In a long-awaited decision, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently held in Synthes USA HQ, Inc. v. Commonwealth, 11 MAP 2021, that service providers were required to apportion receipts based on the location where the customer received the benefit of the service (“Benefit-Received Method”) under Pennsylvania’s “costs of performance” (“COP”) statute in effect prior to 2014. 
Corporate Taxes
Pennsylvania Saga re Unconstitutional Dollar-Based Caps on NOL Deduction Continues
There has been a flurry of litigation in recent years involving taxpayer challenges to the constitutionality of Pennsylvania’s statutory cap on net loss carryover (“NOL”) deductions for tax years prior to 2017. First came the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision in Nextel Communications of the Mid-Atlantic, Inc., 171 A.3d 682 (Pa. 2017), in which the Court…
Landmark Pennsylvania Corporate Net Income Tax Case Not Retroactively Applicable (except when it is)
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…
Pennsylvania Department of Revenue Issues Corporate Tax Bulletin 2019-4 on Nexus for Corporate Net Income Tax Purposes
On September 30, 2019, the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue issued Corporation Tax Bulletin 2019-4 giving guidance on nexus for Corporate Net Income Tax purposes (“Bulletin”).
The Bulletin recites constitutional underpinnings of nexus, noting that the federal underpinnings of a state’s jurisdiction to tax is based on both the Due Process and the Commerce Clauses of…
PA Issues Guidance on Taxable Telecommunications Receipts
On August 20, the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue issued Corporation Tax Bulletin 2018-04, which announces the Department’s position regarding the scope of taxable and nontaxable telecommunications receipts for Gross Receipts Tax (“GRT”) purposes based on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision in Verizon Pennsylvania, Inc. v. Commonwealth, 127 A.3d 745 (Pa. 2015), and Act 52…
New Bulletin Addresses Statutory “Fix” for PA Bonus Depreciation Decoupling
After enactment of the Federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act last year (which allowed taxpayers to claim bonus depreciation for the full cost of eligible property placed in service after September 27, 2017), the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue issued Corporation Tax Bulletin 2017-02. In Bulletin 2017-02, the Department concluded that corporate taxpayers were required to…