A little known statutory change now allows for certain fraternal societies to obtain tax exempt status in Pennsylvania.
In Hospital Utilization Project v. Commonwealth, 487 A.2d 1306 (Pa. 1985) (“HUP”), the Pennsylvania Supreme Court set forth the following five-pronged test to determine whether an entity qualifies as “purely public charity” under the…
In Mixell v. Cumberland County Board of Assessment Appeals, 313 A.3d 330 (Pa. Commw. Ct. 2024), the Commonwealth Court held that the Board of Assessment Appeals (“Board”) had failed to show proof of mailing sufficient to establish that a property owner had received hearing notices in her property tax appeal.
The property owner had…
On January 10, 2024, the Commonwealth Court held in NHL Players Ass’n v. City of Pittsburgh, (No. 1150 C.D. 2022) that the City of Pittsburgh’s Facility Tax — a unique tax on nonresidents who use a sports stadium or arena (“Facility”) to engage in an athletic event or other performance — violated the Pennsylvania…
In In Re: Appeal of the Coatesville Area S.D., et al., Nos.1130 & 1161 C.D. 2018 (Pa. Commw. Ct. Aug. 19, 2022), the Commonwealth Court decided cross-appeals of a taxing school district and a property owner regarding the owner’s entitlement to an exemption from real estate taxes as an institution of purely public charity…
On June 8, 2022, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court denied the City of Philadelphia’s (the “City”) Petition for Allowance of Appeal from the decision of the Commonwealth Court in Duffield House Assocs., L.P. v. City of Phila., 260 A.3d 329 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2021) (“Duffield House”). In that case, the Commonwealth Court had affirmed the trial…
Recently, in O’Donnell v. Allegheny County North Tax Collection Committee, et al., No. 8 WAP 2021 (Dec. 27, 2021), the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that whistleblower payments constituted compensation subject to local earned income taxes.
In 2014, the taxpayer had filed an action alleging that his employer violated the federal False Claims Act (“FCA”). …
On September 13, 2021, the Commonwealth Court held in Alcatel-Lucent USA Inc. v. Com., No. 803 F.R. 2017 (“Alcatel”), that the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue’s policy of applying the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s landmark decision in Nextel Communications of the Mid-Atlantic, Inc. v. Com., 171 A.3d 682 (Pa. Oct. 18, 2017), only…
On March 3, 2021, the Commonwealth Court in Mandler and Nuclear Imaging Systems, Inc. v. Commw., No. 483 F.R. 2014, overruled taxpayers’ exceptions to the Court’s decision affirming the denial of the taxpayers’ petition for refund of employer withholding taxes paid to the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue (the “Department”) in satisfaction of $180,000 in…
