State Tax Rulings
Free state tax letter rulings and advisory opinions with plain-English summaries, full citations, and the original source on every page.
No rulings match these filters
Try a different search term or clear the filters.
Does the historic homeownership credit's requirement that 5% of expenditures be on the exterior apply to each year's project, or to the cumulative multi-year rehabilitation?
It applies to each separately certified rehabilitation project. Because the credit is allowed only on final certification of a three-step process, a taxpayer who claims year-by-year (filing a Part 3 e…
Is installing, repairing, and inspecting fire alarm and suppression equipment subject to New York sales tax?
Mostly yes, with two exceptions. Installing fire alarm systems, suppression systems, sprinklers, and extinguishers is taxable (the customer pays tax on both the equipment and the installation), UNLESS…
Is a company that arranges and resells catered office lunches the taxable vendor, and can it buy the food with a resale certificate?
Yes, it's the taxable vendor -- and no, it can't use a resale certificate. The company connects restaurants, caterers, and food trucks with employers buying lunches for staff: it selects vendors and m…
Did vendor emails and software activation keys prove that a computer reseller's contested software sales were electronically delivered without tangible media?
Yes. The invoices alone did not expressly certify electronic delivery, and the lack of a freight charge was not enough. But certificate-key invoices plus the vendor's statement established that the so…
Was Virginia's bank-deposit estimate of a pawn shop's unreported sales valid when records were seized, and what audit adjustments were required?
The bank-deposit estimate was reasonable because records were unavailable and the auditor excluded identified nontaxable deposits while using the representative's cash-sales testimony. But Virginia re…
Are a federal employee's Thrift Savings Plan distributions exempt from New York tax, including for a private IRA she rolled into the TSP, and can she also use the $20,000 subtraction?
The TSP distributions attributable to her federal employment (contributions by her and her federal employer, plus their earnings) are exempt under Tax Law § 612(c)(3)(ii). The portion attributable to …
Is a harbor 'party cruise' fare taxable when it includes a meal and drinks, and would a sightseeing-only ticket be taxable?
The fare that includes food and drink is fully taxable; a sightseeing-only ticket is not. The operator runs roughly three-and-a-half-hour 'party cruises' around New York Harbor; the fare includes a ho…
Is admission to an indoor children's play center taxable, and does the 75% 'qualifying place of amusement' exemption apply?
Admission is taxable, and the 75% exemption does not apply. The indoor children's play centers (bounce houses, climbing structures, foam blocks, games, and in one case a Lazer Tag arena) are 'places o…
Does a Kansas liquor distributor owe liquor enforcement tax on samples withdrawn from inventory?
Kansas Notice 15-14 (July 15, 2015) summarizes the liquor enforcement tax provisions of House Bill 2223, enacted by the 2015 Legislature and effective July 1, 2015. The bill amended K.S.A. 41-306, 41-…
Was Francis Brown a church employee exempt from gross receipts tax when he was paid hourly to oversee construction and restoration projects?
No employee exemption applied. The church paid Brown hourly and its priest selected projects and sometimes workers, but it withheld no tax, paid no employment benefits, issued Brown Forms 1099 while i…
Could a consolidated group use a Florida jobs-change factor to calculate income from a certified Capital Investment Tax Credit project?
Yes. The Department approved multiplying the affiliated group's Florida adjusted federal income by a jobs-change factor: project new-to-Florida jobs divided by all group professionals employed in Flor…
How can taxpayers check whether an older South Carolina advisory opinion was modified or superseded (per SC IL #15-10)?
Use the citator attached to SC Information Letter #15-10. It helps you determine what effect newer South Carolina advisory opinions have on previously published ones — whether an opinion was modified,…
How did Illinois source wages when an Illinois resident with an Illinois base of operations worked 75% in Illinois and 25% in Ohio?
If the employee's base of operations was in Illinois, the Department said 100% of the wages were sourced to Illinois even though the employee worked 25% of the time in Ohio and Ohio taxed that portion…
Do Texas motor vehicle gift-tax and community-property exemptions apply equally to same-sex spouses and common-law marriages?
Yes. Same-sex spouses qualified for the $10 motor vehicle gift tax on separate property and for community-property exemptions to the same extent as opposite-sex spouses. Texas-recognized common-law ma…
Did Georgia's new $5 hotel-motel fee apply after July 1, 2015 to a guest whose continuous stay had already reached day 31 on June 30?
No. The guest continuously occupied the room from May 31, so the rental became an extended stay on June 30, before the state fee took effect. The first 30 nights occurred before July 1 and later conse…
Did a lender's Article 9 repossession of business collateral trigger Illinois bulk-sales reporting and withholding?
