Regulatory Analysis
The Treasury Department of Puerto Rico (Hacienda) has suspended the requirement to remit the regularly scheduled pre-payments of sales tax due for transactions taking place during August 2017. As has been the case recently, the announcement was made via the Hacienda Facebook Page. Details are scant aside from a notation indicating that the suspension will […]
As posted to the Twitter Feed for the Treasury Department of Puerto Rico (Hacienda), the sales tax exemption for prepared food has been extended until October 8. The information released on Twitter does not make any reference to a regulation or ordinance, likely due to limited infrastructure and capabilities currently available in Puerto Rico in […]
News from Puerto Rico seems to indicate that as result of the devastation created by Hurricane Maria, the Treasury Department of the island (Hacienda) has issued a four-day sales tax holiday for prepared food. This sales tax holiday is would be starting Thursday September 21, and would end Sunday, September 24 2017. This information has not […]
The Australian Treasury has recently introduced the Treasury Laws Amendment (2017 Measures No. 6) Bill 2017, which alters the GST treatment of digital currency. In an effort to promote more international commerce business in Australia, the proposed bill removes the GST obligations from digital currency effectively putting such currency on even footing with any other physical currency in circulation. More […]
On September 18, 2017, the Governor of Puerto Rico declared again a commonwealth-wide state of emergency related Hurricane Maria, which is on track to impact the island. Under existing law, should this “state of emergency” turn into a “disaster declaration” the Puerto Rico Department of Revenue retains the authority to temporarily suspend state and local sales […]
The Treasury Department of Puerto Rico issued Circular Letter 17-18 announcing another postponement of certain deadlines relating to the payment and filing of taxes – including sales tax. The postponements are intended to give businesses opportunity to recover from the possible effects of Hurricane Maria. By way of a quick summary: The deadline for the […]
Ketchikan Gateway Borough, Alaska, has enacted a one-day Sales Tax Holiday effective on October 7, 2017, in the Ketchikan Gateway Borough and the city of Ketchikan. The holiday applies to all sales and rentals of tangible personal property and services normally subject to sales tax except in the following five instances: Rentals with rental periods of […]
On September 13, the South Dakota Supreme Court affirmed a lower court decision limiting the ability of the state to tax e-commerce sellers. This decision continues the prohibition against enforcing SB 106 – the South Dakota “economic nexus” law which imposes a sales tax collection and remittance duty on out-of-state sellers based solely on their […]
The Treasury Department of Puerto Rico issued Circular Letter 17-13 announcing the postponement of certain deadlines relating to the payment and filing of taxes – including sales tax. The postponements are intended to give businesses opportunity to recover from Hurricane Irma. By way of a quick summary: Sales tax, income tax and excise tax filings […]
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts recently certified several Initiative Petitions filed by the Retailers Association of Massachusetts. The Association will have until December 6, 2017 to collect the requisite amount of signatures for any petition to appear on a ballot. The Initiative Petitions are as follows: Initiative Petition 17-19 – Would reduce the state sales and […]
On September 4, 2017, the Governor of Puerto Rico declared a commonwealth-wide state of emergency related Hurricane Irma. Under existing law, should this “state of emergency” turn into a “disaster declaration” the Puerto Rico Department of Revenue retains the authority to temporarily suspend state and local sales tax on certain goods and services. While no […]
For those not yet in the know, the Multistate Tax Commission (MTC) has coordinated an unprecedented voluntary disclosure/amnesty program with 24 states. Eligible sellers should give serious consideration to enrolling. More importantly they should take immediate note of the short window of opportunity. The program began on August 17 and will be closing on October […]
Following a recent trend in the United States, North Carolina has joined Indiana and Ohio in exempting currencies that may be used as investments from sales and use tax. North Carolina House Bill 434 (Ch. SL 2017-181) was signed by Governor Roy Cooper on July 25, 2017. The bill, which is retroactively effective on July […]
A provision contained in the FY 2018 Massachusetts Budget looks to set the stage for possible real-time sales tax remittance requirements in the Commonwealth. While nothing is official yet, the Massachusetts legislature believes that it has recognized an opportunity to utilize “third party payment processors” as a means of ensuring proper tax collection and accelerating […]
The California Board of Equalization has been restructured into three separate entities effective July 1, 2017: The State Board of Equalization (the Board), the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) and the Office of Tax Appeals. CDTFA will be housed within the Government Operations Agency while the Board will be an independent agency […]
In the course of testifying at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing a few days ago, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin hinted the Administration may be close to articulating a position on the application of sales tax to remote/internet commerce. Characterizing the issue as one of collection, Secretary Mnuchin recognized that tax revenue from online purchases is […]
In a last ditch effort to move the needle, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker filed legislation that would create a sales tax holiday in the Commonwealth for August 19-20. If passed, the holiday would apply to most any item costing $2,500 or less. Governor Baker has stated "We look forward to working with the Legislature to […]
A few short weeks ago the Massachusetts Department of Revenue enacted and then rescinded Directive 17.1 which was slated to take effect on July 1. The Directive would have imposed a sales tax collection and remittance requirement on remote sellers/internet vendors that provide software (including “cookies”) to Massachusetts customers or use “content distribution networks” located […]