A recent Virginia ruling brings up a topic that comes up in our state and local tax practice constantly. If a contractor in State X purchases materials and uses the material in a real property contract in State or Country Y, does the contactor owe use tax on purchases in…
In my daily routine of reading state and local tax cases across the country, I recently inquired to the State of Florida for the status of an innovative sales tax case unique to the gasoline and petroleum industry this week. As many of you know, I have had the pleasure…
It never ceases to amaze me as to the types of cases and industries that come up in our practice. In late 2012, a Taxpayer, or its representative, inquired to the Missouri Department of Revenue whether certain sales it made to its customers are subject to Missouri sales and use…
Anytime I go out to eat or to a fast food restaurant, my mind automatically thinks in terms of ways a company can save wasteful state tax dollars in its operation. Whether I am at a restaurant that hands out silverware, a fast-food chain that offers plastic silverware, or a…
As many of my readers know, I have been a regular author for the FPMA over the past year. I have spent the better part of that period discussing the onslaught of convenience stores by the Florida Department of Revenue. While our firm has been successful in reducing many assessments…
Without getting into a tedious history of a sales tax, the tax was essentially created during the Great Depression in the 1930’s. The first sales tax laws were hastily and poorly drafted. The poorly drafted laws were copied from state to state. The sales tax regime was designed to tax…
Over the past few years many retailers and online companies have turned to shopper’s personal webpages for advertising. In our current online marketplace, individuals can post items, outfits, and recipes to their social media sites. Piggybacking on our growing use of social media in our daily lives, companies have taken…
For decades, courts, state agencies, and state legislatures continue to ask the wrong questions in regards to state sales tax. This continuing practice has led to decades of inconsistent decisions in different states with similar laws. At the heart of the issue is the notion that the states have continually…