Alston & Bird Tax Blog

State Tax Litigation

Colorado Asks the Supreme Court to Overturn Quill

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On August 29, the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) submitted a certiorari petition to the U.S. Supreme Court asking the Court to review the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals’ decision in Direct Marketing Association v. Brohl (Brohl II). The case already made one trip to the Supreme Court (Brohl I), in which the Court held that the Tax Injunction Act did not bar federal-court review of the case. On remand, the Tenth Circuit held that Colorado’s use tax reporting regime did not violate the Commerce Clause. (To refresh: Colorado’s regime requires out-of-state sellers to report sales to Colorado [...]Read more

North Carolina Appellate Court Affirms that Taxation of Trust’s Income is Unconstitutional

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On July 5, 2016, the Court of Appeals of North Carolina affirmed the 2015 decision by the superior court in The Kimberley Rice Kaestner 1992 Family Trust v. N.C. Dep't of Revenue, which held that North Carolina was constitutionally prohibited from taxing the income of the plaintiff trust.  Essentially, the state asserted jurisdiction to tax the trust's income based solely on the fact that the beneficiaries of the trust were North Carolina residents (the trust had no other connection with the state).  The superior court rejected this assertion, concluding that the state could not impose the tax [...]Read more

Sales Tax Nexus Roundup – Introducing Louisiana and Tennessee

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We have been closely following the rapid rise of state laws and regulations imposing sales tax nexus or reporting requirements on out-of-state sellers with no physical presence in the state. In the wake of decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit in cases brought by the Direct Marketing Association (see prior coverage), states have felt emboldened to enact provisions that challenge the Supreme Court's holding in Quill v. North Dakota, which demands that a seller have physical presence in a state before the state can require the seller to collect [...]Read more

South Dakota Takes NCSL Challenge, Enacts Sales Tax Nexus Law

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In February, we discussed how the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) circulated a letter to all the states encouraging them to enact laws to challenge the physical-presence standard for sales tax nexus articulated in Quill v. North Dakota. On March 22, South Dakota heeded the NCLS's call when Gov. Dennis Daugaard signed SB 106. SB 106 imposes a sales tax collection obligation on out-of-state sellers "as if the seller had physical presence in the state," provided that the seller meets one of two conditions: (1) the seller's gross revenue from taxable products or services delivered [...]Read more

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