State & Local
-
May 30, 2025
Minn. Tax Court Blasts County Counsel For AI-Written Brief
Counsel for a Minnesota county submitted a brief to the state tax court generated by artificial intelligence with five legal citations for cases that did not exist, the court said, referring the matter to a state disciplinary board.
-
May 30, 2025
State & Local Tax Takeaways From May
Many states, looking at a new fiscal year starting in July, finalized their budgets in May, with significant tax implications for individuals and businesses. New York will reduce income taxes on lower- to middle-income taxpayers. In Washington state, several measures intended to close a $16 billion shortfall include an expansion of the sales tax to digital advertising. Here, Law360 presents these and other state and local tax developments to know from the past month.
-
May 30, 2025
AT&T Unit Loses Dispute Over Calif. Property Tax Rates
AT&T unit Pacific Bell and other phone companies failed to prove that a California county's differing tax rates for locally assessed and state-assessed properties are unconstitutional, a state appeals court affirmed.
-
May 30, 2025
Ind. Tax Dept. Finds Man Sought Refund On Time
An Indiana resident who amended his state and federal tax returns to correct his income filed for a refund within the state's statute of limitations, the Department of State Revenue said, overturning an earlier determination.
-
May 30, 2025
Mass. Can't Delay Developer's Suit Over Brownfields Credit
Massachusetts tax officials who have taken more than two years to consider the appeal of a denied brownfields tax credit must hand over the administrative record in the case so that a developer can pursue a motion for judgment on the pleadings, a state court justice has ordered.
-
May 30, 2025
Maine Revenue Falls $29M Short Of Projections Through April
Maine revenues from July through April lagged $29 million behind estimates, according to a report by the state Department of Administrative and Financial Services.
-
May 30, 2025
Taxation With Representation: Kirkland, Cravath, Latham
In this week's Taxation With Representation, WiseTech completes a $2.1 billion merger with E2open, Acrisure buys a payroll management company for $1.1 billion and Hailey Bieber sells her Rhode skincare and makeup company to e.l.f. beauty for $1 billion.
-
May 30, 2025
Fla. Authorizes Sales Tax Exemption For Gold, Silver Coins
Florida will exempt qualifying gold and silver coins from sales tax in 2026, pending approval of certain regulations by state lawmakers, under a bill signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
-
May 29, 2025
RI Senate Panel Weighs Wealth Tax, Surtax To Fix Budget Gap
Rhode Island Democrats backed a plan Thursday to create a surtax for high-income earners and a wealth tax as potential fixes for a budget gap, while Republicans pushed for a plan to require that any annual tax surplus go toward refunds.
-
May 29, 2025
DC Court Blocks Trump's Tariffs As Overreach Of Power
The International Emergency Economic Powers Act does not empower the president to impose tariffs, the D.C. federal district court said Thursday, ruling that President Donald Trump's global levies are unlawful and barring his administration from enforcing them on two toymakers who challenged the policies.
-
May 29, 2025
Ore. Extends Tax Breaks For Affordable Housing Development
Oregon will delay the expiration of three property tax breaks intended to help the development of affordable housing under legislation signed by Democratic Gov. Tina Kotek.
-
May 29, 2025
Texas To Exempt All Intangible Personal Property From Tax
Texas will exempt all intangible personal property from property tax under a bill signed by Gov. Greg Abbott.
-
May 29, 2025
Ind. Man Doesn't Owe Use Tax On Vehicle Title Transfer
An Indiana man does not owe use tax on a change in title of a vehicle from his business to himself, the state Department of Revenue ruled.
-
May 29, 2025
Texas Bars Some Property Tax Hikes Above Voter-OK'd Rates
Texas will prohibit school districts from adopting property tax rates above voter-approved thresholds in response to a natural disaster if voters previously rejected a similar proposed rate increase, under a bill signed by Gov. Greg Abbott.
-
May 29, 2025
NY Says Fulfillment Service Buyer Not Liable For Sales Tax
An out-of-state online retailer's use of a third party to conduct fulfillment services on its behalf doesn't render it a vendor for New York state sales and use tax purposes, the New York Department of Taxation and Finance said.
-
May 29, 2025
NY Says Marketing Co.'s Charges For App Access Are Taxable
A multilevel marketing company must collect sales tax on monthly charges to distributors for access to its mobile application software and a bundle of online products, the New York Department of Taxation and Finance said.
-
May 29, 2025
NY Sales Tax Applies To Firm's Investment Systems Sales
New York sales tax applies to a financial services firm's sales of investment and risk management systems because the systems constitute prewritten computer software, the state Department of Taxation and Finance said.
-
May 29, 2025
NY Tax Doesn't Apply To Job Search Platform
New York sales tax does not apply to a company's web-based job search and posting platform because the service is not considered a sale of tangible property or information services, the state Department of Taxation and Finance said.
-
May 29, 2025
Indiana Tax Department Reverses Financial Co.'s NOL Denial
An Indiana-based financial institution was wrongly denied its net operating loss carryforward, which resulted in an additional tax assessment, the Department of State Revenue said in a letter of finding.
-
May 29, 2025
Oregon Allows Associations Standing In State Tax Court
Oregon associations and organizations will be able to seek declaratory relief in state tax court on behalf of their aggrieved members under legislation signed by the governor.
