A Grain of SALT: May State Focus – Georgia
Georgia was one of the first states to enact comprehensive legislation in response to the federal tax reform bill, known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). As a preliminary matter, the Georgia bill provides conformity to the IRC as of February 9, 2018, with certain exceptions. Before the bill’s enactment, the Georgia Code had conformed to the IRC as of January 1, 2017, and, in turn, did not conform to the TCJA.
The new legislation contains numerous exceptions to Georgia’s conformity with the current IRC. For example, the tax bill explicitly provides that Georgia will decouple from the new interest expense limitations in IRC § 163(j) and also from the new provisions in IRC § 118 that provide inclusion in gross income of certain capital contributions.
With respect to the international provisions of the TCJA, Georgia’s dividend-received deduction for dividends received from foreign corporations seems to apply to the global intangible low taxed income (GILTI), included in the federal tax base under IRC § 951A, and to the deemed repatriated foreign earnings, included in the federal tax base under IRC § 965(a). The legislation provides that the deductions in IRC § 250 for a portion of the GILTI and in IRC § 965(c) for a portion of the deemed repatriated foreign earnings will be disallowed to the extent such income is excluded from the Georgia tax base pursuant to the dividend received deduction.
Finally, the Georgia bill provides that the new federal net operating loss (NOL) provisions (including the restriction that the NOL cannot exceed 80 percent of taxable income and the new federal carryback and carryforward provisions) apply for purposes of computing the Georgia net operating loss deduction with the specification that the 80 percent limitation is computed based on Georgia taxable net income (not federal taxable income).
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Looking Forward to May
May 2, 2018: Stephen Kranz is presenting “Wayfair Oral Argument Summary and Status Update” at the Streamlines Sales Tax Governing Board (SSTGB) Spring 2018 Meeting in Jackson Hole WY. On April 17, 2018, Supreme Court justices listened to both sides of the case of South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. as South Dakota argued to repeal a 1992 decision from the case Quill v. North Dakota which ruled that companies only had to collect sales tax in states where they are physically located. South Dakota argued that the state, along with many other states, had been robbed of billions of dollars as a result of the decision. He will discuss how this case, which the Supreme Court is expected to decide in June, is very important.
May 3, 2018: Peter Faber and Alysse McLoughlin will be speaking at The Business Council’s 2018 Annual Conference on State Taxation on the topic “New York State Budget / Legislative Review and Comment / Federal “Conformity” & Mitigation” in New York, NY.
May 3, 2018: Scott Susko is presenting “Ethics for Tax Professionals” at The Business Council’s 2018 Annual Conference on State Taxation in New York, NY.
May 11, 2018: Stephen Kranz is presenting “Handling Tax Controversy to Win” and “The Digital Tax Tsunami: What You Need to Know to Help Your Clients” at Avalara’s CRUSH DC 2018 in Washington DC. Mr. Kranz will discuss an approach to solving tax problems holistically, understanding the offensive and defensive tools available and the avenues for relief when interacting with the government, planning and building the team to effectively work all avenues the government offers, tools available including FOIA, policy solutions, and litigation. He will overview new technology models and the evolution to cloud-based products, demystify the division of ownership of cloud service, as well as characterize digital goods products, delivery, and the contractual language of a purchase.
May 15, 2018: Madeline Chiampou, Peter Faber, Britt Haxton, Steve Kranz, John Lutz, Alysse McLoughlin, Alan Schwartz, Diann Smith, and Mark Yopp are presenting at TEI’s Tax Reform Seminar titled “The State of Federal Tax Reform: A Federal and State Corporate Tax Perspective” in the McDermott New York office. Click here to register.
May 15, 2018: Mary Kay Martire is presenting about Illinois residency issues (“Fleeing Illinois: State Income and Estate Tax Overview for Individuals and Fiduciaries”) at the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education’s 61st Annual Estate Planning Seminar in Champaign, IL.
May 15, 2018: Lauren Ferrante is moderating the Chicago Bar Association State and Local Tax Committee’s Spring Seminar, scheduled for May 15 from 12:00 p.m. – 2:10 p.m. CST and held at the CBA’s headquarters in downtown Chicago. The seminar consists of two panels: (1) “U.S. Supreme Court’s consideration of the Wayfair case and its impact on the SALT world”; and (2) “Recent Changes in Illinois Tax Law.”
May 24, 2018: Mary Kay Martire and Tim Halleron are presenting about Illinois residency issues (“Fleeing Illinois: State Income and Estate Tax Overview for Individuals and Fiduciaries”) at the Illinois Institute for Continuing Legal Education’s 61st Annual Estate Planning Seminar in Chicago, IL.
May 30, 2018: Alysse McLoughlin is presenting “The Amazon Effect on Public Finance – What is the Optimal Tax Structure in the Internet Age?” at the National Federation of Municipal Analysts 35th Annual Conference in Coronado, CA.
