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Illinois Unclaimed Property Law Substantially Revised As Part of Revenue Package Supporting Illinois Budget

by Diann Smith and Eric D. Carstens | Jul 7, 2017 | Illinois, Unclaimed Property

Yesterday the Illinois House of Representatives voted to override Governor Bruce Rauner’s veto of Senate Bill (SB) 9, the revenue bill supporting the State’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2017-2018 Budget. Just days before the vote, SB 9 was amended to include a revised version of the Illinois Unclaimed Property Bill (House Bill (HB) 2603) on which we’ve previously reported. The new law (part of Public Act 100-0022) is known as the Revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act (RUUPA). The RUUPA becomes effective January 1, 2018. Below is a brief summary of a few of the highlights of which holders should be aware.

Gift Cards, Loyalty Cards and Game-Related Digital Content Exempt

Unlike HB 2603, the Illinois RUUPA expressly excludes “gift cards” from the definition of “property” subject to escheat. Pulling (in-part) from the Uniform Law Commission (ULC) definition, “gift card” is defined in the Illinois RUUPA as “a stored-value card: (i) issued on a prepaid basis in a specified amount; (ii) the value of which does not expire; (iii) that is not subject to a dormancy, inactivity, or service fee; (iv) that may be decreased in value only by redemption for merchandise, goods, or services upon presentation at a single merchant or an affiliated group of merchants; and (v) that, unless required by law, may not be redeemed for or converted into money or otherwise monetized by the issuer.” (more…)

Breaking News: Unclaimed Property Legislation Passes Delaware General Assembly

by Diann Smith, Eric D. Carstens and Stephen P. Kranz | Jan 26, 2017 | Delaware, Nationwide Importance, Procedure, Uncategorized, Unclaimed Property

On January 26, 2017, the Delaware House approved comprehensive unclaimed property rewrite legislation (SB 13) that was passed by the Senate (with committee amendments) last week. Our summary of many of the key provisions of the bill (as introduced) is available here. Because the amended version of SB 13 has now passed both chambers of the General Assembly, it will be sent to Governor John C. Carney Jr. for signature, and will become effective immediately upon his approval. Rumors are circling that follow-up legislation is likely, and may be considered this session. Senate Amendment The Senate Amendment adopted by both chambers made relatively minor changes to the introduced legislation. First, it struck all references to and the definition of “net card value” that was used to determine the amount presumed abandoned in the stored-value and gift card context. As passed today, “the amount unclaimed is amount representing the maximum cost to the issuer of the merchandise, goods, or services represented by the card.” The 5 year dormancy period tied to “the later of the date of purchase, the addition of funds to the stored-value card or gift card, a verification of the balance by the owner, or the last indication of interest in the property” was not changed. Second, the amendment struck all references to and the definition of “virtual currency.” This is significant because the introduced version of the legislation expressly included an expansive definition of virtual currency in the definition of “property” subject to escheat. While the inclusion of virtual currency in the definition of “property” is consistent with the approach taken in the Revised Uniform Unclaimed Property Act (RUUPA) adopted by the Uniform Law Commission (ULC) last year, the introduced Delaware legislation definition of “virtual currency” omitted two exclusions (the software or protocols governing the transfer of the digital representation of value and game-related digital content) contained in the RUUPA definition that were included after careful consideration to limit the potentially vast scope. By removing virtual currency entirely from the Delaware legislation, it will not be presumed to be property subject to escheat. Third, the Senate Amendment changes the timeframe that holders currently under audit have to submit a written application to participate in the Secretary of State VDA program or expedited audit process. As introduced, the Delaware legislation would have required these decisions to be made by July 1, 2017. As amended (and passed), this period would be extended to within 60 days from the date of the adoption of regulations pertaining to the methods of estimation used. Practice Note With the passage of this legislation, there is a lot for holders to consider. In particular, holders with an on-going audit will need to make the decision whether to: (1) make an election to join the Secretary of State VDA program; (2) expedite the audit; or (3) continue as-is. With new penalties and mandatory interest enacted as part of the legislation, securing waiver of penalties and interest should be a top [...]

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Breaking News: Delaware Unclaimed Property Legislation – Lipstick on a Pig?

by Diann Smith, Eric D. Carstens and Stephen P. Kranz | Jan 12, 2017 | Delaware, Nationwide Importance, Procedure, Unclaimed Property

The Delaware General Assembly has introduced legislation that would significantly rewrite the Delaware unclaimed property statute by repealing the three current subchapters and replacing them with a single unclaimed property subchapter. This article highlights key proposed changes in the bill.

Read the full article.

Currency Conversion Concerns: New York Issues Guidance on Virtual Currencies

by McDermott Will & Emery | Dec 23, 2014 | Income Tax, Nationwide Importance, New York, Sales Tax, Tax Base, Unclaimed Property

On December 5, 2014, the New York Department of Taxation and Finance (Department) released TSB-M-14(5)C, (7)I, (17)S. This (relatively short) bulletin sets forth the treatment of convertible virtual currency for sales, corporation and personal income tax purposes. The bulletin follows on a notice released by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) in March of this year, Notice 2014-21.