No. The Department said a lender's repossession of collateral after borrower default under a UCC Article 9 security agreement was not a sale or transfer within the Illinois bulk-sales provisions, so t…
Could Strategic Consulting recover 2006-2008 gross receipts tax in 2014 by relying on oral Department advice that out-of-state consulting receipts were taxable?
No. Strategic Consulting filed its $5,693.42 refund claim on October 28, 2014 for 2006 through March 2008 payments. Even the last period's claim was due by December 31, 2011, so the Department lacked …
New York Advisory Opinion TSB-A-15(5)C: If an alien (Swiss) holding company's disregarded Delaware LLC opens a New York office but only invests in securities for its own account, is the company subject to New York's Article 9-A franchise tax?
No. An alien corporation whose disregarded LLC merely opens a New York office but limits its activity to investing in securities for its own account within IRC section 864(b)(2) is not doing business …
Are a lighting designer's interior and exterior lighting-design services subject to NY sales tax, and does it matter that the work is supervised by a licensed architect or engineer?
Interior lighting design is taxable; exterior lighting design is not. Designing interior lighting systems is an 'interior decorating and designing service' taxable under Tax Law section 1105(c)(7), an…
Are a CLE provider's self-study courses delivered on CDs/DVDs subject to NY sales tax, and what about its sales of CDs, DVDs, and books by themselves?
The CLE self-study courses are not taxable, but plain media and books are. When the provider sells a self-study CLE program -- the CD or DVD of course content, the CD-ROM of reference materials, and t…
How did Illinois tax a cloud-based hotel texting service and separately charged printer usage?
A service transferring no tangible property generally avoided retail, use, and service taxes, and online text or data was intangible. IDOR did not expressly classify the texting service for telecommun…
Could a beer producer's canning system, can feed table, and conveyor qualify for Illinois's manufacturing machinery exemption?
Potentially, but IDOR would not confirm the specific equipment on the limited facts. Machinery used primarily to place beer into the container or package in which it is normally sold qualified when it…
What items and transactions qualified under Virginia's 2015 combined sales-tax-holiday guidelines, and what duties applied to retailers?
The 2015 guidelines created one three-day August holiday for qualifying hurricane items, school supplies, clothing, footwear, and labeled Energy Star or WaterSense products within stated per-item pric…
Could a corporation claim an Illinois subtraction for basis differences caused by federal bankruptcy discharge-of-debt attribute reductions?
No. Illinois allowed no subtraction modification for the claimed federal-versus-state attribute-reduction difference and required the same asset basis for federal and Illinois income tax. Illinois net…
Could Lynda Giang obtain 2008 and 2009 personal-income-tax refunds when serious medical issues delayed her returns until 2014?
No. Section 7-1-26(D) required Giang's 2008 refund claim by the end of 2012 and her 2009 claim by the end of 2013. She filed both returns and claims in 2014. Although serious, extended medical issues …
Are subscription charges for online meeting, web-conferencing, remote-support, and remote-computer-access products subject to NY sales tax or the section 186-e telecom excise tax?
No. The products are not taxable for sales tax or for the section 186-e telecommunication excise tax. Each product works by letting the subscriber's own computers connect to one another over the Inter…
What did a 2015 Illinois receipt label for 'non-Prescrip' likely mean, and which tax rate applied?
IDOR could not determine the correct tax without the receipt. Under the 2015 rates it described, qualifying prescription and nonprescription medicines, medical appliances, disability vehicle modificat…
What did South Carolina Revenue Ruling 15-9 provide under the now-repealed Retail Facilities Revitalization Tax Credit?
Before the Act's July 1, 2016 repeal, a taxpayer rehabilitating an eligible abandoned retail site could elect either a nonrefundable income tax credit equal to 10% of rehabilitation expenses, taken ov…
How did South Carolina Revenue Ruling 15-8 explain the textile-mill rehabilitation income and property tax credits?
A taxpayer rehabilitating a qualifying abandoned South Carolina textile mill site may elect either an income-tax-style credit or a locally approved real property tax credit. The income credit generall…
What abandoned-building credit rules did South Carolina Revenue Ruling 15-7 provide before RR 26-1 superseded it?
The historical ruling offered either an income-tax-style credit generally equal to 25% of qualifying rehabilitation expenses or a locally approved property tax credit for qualifying abandoned building…
What are South Carolina's abandoned building, textile mill, and retail facility rehabilitation tax credits, and where does the Department summarize their requirements (per SC IL #15-9)?
