In This Issue:

Court of Appeals Reverses Appellate Division, Holds that EchoStar’s Equipment Purchases Qualified as Sales for Resale; Appellate Court Holds Electronic Messaging Services Subject to Sales Tax; ALJ Finds Husband and Wife Were No Longer NYC Domiciliaries; Stipulation To Be Bound By Result In Another Case Held Binding on Parties; ALJ Agrees Restructured Company Is Entitled to QEZE Benefits; Innocent Spouse Relief Rejected; Governor Cuomo Appoints Members to Tax Reform Commission; and Insights in Brief.

Excerpt from Court of Appeals Reverses Appellate Division, Holds that EchoStar’s Equipment Purchases Qualified as Sales for Resale -

The New York Court of Appeals, reversing the Third Department, unanimously ruled that a provider of satellite television services was not subject to sales or use tax on its purchases of equipment that was leased to customers for a separately stated fee. Matter of EchoStar Satellite Corp. v. Tax Appeals Trib., 2012 NY Slip Op. 08672 (N.Y. Dec. 18, 2012). The Third Department had upheld the Tax Appeals Tribunal’s denial of a sale for resale exclusion for those equipment purchases, even though EchoStar had collected and remitted from its customers more than $2 million in sales tax on the equipment leases.