On January 10, 2024, the Commonwealth Court held in NHL Players Ass’n v. City of Pittsburgh, (No. 1150 C.D. 2022) that the City of Pittsburgh’s Facility Tax — a unique tax on nonresidents who use a sports stadium or arena...more
Downingtown Area School District v. Chester County Board of Assessment Appeal, 2023 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 161 (Pa. Commw. Ct. October 6, 2023). Commonwealth Court rejects assessment appeal despite school district-established...more
While not many states have a uniformity clause in their constitutions, for those that do it can be a powerful tool in a person’s arsenal in challenging a tax. This was recently demonstrated in National Hockey League Players’...more
On June 6, 2022, the Supreme Court issued a unanimously ruling in Siegel v. Fitzgerald, 142 S. Ct. 1770 (U.S. June 6, 2022) that the increase in fees payable to the U.S. Trustee system in 2018 violated the uniformity aspect...more
There has been a flurry of litigation in recent years involving taxpayer challenges to the constitutionality of Pennsylvania’s statutory cap on net loss carryover (“NOL”) deductions for tax years prior to 2017. First came...more
Alfred Siegel v. John Fitzgerald, III, No. 21-441: This case, involving the Bankruptcy Judgeship Act of 2017 (“BJA”) applicable to Chapter 11 bankruptcies, presents the following question: Whether the BJA violates the...more
In General Motors Corporation v. Commonwealth, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that the state’s prior flat $2 million cap on a corporate taxpayer’s net operating loss (NOL) deduction violated the state constitution’s...more
By a two to one vote, in an April 29 opinion, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed a decision of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia that a 2017 increase in...more
A Delaware state court struck down as unconstitutional a longstanding policy of the state’s taxing authority limiting NOL deductions of corporate taxpayers who file federal consolidated income tax returns. The Delaware...more
Punxsutawney Area School District v. Broadwing Timber, LLC, 1209 C.D. 2018 (Pa. Commw. Ct., October 29, 2019) - Since the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s recent decision in Valley Forge Towers Apartments N, LP v. Upper...more
On September 30, 2019, in Labell v. City of Chicago, the Illinois Appellate Court upheld the City of Chicago’s imposition of its amusement tax on streaming video, streaming audio and online gaming services. Background - ...more
In Duffield House LP v. City of Philadelphia–a case involving assessment appeals by approximately 700 owners and lessees of commercial and industrial properties in the City–Philadelphia County Court of Common Pleas Judge Gene...more
On May 24, 2018, the Circuit Court of Cook County upheld the City of Chicago’s imposition of its amusement tax on streaming services. The plaintiffs in the case—consumers of streaming services—are expected to appeal the...more
The Supreme Court of Arizona addressed in a March 16th opinion whether the Arizona Department of Revenue (“ADOR”) or County assessors are authorized to value solar panels owned by taxpayers and leased to residential and...more
Valley Forge Towers Apartments N, L.P. v. Upper Merion Area School Dist., 2017 Pa. LEXIS 1520, 163 A.3d 962 (Pa. July 5, 2017). (The Pennsylvania Supreme Court holds that school district’s tax assessment appeal policy...more
On July 28, Circuit Judge Daniel Kubasiak dismissed the Complaint filed by the Illinois Retail Merchants Association and a group of retailers challenging the constitutionality of the Cook County, Illinois Sweetened Beverage...more
In a recent Supreme Court of Pennsylvania case, captioned as Valley Forge Towers, taxpayer brought an action against the school district, as a taxing district, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief claiming that the...more
On July 5, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision confirming that all real estate in a taxing district is a single class (i.e., not subject to sub-classifications based on property type, such as...more
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently reversed the Commonwealth Court and held that the Uniformity Clause of the Pennsylvania Constitution does not permit school districts to selectively appeal only the assessments of...more
In a long-awaited decision on a hotly debated issue, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has held that taxpayers whose apartment buildings were singled out for school district tax appeals have stated a valid claim that such...more
Valley Forge Towers Apts. N, LP v. Upper Merion Area School District, 124 A.3d 363, 365 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2015). The Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court holds that when a school district has reasonable and financial considerations...more
Taxpayers that are in a positive net operating loss carryover position, but that paid tax in any open year due to the statutory scheme, should file protective refund claims seeking a refund for any overpaid tax....more
In a decision sure to give Pennsylvania legislators and the Department of Revenue indigestion before their big Thanksgiving meals, the Commonwealth Court held that Pennsylvania’s net loss carryover (NLC) deduction cap...more
In a Corporate Net Income Tax (“CNI”) appeal filed by Nextel Communications of the Mid-Atlantic, Inc. (“Nextel”), the Commonwealth Court will consider whether Pennsylvania’s statutory cap on net operating loss (“NOL”)...more