When a taxpayer challenges an assessment issued by a state or local taxing authority, the taxing authority will typically assert that its assessment should be afforded a presumption of correctness, and the burden of proof is...more
As is true of the U.S. government, within the executive branch of state governments live administrative agencies, which state legislatures have vested with powers to implement and enforce the laws enacted by state...more
On July 3, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland dismissed a First Amendment challenge to Maryland’s Digital Advertising Gross Revenues Tax (the “Tax”) holding that while a provision in the Tax scheme...more
The New York State Tax Appeals Tribunal recently upheld a sales tax assessment issued to a company that provided services to customers mostly through what the company described as a software-as-a-service (“SaaS”) model. In...more
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many states enacted legislation trying to minimize the negative impact that the pandemic was having on state and local government budgets. It is in the context of the unprecedented circumstances...more
Must a state tax and a local tax be considered together when determining whether either of them pass constitutional muster? In a recent decision, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court said “no” and determined that the City of...more
It happens far too often that states like New York conduct sales and use tax audits of large companies and at the end of the audit, in addition to issuing an assessment of additional tax due to the company, they issue a...more
On July 21, 2023, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed into law retaliatory tax legislation aimed directly at its neighbor, New York. Assembly Bill No. 4694. The rule in the majority of states, including the rule in New...more
When has a tax collection procedure gone so far as to violate the Takings Clause of the U.S. Constitution? On May 25, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its decision in Tyler v. Hennepin County, 598 U.S. ____ (2023), holding...more
When a local taxing authority extends the deadline for paying taxes due, can taxpayers rely on that extension? According to an intermediate appellate court in Louisiana, the answer is “no.” In NOHC, Inc. v. Erroll G....more
Blank Rome’s nationally prominent State + Local Tax attorneys are thought leaders in the community as frequent guest speakers at various local and national conferences throughout the year. Our State + Local Tax attorneys...more
On February 3, 2023, the Sixth Circuit for the U.S. Court of Appeals held that an Illinois coal producer was likely to succeed on the merits of its claim that a Kentucky law directing Kentucky utilities purchasing coal to...more
In the wake of the taxpayer win at the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts in VAS Holdings & Investments LLC v. Commissioner of Revenue, 489 Mass. 669 (2022) (“VAS”), the Commissioner of Revenue has issued guidance in the...more
Blank Rome’s nationally prominent State + Local Tax attorneys are thought leaders in the community as frequent guest speakers at various local and national conferences throughout the year. Our State + Local Tax attorneys...more
Blank Rome’s nationally prominent State + Local Tax attorneys are thought leaders in the community as frequent guest speakers at various local and national conferences throughout the year. Our State + Local Tax attorneys...more
As technology advances and an increasing number of products that used to be sold in tangible form are now instead sold in digital form, states are faced with the challenge of adapting their sales and use taxes, which have...more
When is a tax statute so poorly worded that it violates due process by being unconstitutionally vague and failing to give taxpayers fair notice of their compliance obligations? On August 5, 2022, the Alaska Supreme Court...more
On May 20, 2022, the Texas Supreme Court held that a locality lacked authority under Texas law to impose a licensing fee on a construction trash-hauling company that was calculated as a percentage of the company’s revenue....more
On March 30, 2022, a California intermediate appellate court held that a penalty waiver of approximately $1.7 million was required for the taxpayers, owners and operators of San Francisco boutique hotels, inasmuch as the...more
On January 19, 2022, the New Jersey Tax Court issued a decision denying the Division of Taxation’s attempt to take away a refund due to a taxpayer and apply it against a purported liability from a tax period for which the...more
On November 5, 2021, a Louisiana appeals court held that a company’s appeal of a locality’s refund claim denial was timely inasmuch as it was filed within 90 days of the date of the locality’s notice of disallowance. Nucor...more
The Supreme Court of the State of New York for New York County dismissed a lawsuit brought by the state attorney general (“AG”) under the New York State False Claims Act alleging that a company made “reverse false claims” by...more
On July 19, 2021, the Court of Appeals of Tennessee held that a company was barred by the statute of limitations from bringing a lawsuit to challenge a deemed denial of its tax refund claim finding that the one year statutory...more
The Supreme Court of Ohio upheld the City of Cleveland’s taxation of a nonresident’s income from stock options even though the income was recognized by the nonresident seven years after the nonresident had ceased working or...more
On April 19, 2021, Florida joined a growing number of states in enacting legislation imposing sales and use tax collection obligations on remote sellers lacking a physical presence in the state and requiring so-called...more