The World Health Organization has officially declared the coronavirus outbreak to be a pandemic. In addition to the cost on human life, the rapid spread of COVID-19 has left a trail of economic damage affecting business revenues. COVID-19 has caused complete or partial shutdown of factories, supply chain disruptions, and labor shortages, and has impacted demand in certain industries. This impact will also be felt by U.S. state, and local governments.
Baker McKenzie attended the U.S. Supreme Courtâs oral arguments yesterday in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Docket No. 17-494. At issue in the case is whether the Court should abrogate the physical presence nexus standard that it first articulated in National Bellas Hess v. Depât of Revenue, 386 U.S. 753 (1967), and later affirmed in Quill Corp. v. North Dakota, 504 U.S. 298 (1992). The Courtâs decision could have a profound impact on sales and use tax nexus in the United States by altering the limitations currently imposed on a stateâs ability to require out-of-state retailers to collect such tax.
Since the beginning of 2017, Delawareâs abandoned and unclaimed property law has undergone continuous statutory and regulatory changes, e.g., the enactment of SB 13 (Delawareâs new unclaimed property statute) and SB 79 (an amendment to SB 13), as well as the promulgation of final regulations from the Secretary of State (the âSOSâ) regarding estimation practices in its voluntary disclosure agreement (âVDAâ) program. To read our prior coverage relating to these unclaimed property developments in Delaware, see Delaware Issues New Abandoned and Unclaimed Property Regulations, Technical Correction to Delawareâs Unclaimed Property Overhaul Legislation Includes Extension of Time to Convert an Audit to a Voluntary Disclosure Agreement, and UPDATE: The Delaware Secretary of State Releases the Final Version of its Estimation Regulations With No Substantive Changes.
The Delaware Secretary of State recently finalized its estimation regulations without any substantive change to Delawareâs proposed estimation practices. The final version of these regulations, which became effective July 11, 2017, acknowledges that the state received numerous public comments criticizing the proposed regulations, including the stateâs practice of extrapolating unclaimed property liability to Delaware based on all unclaimed property reported in the base period, including property that was escheatable to other states. However, as anticipated, the Secretary of State âdecided to not make [any] suggested changesâ. The Secretary of Stateâs finalized estimation regulations can be viewed here: Abandoned or Unclaimed Property Voluntary Disclosure Agreement Program.