Gregg D. Barton Partner

Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court overruled more than 50 years of Commerce Clause precedent to hold that a state may require an out-of-state retailer with no physical presence in the taxing state to collect sales and use taxes on sales of goods and services delivered in the state.

Retailers and other businesses use loyalty and rewards programs to draw in customers throughout the year. However, there are several sales and use tax consequences of promoting consumer loyalty.

Examining a loyalty program reward's form, structure, and parameters is essential for determining the state sales and use tax consequences.  Read the full article.

On April 29, 2015, the Washington Court of Appeals issued an important tax decision in Avnet, Inc. v. Washington Department of Revenue, Dkt. No. 45108-5-II.  In its most significant holding, the court of appeals effectively eliminated the transactional nexus requirement for Washington B&O tax.  

On December 12, 2013, the Oregon Supreme Court issued its decision in Tektronix, Inc. v. Oregon Dep’t. of Revenue.  The court held that the taxpayer’s receipts from the sale of goodwill, making up a part of the sale of a business division, were excluded from the sales factor under ORS 314.665(6)(a).

In 2010, the Washington legislature passed significant B&O tax changes including the adoption of economic nexus and market sourcing for service activities, as well as the imposition of B&O tax on directors’ fees. However, the largest revenue raiser came from a temporary increase of the service B&O tax rate from 1.5% to 1.8% from May 1, 2010 through June 30, 2013. While there were concerns that the 2013 legislature would extend the “temporary” increase, it did not. As a result, the service B&O tax rate reverted to 1.5% beginning on July 1, 2013.

On June 4, 2013, the Thurston County Superior Court issued a written decision affirming the opinion of the Washington State Board of Tax Appeals (Board) in AOL Inc. v. Washington Department of Revenue, No. 11-076 (Wash. B.T.A. May 9, 2012).

This article, Part II of a two-part series, highlights some of the major state and local tax questions and developments in Washington state.

There was a great deal of state tax activity in Oregon and Washington in 2012 with the prospect of more developments to report in 2013. This article, Part I of a two-part series, highlights some of the activity in Oregon.

A federal bankruptcy court judge has held that Washington Mutual, Inc. (WMI), a parent holding company that owned bank subsidiaries conducting business in Oregon, did not have nexus in Oregon by virtue of its ownership of the banks, the ownership of intangibles used by the banks in Oregon for no fee and the receipt of dividends from the banks.

On May 9, 2012, the Washington State Board of Tax Appeals granted summary judgment to AOL, Inc., holding that AOL's purchases of services permitting its customers to connect with AOL's data center and the Internet were not subject to retail sales tax.  AOL Inc. v. Wash. Dep't of Revenue, No. 11-076 (Wash. B.T.A. May 9, 2012).  The procedural lessons of this case may be as important in Washington tax practice as the substantive case.

In double overtime, the Washington State Legislature ended the 2012 legislative session Wednesday morning, April 11, closing a roughly half-billion dollar shortfall for the two-year budget cycle.

On December 11, 2010, in a one-day special session, the Washington state legislature passed its first ever amnesty program, which the Governor is expected to sign.  Under certain circumstances, taxpayers paying past tax liabilities will have their interest and penalties waived.

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington granted Amazon.com's request for  declaratory judgment that the North Carolina Department of Revenue’s (the Department) information requests for the production of customer purchase records violated the First Amendment and the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), 18 U.S.C. § 2710.  Amazon.com LLC v. Lay, No. C10-664-MJP, 2010 WL 4262266 (W.D. Wash. Oct. 25, 2010).

Collecting the right retail sales tax is sometimes a difficult task, but the government should not intentionally make it harder.  Unfortunately, because of a recent change in the law, retailers with operations in Washington state faced a confusing and uncertain tax environment, made worse by an unfortunate injunction obtained by the City of Bellingham and Whatcom County.

On April 12, 2010 the Washington State Legislature resolved the budget impasse and adopted a $794 million tax package that the governor is expected to sign.  The tax bill, 2ESSB 6143, contains a number of major changes to Washington’s tax system.