The IRS Notice indicates that, for federal tax purposes, the IRS will treat virtual currency as property, and will not treat it as currency for purposes of foreign currency gains or losses. Taxpayers must convert virtual currency into U.S. dollars when determining whether there has been a gain or loss on transactions involving the currency. When receiving virtual currency as payment, either for goods and services or as compensation, the virtual currency is converted into U.S. dollars (based on the fair market value of the virtual currency at the time of receipt) to determine the value of the payment.

The IRS Notice only relates to “convertible virtual currency.” Virtual currency is defined as a “digital representation of value that functions as a medium of exchange, a unit of account, and/or a store of value.” Convertible virtual currency is virtual currency that “has an equivalent value in real currency, or that acts as a substitute for real currency.”

The Department’s bulletin also addresses only convertible virtual currency, and uses a definition identical to the IRS definition. The Department indicates that it will follow the federal treatment of virtual currency for purposes of the corporation tax and personal income tax.

For sales and use tax purposes, the bulletin states that convertible virtual currency is intangible property and therefore not subject to tax. Thus, the transfer of virtual currency itself is not subject to tax. However, the exchange of virtual currency for products and services will be treated as a barter transaction, and the amount of tax due is calculated based on the fair market value of the virtual currency at the time of the exchange.

The Department should be applauded for issuing guidance on virtual currency. It appears that these types of currencies will be used more and more in the future, and may present difficult tax issues.

However, the Department’s guidance is incomplete. There are a couple of unanswered questions that taxpayers will still need to ponder.

First, the definition of convertible virtual currency is somewhat broad and unclear. The Department and the IRS define “convertible” virtual currency as currency that has an “equivalent” value in real currency, but equivalent is not defined in either the IRS Notice or the bulletin. Many digital products and services use virtual currency or points that cannot be legally exchanged for currency to reward users, and the IRS and the Department should be clearer about the tax treatment of those currencies.

Second, although the Department will follow the federal treatment for characterization and income recognition purposes, the bulletin does not discuss apportionment. This is likely a very small issue at this point in time, but the Department will, [...]

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Idaho Drafting Cloud Computing Regulation in the Wake of H.B. 598

by Stephen P. Kranz | Aug 11, 2014 | Idaho, Sales Tax, Tax Base, Transaction Taxes

The Idaho Sales Tax Rules Committee is currently revising Rule 027, Computer Equipment, Software, and Data Services, in response to the passage of H.B. 598. The Committee met for the last time on July 24 to discuss the draft rule prior to the promulgation of the proposed rule.

As previously discussed in Inside SALT, the passage of Idaho H.B. 598 has resulted in the exclusion from the definition of tangible personal property of “computer software that is delivered electronically; remotely accessed software; and computer software that is delivered by the load and leave method where the vendor or its agent loads the software at the user’s location but does not transfer any tangible personal property containing the software to the user.” However, “computer software that constitutes digital music, digital books, digital videos and digital games” is included within the definition of tangible personal property.

The discussion draft of Rule 027, released prior to the meeting, added new definitions for ‘canned software,’ ‘computer program,’ ‘computer software,’ ‘custom software,’ ‘digital product,’ ‘information stored in an electronic medium,’ ‘load and leave method’ and ‘remotely accessed computer software.’ As of the July 24 meeting, the definition of ‘delivered electronically’ was still under discussion.

The draft rule interprets H.B. 598 to assist taxpayers in identifying transactions subject to Idaho sales tax. Following are items addressed by the draft rule:

The draft identifies streaming digital music, books and videos as subject to Idaho sales tax.
The draft explains that if canned software is loaded onto a user’s computer but has minimal or no functionality without connecting to the provider’s servers, it may be taxable based upon the delivery method of the canned software.
Online or remote data storage on storage media owned and controlled by another party is a nontaxable service.
Where the seller purchases raw data, expends time and resources to “clean up” the raw data into a usable format and charges customers for the right to use the data for a specified period of time, and the customers only have access to the full data over the internet, the charges are not taxable.
Digital games are treated by the draft rule as tangible personal property, and thus taxable, regardless of the method of access or delivery and regardless of whether the digital game requires the internet for some or all of its functionality.
Periodic charges to play games that require a constant connection over the internet to a remote server and periodic charges for a gaming service that enables certain functionality are taxable.
While the rule imposes sales tax on the purchase of virtual currency that enables additional content or progress in a digital game, it will not address the purchase of virtual currency used to purchase digital products such as video games, digital videos or apps.
The draft rule addresses the taxability of maintenance contracts. The original rule is revised to impose tax on mandatory maintenance contracts only if the software to which the contract applies is subject to tax. [...]

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