SC Information Letter #15-9 is a practitioner reference chart summarizing the main requirements of three South Carolina rehabilitation tax credits: the Abandoned Buildings Revitalization Credit (Title…
Did Virginia driver's licenses and federal-only absentee voting keep a couple domiciled in Virginia after they established a permanent home abroad?
No. The couple proved that they sold their Virginia home, established a permanent home and tax residency abroad, owned no Virginia property, and voted only in federal elections under the overseas-vote…
How could Virginia estimate taxable complimentary restaurant meals when records were missing, and did the first-audit penalty apply?
Virginia could estimate the liability because the restaurants did not document why complimentary meals were given. The auditor's 65% taxable estimate was corrected to 35% of total complimentary meals,…
How must lawfully married same-sex couples file their Nebraska individual income tax returns, and can they amend prior-year returns?
Use the same filing status you used on your federal return. Following Obergefell v. Hodges and Neb. Rev. Stat. § 77-2732, Revenue Ruling 22-15-2 holds that same-sex couples lawfully married during the…
Texas Private Letter Ruling 201507252L: For the 'large' data center exemption (as opposed to the standard qualifying-data-center exemption), when must the $500 million capital-investment agreement be made, how long does the exemption last, and what equipment and jobs qualify?
The Comptroller ruled on Texas's separate, larger "large data center project" exemption under Tax Code § 151.3595 (distinct from the standard § 151.359 qualifying-data-center exemption): the taxpayer'…
Could an expanded Capital Investment Tax Credit project treat all of the taxpayer's income apportioned to Florida as project income?
Yes. After the certified project expanded, the Department agreed that the taxpayer's entire Florida portion of adjusted federal income would be project income, subject to GAAP, section 220.13, annual …
What is South Carolina's tax interest rate for underpayments and overpayments for the period ending September 30, 2015 (per SC IL #15-8)?
3%. SC Information Letter #15-8 sets South Carolina's interest rate on tax underpayments and overpayments at 3% for the period October 1, 2011 through September 30, 2015. Interest is compounded daily,…
Did installment payments from an annuity death benefit qualify for Virginia's 2011-2012 subtraction, or did oral Department advice protect the taxpayer?
No. Virginia interpreted the subtraction to require a federally taxable annuity death benefit awarded in a lump sum, so installment payments did not qualify for 2011 or 2012. Tax-form instructions wer…
Could taxpayers carry a 2009 overpayment forward after filing the return too late, and did New York's MCTMT qualify for Virginia's out-of-state tax credit?
No on both issues. The first recorded 2009 return arrived after Virginia's three-year refund deadline, so any overpayment could not be carried to 2010. New York's Metropolitan Commuter Transportation …
Which retail products qualified as exempt nonprescription drugs or durable medical equipment in Virginia's audit?
Electrical heating pads and vaporizers qualified as durable medical equipment and were removed from the audit. A&D ointment, aloe vera, desensitizing toothpaste, contact lens solution, and disposable …
Does separately listing an Illinois shipping or delivery charge automatically make it nontaxable?
No. The charge was excluded only when the buyer and seller separately agreed to delivery apart from the property sale; a separate invoice line alone was insufficient. A pickup option or separate deliv…
Are out-of-state utility crews that come to Kansas for disaster work subject to Kansas taxes and registration?
Kansas Notice 15-12 explains the Kansas Disaster Utilities Response Act, created by Senate Bill 109 (2015), effective upon publication in the Kansas Register on April 9, 2015. The Act lets an out-of-s…
Are partner guaranteed payments still part of the Kansas nonwage business income subtraction?
Kansas Notice 15-11 explains that Section 3 of Senate Substitute for House Bill 2109 (2015) amended K.S.A. 79-32,117(c)(xx) to reduce the subtraction modification for certain nonwage business income b…
Must a Kansas taxpayer have a valid Social Security number for the whole year to claim an income tax credit?
Kansas Notice 15-10 explains that Section 2 of Senate Substitute for House Bill 2109 (2015) amended K.S.A. 79-32,265 to add that a taxpayer claiming an individual income tax credit must have held a va…
How long is the Kansas Rural Opportunity Zone income tax credit available after the 2015 extension?
Kansas Notice 15-09 explains that Section 27 of Senate Substitute for House Bill 2109 (2015) amended K.S.A. 79-32,267 to extend the Rural Opportunity Zone (ROZ) income tax credit. As originally enacte…
Can Kansas growers subtract the gain from selling Christmas trees grown in Kansas?
