Over the weekend of April 8-9 the Legislature passed the Budget for New York’s 2107-18 fiscal year which started April 1. On April 10, the Governor signed the legislation.
On March 7th, a Superior Court in Connecticut issued a decision that could have a significant impact on some investment fund managers who live in Connecticut but manage funds in other states. In Jonathan A. Sobel v. Commissioner of Revenue Services, the Judge held that investment (and therefore intangible) income received by Mr. Sobel, a partner in a partnership that served as the general partner and advisor of certain investment funds, was New York source income and therefore Mr. Sobel could claim a credit on his 1997 and 1998 Connecticut resident tax return for taxes paid to New York (yes, the case has been going on that long!).
Last month we published an article in State Tax Notes about my favorite topic: our win in the 2014 Gaied case. Folks around here are a bit tired of me talking about Gaied. Heck, there’s even a video out there! But I couldn’t let Gaied’s 3rd birthday go by without a mention. That would just be mean.
The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York recently held that UPS violated an agreement it had signed with the state of New York, as well as New York law, when it transported unstamped, untaxed cigarettes from and between Native American reservations for a number of shippers and awarded the state compensatory and monetary damages, with what could mean up to $872 million.
Vilma Bautista once worked for Imelda Marcos, the former first lady of the Philippines – who was so incredibly rapacious and wealthy that she famously owned more than 2,700 pairs of shoes. Last week, she found herself in the news for another, less interesting issue: as a party in a New York Tax Appeals Tribunal case.
The New York State Bar Association Tax Section has made their feelings known about proposed legislation that could have a negative impact on the tax appeals process in New York, in a report principally authored by Paul R. Comeau, my partner at Hodgson Russ.
Last year, we filed a lawsuit on behalf of Richard Chamberlain and Martha Crum against the New York State Tax Department, alleging that New York’s statutory residency scheme improperly subjected them to double taxation in violation of the Federal Commerce Clause.
New income tax guidance has been released by the City of Detroit, aimed specifically at professional athletes. The guidance clarifies how professional athletes should apportion their income to Detroit for purposes of its city income tax.
Matter of CLM Enterprises illustrates the long-established rule that form always wins over substance in the sales tax area. The taxpayer was a holding company that owned several car dealerships, all as single member LLCs, which are disregarded for income tax purposes but NOT sales tax purposes. The issue in the case concerned how it was treating loaner cars. For several administrative and liability reasons, the group decided that all loaner cars should be titled to the taxpayer. The loaner cars initially were acquired by the dealerships, but then were transferred by the dealerships to the taxpayer. No cash changed hands, however. This was not a “sale” in the ordinary context. Whatever the case, when customers used the loaner cars, expenses associated with this were allocated to the respective dealership.
Governor Cuomo’s proposed budget legislation for fiscal 2017-18 was released on January 18, 2017. In his briefing that evening, the governor remarked that one of the “main aspects of this budget is tax policy.” That’s certainly one way to captivate the attention of tax practitioners!