economic nexus rules Archives

Pennsylvania Cuts Corporate Tax Rate, Makes Other Changes to Corporate Tax Law

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has signed into law omnibus tax legislation to implement the Commonwealth’s fiscal year 2022 – 2023 budget. Among other things, the enacted legislation: (1) cuts the corporate net income tax (CNIT) rate from 9.99% to 4.99% on a phased-in basis; (2) adopts market sourcing rules for intangible-related receipts; and (3) codifies the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue’s (DOR’s) CNIT economic nexus rules outlined in Corporation Tax Bulletin 2019‑04. Notably, the enacted legislation does not include Governor Wolf’s prior proposal to strengthen the Commonwealth’s related party interest and intangible expense addback statute.

CNIT RATE CUT

Pennsylvania’s CNIT rate is currently 9.99%—one of the highest corporate tax rates in the nation. The enacted legislation phases in a decrease of Pennsylvania’s CNIT rate as follows:

January 1, 1995, through December 31, 2022; 9.99%
January 1, 2023, through December 31, 2023; 8.99%
January 1, 2024, through December 31, 2024; 8.49%
January 1, 2025, through December 31, 2025; 7.99%
January 1, 2026, through December 31, 2026; 7.49%
January 1, 2027, through December 31, 2027; 6.99%
January 1, 2028, through December 31, 2028; 6.49%
January 1, 2029, through December 31, 2029; 5.99%
January 1, 2030, through December 31, 2030; 5.49%
January 1, 2031, and each year thereafter; 4.99%

MODIFICATION OF INTANGIBLES SOURCING RULE

The enacted legislation shifts Pennsylvania’s sourcing regime for receipts from intangibles from a cost-of-performance regime to a market-based regime. The legislation generally sources gross receipts from the sale, lease, or license of intangible property to the location the property is used. Further, the legislation generally sources receipts from a broker’s sales of securities to the location of its customer and receipts from credit card interest, fees, and penalties to the billing address of the cardholder.

The legislation also contains detailed sourcing rules for interest, fees, and penalties earned by a lender, generally sourcing those receipts:

From loans secured by real property to the location of such real property;
From loans related to the sale of tangible personal property to the location the property is delivered or shipped; and
To the location of the borrower (if not otherwise addressed by the legislation).

These sourcing rule changes apply to tax years beginning after December 31, 2022. According to the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Fiscal Note to the legislation, the purpose of the sourcing rule change is to “[a]lign[] the apportionment rules governing sales of intangible property with the sales of tangible personal property, real property and services to be consistent with market sourcing (i.e., where the purchaser paying for the sale or using the property is located).” As discussed in a prior blog post, the Pennsylvania legislature changed the sourcing regime for services from cost-of-performance to a market-based regime.

Nevertheless, the Pennsylvania DOR has insisted that current law requires the use of a market-based approach to source receipts from certain intangibles, despite the cost-of-performance statutory regime currently in effect. For tax years before 2014, the Pennsylvania DOR also employed a market-based approach [...]

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NYS Tax Department Relaxes Investment Income Identification Rules

The New York State Department of Taxation and Finance has announced that it would extend the time for certain taxpayers to identify stocks as being held for investment so that income from those stocks would be tax-exempt [TSB M-15(4.1)C, (5.1)I]. Instead of having to make the identification on the date on which the stock is purchased, many corporations will now have a 90-day grace period to make the identification. This relaxation of the identification rules will come as a major relief to many companies that otherwise may have been ambushed by New York’s new rules, particularly out-of-state corporations that start doing business in New York after acquiring investment securities. The announced change is effective immediately.

Under corporate tax reform legislation enacted in 2015, corporations—to treat income from stock held as an investment as tax-exempt investment income—must identify the stock on the date of purchase as being held for investment and follow certain procedures. This requirement has been widely criticized as being unrealistic since a corporation’s investment people are unlikely to know about arcane tax rules on the date that they make trades. Securities dealers, to qualify for tax-free investment income treatment, must identify the stock as being held for investment pursuant to Section 1236 of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC), which requires the identification to be made on the date of purchase. Non-dealers must still make the identification on the date of purchase under the statute, but they need not make the federal election under Section 1236 since that provision applies only to dealers.

The Department’s new rules significantly relax the requirement for many non-dealer corporations. They do not apply to dealers, which will still be subject to the Section 1236 election requirements.

One criticism that has been made of the identification requirement is that a corporation that had not been doing business in New York and, hence, had not been a New York taxpayer and acquired stock as an investment would not have made the New York identification because it would not have cared about, or known about, New York taxes. If such a corporation later starts doing business in New York and becomes subject to New York taxes, it will be too late to make the identification for previously acquired stock and, hence, the income from that stock will not be exempt investment income. Under the Department’s new announcement, a corporation that first becomes a New York taxpayer on or after October 1, 2015, can make the identification within 90 days after becoming a New York taxpayer or, if it became a New York taxpayer before January 7, 2016, by April 6, 2016. Stock purchased after this extended period must still be identified as being held for investment on the date of purchase.

Ordinarily, a corporation becomes taxable in New York on the first day on which it does business, employs capital, owns or leases property, or maintains an office in New York. Under new economic nexus rules, a corporation also becomes taxable in New York on [...]

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Pennsylvania Cuts Corporate Tax Rate, Makes Other Changes to Corporate Tax Law

NYS Tax Department Relaxes Investment Income Identification Rules

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