Alston & Bird Tax Blog

Sales and Use Tax

States Continue to Challenge Quill’s Physical Presence Standard

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When a client calls us to inquire about sales tax exposure, we instinctively start asking questions about people and possessions: “Do you have property in other states? Where do you have employees? Have you sent any sales representatives to any states where you have made sales?” For decades, tax practitioners have known that a proper sales tax nexus analysis begins with physical presence. It’s black-letter law, after all. States can’t levy sales tax on someone who isn’t there. We know this because of Quill Corp. v. North Dakota and National Bellas Hess v. Illinois before it. [...]Read more

Connecticut Revenue Commissioner Suggests That States “Ramp Up” Economic Nexus for Sales Tax Purposes

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In a provocative op-ed published in the March/April issue of the Journal of Multistate Taxation and Incentives, the Connecticut Commissioner of Revenue Services (Kevin Sullivan) argues that given Congress’s apparent unwillingness to pass the Marketplace Fairness Act, the states should consider taking matters into their own hands and simply act as if Quill is no longer good law. The Commissioner appears to have been emboldened by Justice Kennedy’s concurrence in the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent decision in Direct Marketing Association v. Brohl, No. 13-1032, __ S. Ct. __ (Mar. 3, 2015), in [...]Read more

State & Local Tax ADVISORY: California Supreme Court Holds in Target That Consumers May Not Sue Under Consumer Protection Laws for Damages Resulting from Excessive Sales Tax Collection

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This advisory discusses Loeffler v. Target Corporation, which involved a claim for a refund of allegedly improperly collected sales taxes brought under California’s consumer protection laws, and how the California Supreme Court held that the refund scheme created by the California tax code provides the exclusive remedy for a dispute over the applicability of the state sales tax to retail transactions. The court’s holding closely followed the logic and policy reasoning outlined in an amicus brief filed in the case by Alston & Bird. The advisory is provided on the Alston & Bird website: www.alston.com/advisories/loeffler-target/  [...]Read more

“Technical” Revenue Laws Changes in North Carolina

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On June 21, 2012, the North Carolina General Assembly enacted its annual updates and so-called technical revisions of the revenue laws. Session Law 2012-79. Affiliated Corporations. GS 105-130.2(a) is amended to add a definition of “affiliate” for all corporate income tax purposes. Originally, the corporate tax part referred to affiliate in two places: GS 105-130.6, which authorized correcting non-arms-length pricing between affiliates, and GS 105-130.5, listing the North Carolina adjustments to federal taxable income. Two of those adjustments were and still are adjustments for pricing [...]Read more

Tax Advisory: Outwit, Outplay, Outsourced: A Sales and Use Tax Survivor Guide

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Attached is a link to a recently prepared State & Local Tax Advisory titled “’Outwit, Outplay, Outsourced’: A Sales and Use Tax Survivor Guide.” This article was originally published on May 7, 2012, in State Tax Notes, as part of Alston & Bird’s regular column “Audit & Beyond.” See 64 State Tax Notes 379 (May 7, 2012). When people hear or read about U.S. companies engaging in outsourcing transactions, their immediate reaction is negative because they envision those U.S. companies moving jobs overseas, most notably to India. Indeed, in 2004, [...]Read more