Many States Facing Revenue Shortfalls

According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) and the National Association of State Budget Officers, in 2017, 25 states are facing or have addressed revenue shortfalls.  More states expect mid-year revenue shortfalls than in any year since 2010.

This does not bode well for taxpayers as states will look for ways to solidify revenue either through more aggressive enforcement, or enacting new legislation that broadens the tax base, eliminates deductions, credits or exemptions, or raises rates.

The question remains - will federal tax reform increase state tax revenue?

Read the full report here.

COST: Retroactive Legislation and 2017 State Tax Amnesty Programs

I apologize for not writing more over the past couple of weeks, but I've been busy with client work. Regardless, I wanted to touch base and send you a link to a couple of items that you might find interesting.

First, COST (Council on State Taxation) has published an Op-Ed piece by Douglas Lindholm, the President and Executive Director of COST, regarding retroactive tax legislation. 

Second, COST has also published a list of 2017 state tax amnesty programs. Always a useful tool. When it comes to amnesty, continue to weigh the cost/benefits between amnesty and voluntary disclosure agreements before choosing to move forward with an amnesty application.

M&A Activity Expected to be Strong For 2017

According to a KMPG, LLP survey, 84% of those surveyed expect to initiate a deal in 2017, 75% plan on doing multiple deals. Middle market deals are expected to dominate in 2017 and 78% say their deals would be worth less than $500 million. The most active industry is technology (45%).

Not all deals made it to completion in 2016. According to the KPMG survey, deal failures were most frequently caused by valuation disagreements, a bidding loss and issues revealed during due diligence (financial, operational and management).

Here is  link to the KPMG survey.

Here is a link to a Middle Market M&A study put together by Citizens Commercial Banking.

Here is a link to a Forbes article on the 4 biggest trends in M&A for 2017.

Is your company considering restructuring its business?  Perhaps creating new legal entities or re-aligning its lines of business into different entities?  Changing the ownership structure of the legal entities within the commonly controlled affiliated group?  Or maybe it is considering acquiring or merging with a new business (unrelated third-party)?

Regardless of your company's situation, in each of the above mentioned scenarios, your company must perform its due diligence prior to completing any transaction or restructuring. That due diligence should take into consideration the impact the restructuring or transaction will have on the business operations, legal obligations, insurance, finance, and tax, etc.  

In regards to the tax implications, there can be significant tax ramifications on the transaction or restructuring itself.  In addition to the federal tax impact, the state and local tax impact can be material and varied.  Some of the potential state and local taxes to take into consideration are:  income tax, gross receipts taxes, franchise taxes, sales and use taxes, property taxes and transfer taxes.

Usually the biggest concern in regards to the transaction from a state and local tax perspective are:  

• Is there any sales tax on the sale or transfer of assets or change in ownership? 
• Is there any transfer tax on the transfer of assets or change in ownership?

The answers to these questions depends on the state or states involved.

In addition to the above, the impact that the restructuring will have on the business' state tax nexus (taxable presence) position across the country should be reviewed and considered before making any changes.

So What?

If your company is currently considering any restructuring or acquisition, don't forget about performing state and local tax due diligence.  If the transaction ends up costing the company a significant amount of state tax dollars now or in the future, you may be asked if these issues were considered or reviewed prior to completing the transaction.

Does your company have potential tax liability in multiple states?

Does your company have potential tax liability in multiple states?

Is your company looking for options to resolve?

The Multistate Voluntary Disclosure Program (“MVDP”) provides a way for a taxpayer with potential tax liability in multiple states (including the District of Columbia) to negotiate a settlement, using a uniform procedure coordinated through the National Nexus Program (“NNP”) staff of the Multistate Tax Commission (“Commission”).

For all of the details, go here.

Are you concerned about what tax law changes states will make this year?

The Pew Charitable Trusts provides The Stateline 2017 calendar which includes each state’s legislative schedule as well as maps of the political landscape. Keep it handy to help you track legislative action in all 50 states.

A STATE TAX 'MUST READ' FOR 2017

With federal tax reform highly likely and international tax reform working in the background, state tax reform may be close behind.

It is definitely an interesting time to be working in the tax field. With new ideas and new perspectives, we are most assuredly closer to change than we have ever been. If we have learned anything about change, is that change requires 'us to change.' We must be open to new ways of thinking, but we must also be involved. Stay informed. Speak up. Play a part.

Liz Malm at Multistate Associates, Inc. has written 3 recent posts in their Multistate Insider publication that you have to read if you are curious at all about what will happen with multistate taxes in 2017. 

First, "Tax Issues to Watch in 2017: Taxation of Services."  According to the post, the sales taxation of services could be seriously debated in 16 states during the upcoming state sessions. The post provides a great explanation, recap and overview of all states as its relates to the sales taxation of services.

The second post you must read is "State Tax Policy in 2017: What to Expect." The post covers some of the biggest policy trends impacting multistate taxation. Trends that grew in strength in 2016, and may get even stronger in 2017, such as: sales tax nexus, sales taxation of services, short-term rental taxation, tangible personal property taxes, combined reporting and apportionment changes, tax havens, general rate increases and elimination of exemptions and deductions, and last but not least, questions surrounding what the state tax fallout will be from federal tax reform.

Third, find out what the National Conference of State Legislatures is thinking by reading "NCSL Tax Task Force Meeting Spots Emerging Issues for 2017."