State Tax Rulings
Free state tax letter rulings and advisory opinions with plain-English summaries, full citations, and the original source on every page.
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Can a taxpayer with a signed Nebraska Advantage Act agreement under one tier amend it to a different tier?
Yes, but only downward and only along set paths. Revenue Ruling 29-13-1 explains that a signed Nebraska Advantage Act agreement can be amended to a different tier, but -- under Neb. Rev. Stat. § 77-57…
Are a mobile medical company's charges for imaging/treatment equipment it brings to a facility and operates a tax-exempt medical service, or a taxable equipment rental?
The equipment charges are taxable. Although the company delivers, sets up, operates, and maintains its own equipment, the attending physician at the customer's site directs the company's technician on…
How did Florida tax custom signs and awnings sold, installed, or repaired by an out-of-state dealer using local contractors?
Permanently attached signs and awnings were real-property improvements: the dealer owed use tax on costs and did not charge customer sales tax. Removable signs were tangible personal property, making …
Could a Virginia resident avoid 2008-2009 income tax by claiming income earned outside a federal enclave was not taxable?
No. A Virginia resident's federal adjusted gross income was the starting point for Virginia taxable income, subject to statutory modifications, and a state may tax its residents' income even when earn…
Could a corporation deduct related-parent franchise fees and exclude all related-party royalties from Virginia's intangible add-back?
Partly. Virginia allowed the franchise-fee deduction because the parent and transactions had economic substance and independent transfer-pricing studies supported arm's-length rates. But the royalty a…
Which cable and Internet devices were exempt, and could audit penalties be waived, for a provider's mixed-use equipment?
Virginia exempted DVR set-top boxes and decryption devices, qualifying VOD equipment, wireless gateways, and USB adapters used to deliver the provider's cable or Internet services. Mixed-use equipment…
Which fleet charges and cable, Internet, and phone equipment qualified for Virginia sales-and-use-tax relief in a cable-provider audit?
Virginia ordered a mixed result. DVR set-top boxes and decryption devices, qualifying VOD equipment, wireless gateways, and USB adapters received the transmission or Internet-service exemption. Most r…
Which cable and Internet devices were exempt, and could penalties be waived, in a provider's Virginia consumer-use-tax audit?
Virginia exempted DVR set-top boxes and decryption devices, qualifying VOD equipment, wireless gateways, and USB adapters used to deliver the provider's cable or Internet services. Mixed-use equipment…
Which cable and Internet devices were exempt, and could penalties be waived, in a provider's Virginia consumer-use-tax audit?
Virginia exempted DVR set-top boxes and decryption devices, qualifying VOD equipment, wireless gateways, and USB adapters used to deliver the provider's cable or Internet services. Mixed-use equipment…
What did the 2013 legislation change for Kansas motor fuel taxes and fees?
Kansas Notice 13-16 (approved July 17, 2013) summarizes three 2013 bills affecting motor fuel. Senate Bill 83 (effective April 25, 2013) raises the installment payment plan agreement fee to $25, adds …
Was a nonresident retiree entitled to interest after Virginia refunded tax that his former employer had wrongly withheld from retirement pay?
No. Virginia refunded all wrongly withheld tax, but the withholding was legally deemed paid only when the retiree filed each return. The Department issued the 2007-2010 paper-return refunds within 60 …
Are separately billed set-up and pick-up charges on a taxable equipment rental subject to Kansas sales tax?
Yes, if the rental itself is taxable. Separately billed set-up, pick-up, delivery, and take-down charges on an equipment rental are part of the taxable lease price under K.S.A. 79-3602(ll)(1) and K.A.…
We took out one mortgage covering both our existing condo and an adjacent unit we bought to combine into a single home. Does the NYC mortgage recording tax apply at the higher commercial-property rate because the mortgage covers two separate condo units?
The lower residential rate applies, not the higher commercial rate. New York City's mortgage recording tax (Tax Law § 253-a; NYC Admin. Code § 11-2601.d) taxes mortgages on "individual residential con…
Is an equipment agreement that requires the customer to buy the property for $1 at the end a lease (tax each month) or a conditional sale (tax all up front)?
