William P Cook

Tax Alerts

Tax Briefing(s)

Congress Approves Sweeping Tax Overhaul Tax Cuts and Jobs Act 2017 Year-End Tax Planning

2018 Inflation-Adjusted Amounts Modified
The IRS has modified certain previously released inflation-adjusted amounts. Generally, these new inflation-adjusted figures apply to tax years beginning in 2018 or transactions or events occurring in...

Virtual Currency Transactions: They Are Reportable
The IRS has reminded taxpayers that income from virtual currency transactions is reportable on their returns and that these transactions are taxable just like those involving any other property.Virtua...

New Carried Interest Holding Period to Apply to S Corps
The IRS plans to issue regulations clarifying the new three-year holding period for certain carried interests. The new regulations will provide that partnership interests held by S corporations are su...

Proposed Regs Would Expand ACA-Exempt Short-Term Insurance
In response to President Trump’s Executive Order 13813, the Departments Health and Human Services, Labor and the Treasury (the Departments) are proposing regulations to expand the availability o...

IRS Ending Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program
The IRS has announced it will begin to shut down the 2014 Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP). The program will close on September 28, 2018. Therefore, U.S. taxpayers with undisclosed foreign...

OPR Highlights Important Process Change
The IRS Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR) on March 6 issued an alert highlighting an important process change. The OPR has modified its investigation procedures to give practitioners an oppo...

New Withholding Calculator, W-4 Released
The IRS has released a new withholding calculator, as well as a new version of Form W-4, Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate. The new withholding calculator will let employees check tha...

AK - Repeal of alternative capital gains tax proposed
Legislation reported favorably from the Alaska House Committee on Resources proposes to repeal:the 4.5% alternative tax on a corporate income taxpayer's capital gains;the corporate income tax credit f...

AR - Transfer of investArk credits to successor entity approved
The Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration approved the transfer of a taxpayer’s InvestArk gross receipts and use tax credits to its successor entity pursuant to a merger of two lumbe...

CA - Distributors’ first quarter 2018 cannabis tax return is due
California advises cannabis distributors that the cannabis tax return and payment for the period January 1, 2018, through March 31, 2018, is due by April 30, 2018. Electronic cannabis returns are now ...

CO - Personal income tax payment options discussed
The Colorado Department of Revenue has issued a press release explaining the various personal income tax payment options available for taxpayers. The due date for filing returns is April 17, 2018. Tax...

DE - Taxpayers alerted to new refund scam
// // The Delaware Division of Revenue (division) issued a press release alerting personal and corporate income taxpayers to a new scam involving fraudulent tax refunds being deposited into genuine ta...

FL - Department amends regulations
Florida has amended a number of sales and use tax and administrative rules.Repossessed Merchandise and Bad DebtsSales and use tax Rule 12A-1.012, regarding repossessed merchandise and bad debts, is am...

GA - Constitutional amendment on forest land conservation use property proposed
The Georgia Legislature adopted a resolution proposing to amend the state constitution concerning forest land conservation use property's ad valorem tax classification. Under the proposed amendment, t...

HI - Taxpayers reminded to file personal income tax and general excise tax returns
The Hawaii Department of Taxation has issued a press release reminding taxpayers to file their personal income tax return or general excise tax return (sales and use tax) if the taxpayer did business ...

IL - Appeal dismissed for lack of jurisdiction
An Illinois not-for-profit licensed life care facility's (taxpayer's) appeal from the circuit court's denial of a property tax general homestead exemption was dismissed because of lack of jurisdiction...

IN - Purchase of shotgun shells not exempt
A stone and aggregate manufacturer's (taxpayer's) purchase of shotgun shells was not exempt from Indiana sales and use tax because the shells were not an integral part of the manufacturing process. Ge...

IA - Federal conformity bill introduced, decouples from bonus depreciation
A bill introduced in the Iowa Senate would adopt the IRC in effect on January 1, 2018 for the:franchise tax;corporate income tax; andpersonal income tax.The current IRC conformity date is January 1, 2...

LA - Denial of refund claim upheld
A metal supplier's claim for a refund of Louisiana sales taxes paid on its commercial purchase of welding gases was dismissed because recent legislation (Act 9 of 2008) that excluded only commercial p...

