinds of interesting uses. Nexus is a cell phone, it is a type of android from the movie Blade Runner, and it appears in the names of songs, bands, and albums. It is a superhero, the… Read more »

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2016 State Tax Bellwethers — Some Cautionary Notes
Commerce is changing – and, not surprisingly, the state and local tax milieu is shifting as well – so taxpayers need to be on their toes

In 2016 several states have used a variety of tools in an attempt to manage challenges that plague all states. From contesting established United States Supreme Court precedents to making broad-sweeping statutory interpretations of state laws, the landscape of state and local tax is shifting to address the evolution of… Read more »

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States Fine-Tune Market-Based Sourcing Rules Through Regulation
The devil is in the details in this complex, emerging issue

In 2015, the rubber met the road, and states began to accelerate the adoption of detailed regulations to accompany what is often vague statutory language to source receipts from the sale of services and intangibles based on the location of the “market.” In this article, we survey the key proposed… Read more »

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Procedural State Tax Issues: Part II
Coordinating Multistate Litigation

Managing state tax controversies is a complex task that involves an understanding of substantive and procedural rules that vary significantly by jurisdiction. Part I of this article, published in the May/June issue of Tax Executive, explored considerations for selecting the best forum for litigation. Part II of this article addresses… Read more »

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Procedural State Tax Issues: Part I
Finding the Best Forum

Managing state and local tax controversies is not an easy task. In addition to understanding the differences between the substantive laws applied in each jurisdiction, multistate taxpayers also need to understand the differences in procedural rules governing those disputes. In this two-part article, we address the most common issues that… Read more »

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