It is a conditional sale, not a lease. Because the customer takes possession at the start, must make payments over 36 months, and is then REQUIRED (not merely given an option) to purchase the equipmen…
I bought a foreclosed, partially-completed condo project and recorded a new declaration and new construction financing. When I sell the unsold units, do I get the mortgage recording tax credit under RPL 339-ee even though the ORIGINAL sponsor's declaration was recorded more than two years before my purchase money mortgages are recorded?
Yes, the credit is allowed. Real Property Law § 339-ee lets a condominium developer credit mortgage recording tax already paid on a construction or blanket mortgage against the tax otherwise due on pu…
Is renting sophisticated temporary event structures taxable, and can the company accept a resale certificate from an event planner?
Yes, the charges are a taxable rental of tangible personal property -- the customer gets possession because the host controls the event, can direct (within limits) where the structure goes, and bears …
Does a company have to collect NY sales tax on the electricity it sells at an electric vehicle charging station?
Yes. The per-kilowatt-hour charge -- and any fee -- a company charges customers for electricity delivered to their electric vehicles at a charging station is subject to NY sales tax under Tax Law 1105…
Must a general contractor pay sales tax on required security/guard monitoring services it buys as part of a capital improvement construction project?
Yes. A general contractor must pay sales tax on protective and detective services -- here, mandated security/building-engineer monitoring of high-risk overnight work -- that it purchases for a capital…
Are printed signs and displays a franchise advertising fund provides to its member restaurants exempt promotional materials under Tax Law 1115(n)(4)?
No. Although the signs and displays are 'promotional materials' as defined in the Tax Law, they do not qualify for the 1115(n)(4) exemption because they fail its conditions: (1) the materials go to th…
If a concessioner collects and remits sales tax on a food vendor's behalf at a stadium, is the food vendor still liable, and can it buy prepared food for resale?
Yes, the vendor remains liable. A person required to collect tax cannot assign that duty to another. By agreeing to let the concessioner collect and remit tax on its behalf, the petitioner and the con…
Did launch-pad environmental-control and piping equipment become taxable real-property fixtures, or remain exempt spaceport equipment?
The equipment remained tangible personal property and qualified for Virginia's spaceport exemption. Although a refrigeration contractor installed environmental-control systems and piping around a laun…
An IC-DISC exporter's shareholder-officers take their pay as dividends rather than salary, as the federal rules require. Can the company deduct those dividends from its Tennessee excise-tax net earnings?
No. Dividends an Interest Charge Domestic International Sales Corporation (IC-DISC) pays to its shareholders — even when those dividends stand in for the shareholders' compensation, as the federal IC-…
Did secured and unsecured revolving credit agreements owe documentary stamp or nonrecurring intangible tax at execution?
No. Neither agreement fixed an absolute amount due when signed, so documentary stamp tax did not apply. Neither was secured by Florida real property, so nonrecurring intangible tax also did not apply.
If a Kansas business adds a credit or debit card processing fee to a taxable service, is that fee subject to sales tax?
Yes. A line-item credit or debit card processing fee a retailer adds to a customer's bill is part of the taxable selling price and is taxed whenever the underlying goods or services are taxed (K.A.R. …
Could a medical-supplies retailer remove sampled untaxed sales because the customer later self-assessed and paid Virginia use tax?
No. The sample measured the retailer's own duty to collect and report sales tax, not the combined compliance of the retailer and its customers. Removing sampled transactions merely because one custome…
Did using a customer's nine-digit FEIN instead of Virginia's full registration number invalidate an otherwise complete Form ST-10?
No. Virginia accepted the Form ST-10 because it was correct in every other respect and the Department's 15-digit registration number included the customer's nine-digit FEIN. Certificates obtained afte…
Which exemption certificates and separately charged services could a food-service-equipment dealer remove from its Virginia sales-tax audit?
Virginia ordered substantial audit revisions. Most updated resale certificates were accepted; an otherwise complete certificate using the customer's FEIN and another with a verifiable partial registra…
When is South Carolina's 2013 sales tax holiday and what items are exempt (per SC IL #13-13)?
South Carolina's 2013 sales tax holiday runs from 12:01 a.m. Friday, August 2, 2013 through midnight Sunday, August 4, 2013. During that three-day weekend, the 6% state sales and use tax and any appli…
Could a satellite-equipment retailer buy equipment tax-free for resale and sell it tax-free to a satellite-programming provider?