Kansas Notice 15-08 explains that Senate Substitute for House Bill 2109 (2015) amended K.S.A. 79-32,117 to create a new subtraction modification, in subsection (c)(xxiv), for the net gain from the sal…
What Kansas itemized deductions are allowed for individuals starting in tax year 2015?
Kansas Notice 15-07 explains that Senate Substitute for House Bill 2109 (2015) amended K.S.A. 79-32,120 to stop the phase-down of the Kansas itemized deduction and, beginning in tax year 2015, allow o…
What are the Kansas individual income tax rates for 2015 through 2018 after the 2015 changes?
Kansas Notice 15-06 explains that Senate Substitute for House Bill 2109 and House Substitute for Senate Bill 270 (2015) amended K.S.A. 79-32,110 to stop the phase-down of individual income tax rates t…
Which Kansas taxpayers owe zero income tax starting in tax year 2016?
Kansas Notice 15-05 explains that House Substitute for Senate Bill 270, enacted by the 2015 Legislature, added a new subsection (f) to K.S.A. 79-32,110 exempting certain lower-income taxpayers from in…
What did 2015 Senate Bill 112 change about Kansas biodiesel and renewable fuel incentive funds?
Kansas Notice 15-04 summarizes the motor fuel provisions of Senate Bill 112, enacted by the 2015 Legislature and effective June 26, 2015 upon publication in the Kansas Register. Section 247 amended K.…
What is the new Kansas cigarette tax rate on July 1, 2015 and what inventory tax is owed?
Revised Kansas Notice 15-01 explains that, effective July 1, 2015, the Kansas cigarette tax rate rose to $1.29 on each pack of 20 cigarettes (or $1.61 on each pack of 25). Wholesalers, retailers, and …
Was an HVAC equipment distributor a BPOL wholesaler when it sold mainly to contractors and business users rather than the general public?
Yes. The evidence showed sales mainly to HVAC contractors, government, and industrial customers for business use, little or no public retail activity, and individualized pricing consistent with wholes…
Did an out-of-state procurement company's Virginia customer and third-party vendors create corporate income-tax nexus?
Not enough facts were provided for a categorical answer. Buying and reselling services from an unrelated independent contractor would not by itself create nexus for an otherwise protected company. But…
Could Virginia still assess related corporations for 2000-2004 royalty transactions when one filed returns and the intangible affiliate did not?
For the filing corporation, the ordinary assessment period generally barred a royalty adjustment unless fraud or an in-period net-operating-loss carryforward issue applied. For the affiliate that had …
Did renewable one-year overseas work end Virginia domicile, and was accountant advice reasonable cause to waive the late-filing penalty?
No. Renewable one-year overseas employment was temporary, while the taxpayer bought a Virginia home, kept a Virginia vehicle and license, and used a Virginia address. Virginia found he remained domici…
Did Maryland partnership income reported on Schedule E qualify a Virginia couple for the full border-state tax credit?
No. Virginia's special border-state rule covered qualifying earned income and business income reported on Schedule C, not the husband's partnership income reported on Schedule E. The ordinary credit t…
Did a copy of an unrecorded Virginia return overcome an IRS-based assessment when the taxpayer supplied no federal transcript or proof of payment?
No. Virginia had no record of the claimed state return or payment, the IRS had no federal return, and IRS income information exceeded the income on the taxpayer's copy. The assessment remained due, bu…
Could a Virginia resident subtract an entire IRA distribution because retirement contributions had been taxed by another state, and carry unused subtraction forward?
No. Only the prorated portion attributable to documented contributions that were federally deductible but taxed by the other state could be subtracted; investment earnings could not. The taxpayer lack…
Was a company's president personally responsible for unpaid sales and withholding taxes when she signed payroll reports and tax checks?
Yes. Virginia found that the president knew about the company's tax obligations and had authority to prevent nonpayment because she signed payroll reports as president, signed sales-tax checks, access…
Is a Virginia retailer's layaway cancellation fee taxable when the order is cancelled, payments are refunded, and title never transfers?
No. When the customer cancelled the layaway, the retailer refunded the purchase payments and never transferred title or possession of the merchandise. Because no retail sale occurred, the separate $10…
How these rulings are useful
- See how the rule applies: A letter ruling shows how a state revenue department actually applied the tax law to a specific business and set of facts.
- Plan with confidence: Find a ruling with facts close to yours before you charge, remit, or claim an exemption.
- Binding only on the requester: A ruling is binding on the department only for the taxpayer who asked. It is persuasive, not a substitute for your own ruling or professional advice.
- Research across states: Compare how different states treat the same issue, from SaaS and food exemptions to nexus and contractor purchases.