Alston & Bird Tax Blog

nexus

‘Wayfair’: What Are the Practical Retroactivity Concerns?

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What is the practical risk that states attempt to apply Wayfair retroactively? And should taxpayers rush to limit exposure for historical periods by entering into voluntary disclosure agreements with states that might assess tax retroactively under Wayfair? In an article originally published in Bloomberg BNA’s Weekly State Tax Report, Zach Gladney and Charles Wakefield explain why applying Wayfair retroactively would be misguided and unsuccessful. To read the full article, click here. [...]Read more

The Supreme Court Weighs a New State Tax Nexus Standard, Again

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The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the latest challenge to Quill’s physical-presence standard for collecting state use taxes. Our State & Local Tax Group provides a first-hand account of the lively debate and analyzes the Justices’ willingness to overturn the 25-year-old standard. South Dakota takes up Kennedy’s suggestion What is the real-dollar impact? Retroactivity becomes an issue Read the full advisory here. [...]Read more

State & Local Tax ADVISORY: Georgia Legislation Roundup 2017: General Assembly Fails to Pass Economic Nexus Bill

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Which tax bills survived sine die? Our State & Local Tax Group reviews the three major tax bills of the 2017 Georgia General Assembly.
• HB 329 – the omnibus bill
• HB 225 – the rideshare bill
• HB 283 – the IRC conformity bill

Read the full advisory by clicking here. 

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

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