Bloomberg BNA Webinar Underscores Movement of States to Tax New Technologies, At-Home Work Arrangements, and Social Coupon Transactions
ARLINGTON, Va., May 15, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- An annual Bloomberg BNA survey of state tax departments released this month asks senior state tax officials in all 50 states how their jurisdictions are taxing the new technologies and types of transactions that continue to emerge as the U.S. economy shifts from the bricks and mortar of Main Street to the web-based world, which operates mostly independent of state or local borders. The recent Survey findings will be presented in a new Bloomberg BNA webinar, Cloudy with a Chance of Nexus: Analyzing Bloomberg BNA's 2012 Survey of State Tax Departments on May 17, 2012.
States once believed that a corporation needed a physical presence within their borders before it could be subject to an income-based tax. But new technologies, such as cloud computing, and new transactions such as Groupon and LivingSocial, are challenging the parameters of most states' tax codes, which either have not addressed how these technologies and transactions will be taxed, or do so under outdated provisions.
What constitutes a taxable "economic presence?"
The Bloomberg BNA 2012 State Tax Department Survey identifies a number of different scenarios that can trigger income tax nexus in different states:
-- Sixteen states said having a website on a server physically located
within their jurisdiction will trigger income tax nexus.
-- Having a substantial number of customers with billing addresses in the
state? Fourteen states said yes. That would trigger nexus for the firm.
-- Thirteen states would apply sales and use tax to fees paid by in-state
customers to remotely access canned or prewritten software that is
hosted on a web server.
-- Nearly every state agreed that social media coupon companies, such as
Groupon or LivingSocial, are not liable for taxes when their coupons are
redeemed at in-state retailers or restaurants. But the states were very
much divided on the question of whether sales taxes, paid by the end
user, should be assessed on the full or the discounted price of the
product or service.
-- All but six jurisdictions tax an out-of-state employer that permits an
employee to telecommute from a home within their borders.
-- Twenty-three states said nexus would arise for reimbursing sales staff
for the costs of maintaining an in-home office.
-- Job fairs or other recruitment activities would trigger income tax nexus
in 21 states.
-- Thirty-six states said nexus would arise from having employees hire,
supervise, or train other employees within their borders.
Cloudy with a Chance of Nexus: Analyzing Bloomberg BNA's 2012 Survey of State Tax Departments takes place May 17, 2012 from 12:30 p.m.- 2:00 p.m., (ET). To register for this webinar and obtain further information about CLE and CPE credits, go to http://www.bna.com/cloudy-chance-nexus-w12884909075/?utm_source=newswire&utm_medium=PR&utm_content=TM&utm_campaign=Webinar-05172012 or (in the U.S.) call 800.372.1033, menu Option 6, then Option 1. The per site fee is just $249 which includes a copy of the 2012 Survey.
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About Bloomberg BNA Webinars
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