ME - Credit for investment in shipbuilding enacted
Maine enacted a nonrefundable credit for major investments and the preservation of jobs in the shipbuilding industry. The credit is available beginning with the 2020 tax year. However, the credit may ...

MD - Taxpayers alerted to phone scam
The Maryland Department of Revenue has issued a news release alerting personal income taxpayers to a phone scam in which scammers call taxpayers to warn that they owe taxes and will face arrest if the...

MS - Local tax changes in Southaven and Horn Lake announced
The Mississippi Department of Revenue has announced the following local lodging and restaurant tax developments:Southaven.—An additional special tax is levied at the rate of 1% of the gross proc...

MO - Rate table issued for upcoming show-me green tax holiday
The Missouri Department of Revenue has issued rate tables for the Show-Me Green Sales Tax Holiday set for April 19 through April 25, 2018.The rate table can be found at http://dor.mo.gov/pdf/rate...

NE - Prepaid wireless surcharge remittance requirements revised
Sellers must remit prepaid wireless surcharges to the Nebraska Department of Revenue on a monthly basis unless they collected less than $1,000 in surcharges in the prior year. In such a case, the sell...

NV - Additional credit amount authorized for scholarship organization donations
Recently enacted Nevada legislation authorizes the Department of Taxation to allow additional credit amounts to be claimed against the modified business tax and the financial institution modified busi...

NH - Internet sales tax fight continues
New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu and Attorney General Gordon MacDonald have announced that New Hampshire has submitted an amicus curiae or "friend-of-the-court," brief to the Un...

NM - Taxpayer entitled to high-wage jobs tax credits for certain employees
A corporate income taxpayer was entitled to claim the New Mexico high-wage jobs tax credits with respect to certain employees based on their residential status and promotion. In this matter, the Taxat...

NY - Notice of deficiency barred by three-year statute of limitations
For New York personal income tax purposes, a taxpayer's protest of the Division of Taxation's issuance of a notice of deficiency was partly sustained because the notice was barred pursuant to the thre...

NC - Department reminds taxpayers of repeal of certain machinery and equipment tax
North Carolina reminds sales and use taxpayers of the repeal of Article 5F effective July 1, 2018. Article 5F imposes, until July 1, 2018, a 1% privilege tax on certain machinery and equipment.Mill Ma...

OK - State-specific withholding certificate introduced
In response to the federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, Oklahoma is introducing a state-specific withholding certificate. The Oklahoma Tax Commission has historically used the IRS Form W-4. However, the sta...

OR - Individual not liable for corporation’s unpaid withholding taxes
The Oregon Tax Court (court) determined that an individual was not personally liable for the unpaid withholding taxes of a corporation because she was not an "employer" as per the applicable...

PA - Reimbursement for repairs denied for lack of sufficient evidence
For Pennsylvania property tax purposes, a trial court’s decision that denied the tax sale purchaser’s request for reimbursement of necessary repair costs that it paid during its possession...

SC - Appeal against tax sale validity barred by res judicata
A South Carolina trial court decision that determined a property tax sale valid on the basis that the property owner was judicially estopped from claiming she did not receive notice of the tax sale wa...

TN - Tennessee explains state treatment of repatriated earnings
Because corporations will report repatriated earnings for federal purposes on the IRC Sec. 965 transition tax statement, rather than Form 1120, the earnings should not be included in the net earnings ...

TX - February 2018 certification of the average closing price of gas and oil released
The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts has determined the average taxable price of crude oil for the reporting period February 2018 is $42.95 per barrel for the three-month period beginning on Novem...

UT - Utah income tax apportionment definitions revised
Utah legislation revises definitions that apply to corporations apportioning their business income for tax purposes. Specifically, for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2018:"optional sal...

VA - Worker retraining credit expanded
Virginia has expanded the worker retraining tax credit for tax years after 2017 and before 2022. Manufacturers may claim a credit against corporate and personal income taxes equal to 35% of their dire...

WY - Demurrage and labor charges discussed
Demurrage charges and labor charges are discussed in a Wyoming Department of Revenue sales tax newsletter.Demurrage chargesDemurrage charges are not treated the same as the rental of gas cylinders or ...