Two recent Texas court opinions address apportionment under the Texas franchise tax, also known as the Texas margin tax. Apportionment is the method by which a taxpayer determines how much of its income (or, in Texas, taxable margin) is taxable to a particular state as opposed to other states. The Texas Supreme Court decided one […]
The U.S. Supreme Court recently issued the most important state and local tax opinion in 25 years. That opinion, South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., overrules the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1992 decision in Quill Corp. v. North Dakota. In Quill, the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed that states could only impose their taxes on those businesses with […]
The U.S. Supreme Court recently agreed to hear a case that could change the way states tax online sales. The case, South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., challenges the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1992 decision in Quill Corp. v. North Dakota. In Quill, the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed that states could only impose their taxes on those […]
The Texas Supreme Court recently issued its opinion in Graphic Packaging Corp. v. Hegar. It upheld the Third Court of Appeals’s ruling that taxpayers may not choose to use the Multistate Tax Compact’s three-factor apportionment method to apportion their taxable margin under the Texas franchise tax. However, in doing so, it relied on different reasoning […]
The United States Supreme Court denied review of Gillette Co. v. California Franchise Tax Board, the California Supreme Court case holding that taxpayers may not use the Multistate Tax Compact’s three-factor apportionment method to apportion their income under the California Business Income Tax. As is customary, the Court didn’t explain its reasons for denying review. […]
The Texas Third Court of Appeals issued its opinion yesterday in Graphic Packaging Corp. v. Hegar, No. 03-14-00197-CV. It ruled that taxpayers may not choose to use the Multistate Tax Compact’s three-factor apportionment method to apportion their taxable margin under the Texas franchise tax. In doing so, the Third Court of Appeals held that the […]
The United States Supreme Court recently decided Direct Marketing Association v. Brohl, a state tax case. In it, the Supreme Court ruled that a challenge in federal court to Colorado’s so-called “Amazon law” could go forward, contrary to Colorado’s argument that the Tax Injunction Act barred the suit. In perhaps a more interesting development for […]
In its recent decision in IBM Corp. v. Department of Treasury, the Michigan Supreme Court ruled that taxpayers may apportion their tax base for the Michigan Business Tax using the three-factor apportionment method provided by the Multistate Tax Compact instead of the single-factor apportionment method the Michigan Business Tax statute provided. The decision means that […]
The United States Supreme Court has already announced that it will review three state tax cases in its upcoming term — Comptroller v. Wynne, Direct Marketing Association v. Brohl, and Alabama Department of Revenue v. CSX Transportation, Inc. This is unusual as the Supreme Court rarely reviews state tax cases. While none of these cases involve […]