The retailer could continue buying satellite equipment exempt for resale, but it had to collect Virginia tax on future sales to the satellite-programming provider because the provider was the taxable …
When are purchases and installation of ATMs, bank vaults, teller systems, and similar bank equipment taxable in New Jersey?
Purchases of materials and equipment were taxable to the bank or contractor that bought them. Installation of a free-standing ATM was taxable because it remained tangible personal property. Installati…
Could a manufacturer reduce 2008-2010 local machinery-and-tools tax for equipment it said was disposed of or idle after a foundry closure?
Only partly. The 2008 amended return was filed after the statutory deadline and remained barred. For 2009 and 2010, however, Virginia found that the manufacturer might have enough evidence to show tha…
Was a restaurant's shareholder-president personally liable for converted sales, withholding, and litter-tax assessments despite blaming the general manager?
Yes. Even if the general manager could also be responsible, Virginia could convert the same corporate liabilities to more than one person. The president attended collection hearings, accepted responsi…
Could a textile-services company change its sales-tax sample because a customer proved it had self-assessed and paid use tax?
Virginia would not recalculate the sample, because the seller's collection duty did not depend on whether a customer later paid use tax and similar untaxed sales outside the sample might remain unpaid…
Could a vending-and-kiosk retailer overturn Virginia use tax by asserting that vending payments were for services and kiosk payments included tax?
No. The retailer supplied no contracts or other records proving that its vending-machine payments bought exempt services rather than taxable property, so it could not satisfy the true-object test. Its…
Did a hotel prove that Virginia's Invoice Capture Tool used the wrong sample population, gross-up, or exception total in its audit?
No. The auditor removed offsetting positive and negative transactions over $20,000 and, under Department policy, excluded the remaining negative transactions from the Invoice Capture Tool population. …
Should a young company calculate Virginia's R&D credit fixed-base percentage using every prior year it was in business or only years it operated in Virginia?
Use every applicable prior taxable year the company was in business, not only the years it operated in Virginia. The company had been in business in 2010 and 2011 but operated in Virginia only in 2011…
What major Virginia state and local tax changes did the Department of Taxation identify in its 2013 Legislative Summary?
Virginia's 2013 Legislative Summary was a broad historical reference guide, not a taxpayer ruling. Major changes included electronic employer-withholding filing, IRC conformity through January 2, 2013…
Who qualified for Virginia's 2013 Port Volume Increase Tax Credit, how was it calculated, and how did taxpayers apply?
Under these historical guidelines, an agricultural, manufacturing-related, or mineral-and-gas entity generally had to own the cargo, use a Virginia port, and increase cargo volume at least 5% over its…
What did Virginia's July 2013 Insurance Premiums License Tax guidelines require after administration moved from the SCC to the Tax Department?
For taxable years beginning in 2013, the Virginia Department of Taxation took over Insurance Premiums License Tax reports, payments, billing, collections, and audits, while the SCC's Bureau of Insuran…
Did a corporation substantiate a Virginia foreign-source-income subtraction through its protective refund claim and federal Form 1118?
No. The protective claim did not state the refund amount or supply the requested evidence identifying and substantiating qualifying foreign-source income. Form 1118 showed allocable deductions exceedi…
Could an unregistered equipment seller replace Virginia's estimates for product sales and technician equipment with documented actual amounts?
Partly. Virginia allowed the company 45 days to document its actual Virginia product sales and any sales or use tax properly paid to another state on equipment used by technicians. Verified records co…
Were separately charged computer setup and configuration services exempt installation labor in Virginia?
Yes, within the ruling's limits. Unpacking and positioning a computer, attaching peripherals, loading customer-ordered off-the-shelf software, adjusting network connections, checking compatibility, an…
What did Virginia's motor-vehicle-rental tax guidelines require after the July 1, 2013 amendments?
Under these historical guidelines, most passenger-vehicle rentals for less than 12 months carried a combined 10% tax and fee. Beginning July 1, 2013, specified charges—including fines, delivery and pi…
What did the 2013 legislation change for the Kansas mineral severance tax?
Kansas Notice 13-15 (July 1, 2013) summarizes 2013 mineral severance tax changes from House Bill 2059 and House Substitute for Senate Bill 83. Section 13 of HB 2059 amended the definition of 'gas' in …
What are the Kansas standard deduction amounts for 2013 and later?
