As word spread about the Supreme Court’s opinion in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc., Dkt. No. 17-494, 485 U.S. (June 21, 2018), tax administrators around the country popped open bottles of champagne and began toasting the end of the “physical presence” substantial nexus standard. The sounds of celebration were, at least initially, particularly deafening in … Continue Reading
Now that the fascinating oral argument has concluded at the United States Supreme Court in the case of South Dakota v. Wayfair, copies of both the transcript and audio recording of the oral argument are available to the public for download and/or streaming on the Court’s website. Stay tuned to Cooking with SALT for more on … Continue Reading
State & Local Tax partner Matt Mantle was recently quoted in the Bloomberg BNA article “Louisiana Law Requires Parishes Equal Access to Exemptions,” regarding optional local-level exemptions in Louisiana and the recent Louisiana Supreme Court decision (Arrow Aviation Co, LLC v. St. Martin Parish, La., No. 2016-CA-1132, 12/6/16) addressing the issue of whether a pointed … Continue Reading
In Quest Diagnostics Clinical Laboratories, Inc. v. T.A. “Tim” Barfield, Jr., Secretary, Department of Revenue, State of Louisiana; and the State of Louisiana, Louisiana Court of Appeal, First Circuit, Docket No. 2015-CA-0926 (September 9, 2016), the Louisiana Court of Appeal, First Circuit recently confirmed that Louisiana was a “location-of-performance” state when sourcing service-based receipts for corporate income … Continue Reading
Originally published by Tax Law360. Taxation by states of out-of-state online retail sales remains a hotly contested issue. Louisiana is now part of that national sales tax nexus conversation. In March of 2016, during a special legislative session called by new Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards (D) to address the State’s current budget shortfalls, the … Continue Reading
It is somewhat rare for the Louisiana Supreme Court to entertain three tax cases in one year. It is even rarer for the Court to hear three state and local tax cases in back-to-back sessions. However, that is exactly what the Court will be doing! On January 25th and 26th, the Court will hear oral … Continue Reading
Today, the 2015 tax amnesty program begins and will continue through December 15, 2015. In connection with the program, on November 3 the Louisiana Department of Revenue issued its Revenue Information Bulletin (RIB) No. 2015-037 providing taxpayers with specific information on this year’s amnesty. Notably, unlike the language of Act 822 (2014 Reg. Sess.) upon which the 2015 … Continue Reading
State & Local Tax Partners, Jesse R. “Jay” Adams, III, William M. Backstrom,Jr., John F. Fletcher, and Kimberly Lewis Robinson, were all quoted in the recent Bloomberg BNA article, “Corporate Taxpayers Face Changes in Louisiana, Mississippi, Attorneys Say.” The partners discuss how legislative sessions in 2014 and 2015 and some notable cases have brought significant changes … Continue Reading
On Monday, October 2, Judge Michael Caldwell of the Nineteenth Judicial District Court for the Parish of East Baton Rouge ruled that the Louisiana Chemical Association (the “LCA”) has standing to challenge the constitutionality of House Concurrent Resolution No. 8 (“HCR 8”). Specifically, the court found that the LCA is permitted to sue on behalf … Continue Reading
House Concurrent Resolution No. 8 (“HCR 8”) suspends certain tax exemptions on “business utilities” for the tax periods beginning on or after July 1, 2015 through August 5, 2016. Pursuant to HCR 8, businesses will pay a one percent (1%) sales and use tax on their purchases of utilities. The types of business utilities, as interpreted by … Continue Reading
Katie Friel, a partner in the New Orleans office, published an article entitled “‘Polychim’ Puts Louisiana Corporate Franchise Tax Against the Ropes,” in the July 17, 2015 edition of Bloomberg BNA’s Daily Tax Report. In the article, Katie examines the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal’s new ruling in Bridges v. Polychim USA, Inc., rejecting—as it … Continue Reading
On Friday, the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal issued its highly-anticipated opinion in Cynthia Bridges, Secretary, Department of Revenue v. Polychim USA, Inc. In Polychim, the First Circuit considered whether the district court properly granted summary judgment in favor of the Louisiana Department of Revenue (the “Department”) in its holding that Polychim was subject … Continue Reading
The Hinds County Chancery Court on March 20th invalidated the nexus-based restrictions contained within Mississippi’s dividend exclusion statute, finding the provisions violated the Commerce Clause. A copy of the Court’s Order can be found here. The Mississippi Department of Revenue and the taxpayer, AT&T, had stipulated that the statute, Miss. Code Section 27-7-15(4)(i), exempts from a … Continue Reading
Bill Backstrom and Jay Adams were quoted in yesterday’s Law360 article entitled Attorneys React To Supreme Court ‘Amazon Tax’ Ruling. In the article, Bill, head of Jones Walker’s Tax & Estates Practice Group and a partner in the firm’s New Orleans office, and Jay, a senior partner in Jones Walker’s New Orleans office, shared their thoughts … Continue Reading
In our prior post on the case of Pot-O-Gold Rentals, LLC v. City of Baton Rouge, we noted that we were hoping the Louisiana Supreme Court would hear this case in order to “clean up the mess” regarding the reach of the Louisiana lease tax and the scope of taxable “gross proceeds” (a term which … Continue Reading
The Hinds County Chancery Court recently ruled that the Mississippi Supreme Court’s widely-discussed decision in Equifax, Inc. v. Mississippi Department of Revenue is a double-edged blade and, much to the Department of Revenue’s chagrin, cuts sharply in both directions. Miss. Dept. of Rev. v. Hotel and Restaurant Supply, Civil Action No. G2013-820 S/2, Hinds County Chancery … Continue Reading
Well, I guess in these leaner economic times state and local tax collectors are willing to look for “gold” anywhere! On September 17, 2014, the Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal held in the case of Pot-O-Gold Rentals, LLC v. City of Baton Rouge that a taxpayer’s waste removal services were taxable as part of … Continue Reading
Something new has been cooking in the Louisiana tax law kitchen! The Louisiana Supreme Court was recently asked to entertain the separate ideas of fraud and, for the first time, the economic substance doctrine in deciding a tax case in the State. Louisiana is certainly used to heat (as can be seen by its food … Continue Reading
