Thursday, July 08, 2010

News, Links and Commentary

Arkansas has released rule 2010-1 for tax treatment for vets in that state. If you're an Arkansas veterinarian, all I can say is get the rule, get a bottle of the beverage of your choice and allocate an hour or so to figuring it out. Hey, at least you have some exemptions, so that's something.



Florida would like you to know that there is no sales tax on admissions to these events: National Football League Pro Bowl; National Hockey League All-Star Game; Major League Baseball Home Run Derby held before the Major League Baseball All-Star Game; National Basketball Association All-Star Game; National Basketball Association Rookie Challenge; National Basketball Association Celebrity Game; National Basketball Association 3-Point Shooting Contest; and National Basketball Association Slam Dunk Challenge.

Talk about an exemption that doesn't need to exist.



Georgia passes laws to conform to the Streamlined Sales Tax Project



Illinois now provides that any qualified building materials sold for the Illiana Expressway (to bypass the Borman on the south for you locals) will be tax exempt. This road is years away, but it's nice to know that Blagojevich's replacement is thinking ahead.

And the new guy has signed off on the Illinois sales tax holiday in August. myfoxchicago.com



Michigan's governor gives up on trying to tax services. When are they going to learn? detnews.com



Mississippi's sales tax holiday coming up at the end of July. wapt.com



Be careful about data processing services in New York. While they're not taxable, New York is treating the use of software remotely as the taxable sale of canned software. Sneaky. (New York Advisory Opinion TSB-A-10(4)C, 05/27/2010) There's a little on this from AccountingWeb

A New York restaurant failed to keep anything resembling proper records with missing receipts, paper tapes, mislabeled years. Frankly, it simply sounds like they had a pretty cavalier attitude about accounting. So the state decided to simply observe one day's business (a Saturday) and estimate the restaurant's tax liability from that one particular day.

The message here is keep records! If you don't have anything to audit, the state can start doing things the hard way - for you.



An Ohio company claimed that they were in the business of "transportation for hire" and were entitled to an exemption on the trucks and equipment they purchased. They manufactured materials used BY shippers. That was it. But the owner claimed that they were a common carrier, without being able to show any documentation. "Hey, trust me, I'm a common carrier. Really." The state was not impressed. What's amazing to me is that this got to the appeals board. Either several parties involved in this were really stupid, or there's more to the story. I hope it's the latter.



Oklahoma is the latest state whose legislators seem to have lost it. A new law goes into effect that requires out of state retailers (who have NO nexus) to provide notifications to their customers that they owe OK use tax. The rules are complicated. But I have just one question. If the out of state retailer has no nexus in Oklahoma, and therefore doesn't have to collect tax, how can Oklahoma make them provide all of this notice?

Sales Tax Buzz has some commentary on this.



Tennessee Sales Tax Holiday in August. dnj.com



In Virginia, they're essentially requiring larger vendors to give the state an advance. That'll solve the budget problems they're having and even give them a surplus. But it's just a sneaky way of forcing vendors to lend the state money. Sales Tax Buzz has the details.



The Sales Tax Guy
http://salestaxguy.blogspot.com

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