As the weather is heating up, the Texas tax front continues to bring hot and exciting developments in the Lone Star State. Two of the latest updates usher in a change to the sourcing of local sales tax for certain internet sales and the end of Texas’s internet access tax. Internet Sales The Texas Comptroller has adopted amended regulations under 34 Tex. Admin. Code § 3.34 relating to the location where an internet order is…
On Wednesday, March 24, the Texas Comptroller’s Office announced several important measures in response to the current conditions caused by COVID-19. The Comptroller’s Office has been preparing these measures for several weeks, particularly after Governor Abbott declared a state of disaster, applicable to all 254 counties, on March 13. These updated measures include:
Wayfair has, for now, answered the question (at least, in part) of whether economic activity creates substantial nexus under the Commerce Clause for purposes of sales and use taxes. However, questions remain regarding whether and to what extent business activity tax nexus standards could be impacted. While states had boldly asserted economic nexus in the business activity tax context pre-Wayfair, the response since has been somewhat muted, until recently. Three states, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Wisconsin, have recently sought to fill in the blanks with regard to business activity tax nexus, with varied and inconsistent results that may raise more questions and concerns than answers.
The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts (the “Comptroller”) will initiate the Texas Tax Amnesty Program (the “Program”) this week. The Program will run from May 1, 2018 to June 29, 2018 and covers all state and local taxes and fees administered by the Comptroller, including Texas franchise tax and sales/use taxes. The Program applies to all tax reports originally due before January 1, 2018, and is designed to allow participants to “wipe the slate clean” by filing all past due reports or by amending reports that underreported taxes. Program participants benefit from a 100% waiver of both penalties and interest. This is the first Texas amnesty program since 2012, when an earlier amnesty program ran from June 12, 2012 through August 17, 2012.