Kansas Notice 13-14 (July 1, 2013), which replaces the revoked Notice 12-10, explains that Section 11 of 2013 House Bill 2059 amended K.S.A. 2012 Supp. 79-32,119 to reduce the standard deduction incre…
Which counties were added to the Rural Opportunity Zone program in 2013?
Kansas Notice 13-13 (July 1, 2013) explains that Section 9 of 2013 House Bill 2059 amended K.S.A. 2012 Supp. 74-50,222 to expand the Rural Opportunity Zone (ROZ) program, which began with 2011 Senate …
What replaced the Kansas food sales tax refund starting in 2013?
Kansas Notice 13-12 (July 1, 2013) explains that the food sales tax refund (K.S.A. 79-3633 through 79-3639) was repealed effective for tax year 2013 by 2012 Senate Substitute for House Bill 2117, and …
How are Kansas itemized deductions phased down starting in 2013?
Kansas Notice 13-11 (July 1, 2013), which replaces the revoked Notice 12-07, explains that 2013 House Substitute for Senate Bill 83 and House Bill 2059 confirmed individuals may elect Kansas itemized …
How did Kansas lower individual income tax rates starting in 2013?
Kansas Notice 13-10 (July 1, 2013), which replaces the revoked Notice 12-06, explains that Section 1 of 2013 House Bill 2059 amended K.S.A. 79-32,110 to lower individual income tax rates at all levels…
What tax changes did the 2013 Kansas abortion law (HB 2253) make?
Kansas Notice 13-03 explains the tax provisions of 2013 House Bill 2253, all effective for tax years commencing after December 31, 2013. Although New Section 2 declares (effective July 1, 2013) that l…
How can taxpayers check whether an older South Carolina advisory opinion was modified or superseded (per SC IL #13-12)?
Use the citator attached to SC Information Letter #13-12. It helps you determine what effect newer South Carolina advisory opinions have on previously published ones — whether an opinion was modified,…
Are payments for leased residential solar panels subject to Louisiana lease tax?
Yes, under the installation facts in the ruling. Removable roof- or ground-mounted panels were movable property, so lease payments and the assigned tax credit were taxable consideration.
Could a California domiciliary who became a Virginia actual resident for part of 2010 claim a Virginia credit for California tax or other states' tax?
She could not claim a Virginia credit for tax paid to California, her domiciliary state, on the 2010 part-year return. Virginia's policy expected California to grant the resident credit for Virginia t…
Could a building-supply wholesaler obtain further Virginia audit relief with a resale certificate missing an address and a later manufacturer certificate?
Yes, conditionally. Virginia removed sales supported by a Form ST-10 whose missing customer address was corroborated by business-license information and Department records, while warning that future i…
Could a manufacturer sell an FDA-approved prescription copper IUD tax-free to specified licensed medical professionals for use in their practices?
Yes. The FDA classified the copper IUD as a prescription drug, and the Virginia Board of Pharmacy treated it as a Schedule VI controlled substance. Virginia therefore allowed the manufacturer to sell …
Did Illinois's residence presumption compare Illinois days with each other state separately or with all other-state days combined?
Each state was compared separately. A person who was an Illinois resident in the prior year and then spent 160 days in Illinois, 150 in Florida, and 55 in Wisconsin was presumed to remain an Illinois …
What is South Carolina's tax interest rate for the period ending September 30, 2013 (per SC IL #13-11)?
3%. SC Information Letter #13-11 sets South Carolina's interest rate on tax underpayments and overpayments at 3% for the period October 1, 2011 through September 30, 2013. Interest is compounded daily…
Were a husband and wife Virginia domiciliaries in 2009 because the husband retained and renewed a Virginia driver's license?
No. The wife was continuously domiciled in State A. The husband had abandoned Virginia and established State A domicile in 2005 through indefinite employment, a permanent home, and resident returns. A…
Did taxpayers substantiate disallowed 2011 deductions for medical expenses, charitable gifts, and employee business expenses?
Not yet. Even after some additional medical proof, the revised expenses did not exceed the 2011 threshold of 7.5% of federal adjusted gross income. Charitable claims lacked required records, duplicate…
Were lumber and plywood placed in grain containers and equipment used mainly to dredge interstate waterways exempt from Virginia use tax?
Yes. The lumber and plywood were not qualifying packaging or transportation devices, but they were nonreturnable items resold to customers and therefore qualified under the resale exemption. The compa…
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