-
May 29, 2025
Del. Delays Start Of Tax Agency Trade Name Filing Process
Delaware delayed the effective date of legislation allowing companies doing business in the state under trade names that don't disclose their legal names to register their trade names by filing a certificate with the state Division of Revenue under a bill signed by the governor.
-
May 28, 2025
Judge Shields NY Congestion Pricing From Feds' Threats
New York's congestion pricing program can keep running at least through the fall, after a federal judge on Wednesday signaled that the U.S. Department of Transportation likely overstepped its authority by purportedly terminating a federal agreement that gave congestion pricing the green light.
-
May 28, 2025
4 Big Questions Raised By International Retaliatory Tax In GOP Bill
Republicans' evolving international retaliatory tax proposal has been viewed as an effort to influence foreign tax regimes and as a possible tool in global tax and trade talks, but it has sparked concerns that it could escalate a trade war or otherwise hurt the U.S. economy. Here, Law360 explores four questions raised by the proposal.
-
May 28, 2025
$3.9 Trillion Price Tag On House Budget Bill's Tax Provisions
Tax provisions included in the House-passed budget reconciliation bill that would extend and make permanent many provisions in the 2017 tax overhaul would cost $3.9 trillion over the next decade, according to a report released Wednesday by the Joint Committee on Taxation.
-
May 28, 2025
Exec Asks Mass. Justices To Review $4.7M Stock Tax Case
A couple who moved out of Massachusetts should not owe state tax on a $4.7 million capital gain from sales of stock in a company one of the pair co-founded in the state, they told the state's highest court.
Expert Analysis
-
Letting The People Decide: SALT In Review
RSM's David Brunori offers a look at tax-related ballot questions before the voters in 16 states this fall.
-
Mental Health First Aid: A Brief Primer For Attorneys
Amid a growing body of research finding that attorneys face higher rates of mental illness than the general population, firms should consider setting up mental health first aid training programs to help lawyers assess mental health challenges in their colleagues and intervene with compassion, say psychologists Shawn Healy and Tracey Meyers.
-
Colorado Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q3
In the third quarter of 2024, Colorado's banking and financial services sector faced both regulatory updates and changes to state law due to recent federal court decisions — with consequences for local governments, mortgage lenders, state-chartered trust companies and federally chartered lenders serving Colorado consumers, says Sarah Auchterlonie at Brownstein Hyatt.
-
Litigation Inspiration: Honoring Your Learned Profession
About 30,000 people who took the bar exam in July will learn they passed this fall, marking a fitting time for all attorneys to remember that they are members in a specialty club of learned professionals — and the more they can keep this in mind, the more benefits they will see, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.
-
AI May Limit Key Learning Opportunities For Young Attorneys
The thing that’s so powerful about artificial intelligence is also what’s most scary about it — its ability to detect patterns may curtail young attorneys’ chance to practice the lower-level work of managing cases, preventing them from ever honing the pattern recognition skills that undergird creative lawyering, says Sarah Murray at Trialcraft.
-
Why Now Is The Time For Law Firms To Hire Lateral Partners
Partner and associate mobility data from the second quarter of this year suggest that there's never been a better time in recent years for law firms to hire lateral candidates, particularly experienced partners — though this necessitates an understanding of potential red flags, say Julie Henson and Greg Hamman at Decipher Investigative Intelligence.
-
Considering Possible PR Risks Of Certain Legal Tactics
Disney and American Airlines recently abandoned certain litigation tactics in two lawsuits after fierce public backlash, illustrating why corporate counsel should consider the reputational implications of any legal strategy and partner with their communications teams to preempt public relations concerns, says Chris Gidez at G7 Reputation Advisory.
-
It's No Longer Enough For Firms To Be Trusted Advisers
Amid fierce competition for business, the transactional “trusted adviser” paradigm from which most firms operate is no longer sufficient — they should instead aim to become trusted partners with their most valuable clients, says Stuart Maister at Strategic Narrative.
-
Frames Of Deference: SALT In Review
From a challenge to New York state regulations that follows on the end of Chevron deference to a court ruling siding with the Nebraska Revenue Department's view of a tax deduction, RSM's David Brunori offers his thoughts on noteworthy state and local tax news.
-
Navigating A Potpourri Of Possible Transparency Act Pitfalls
Despite the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's continued release of guidance for complying with the Corporate Transparency Act, its interpretation remains in flux, making it important for companies to understand potentially problematic areas of ambiguity in the practical application of the law, say attorneys at Sidley.
-
How Methods Are Evolving In Textualist Interpretations
Textualists at the U.S. Supreme Court are increasingly considering new methods such as corpus linguistics and surveys to evaluate what a statute's text communicates to an ordinary reader, while lower courts even mull large language models like ChatGPT as supplements, says Kevin Tobia at Georgetown Law.
-
Local Taxes And Repercussions: SALT In Review
From a study of local taxes to news that corporations will relocate to tax-friendlier places, RSM's David Brunori offers his thoughts on noteworthy state and local tax news.
-
Financial Incentives May Alleviate Affordable Housing Crisis
There is a wide array of financial incentives and assistance that the government can provide to both real estate developers and individuals to chip away at the housing affordability problem from multiple angles, say Eric DeBear and Madeline Williams at Cozen.