On February 10, 2023, in a much-anticipated group of Opinions, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court (“Court”) held that four separate Tower Health hospitals (one in Montgomery County and three in Chester County) did not qualify as institutions of purely public charity and thus, the hospitals were not entitled to real property tax exemptions for the 2018
Allegheny County – Bonus – Real Estate Tax Assessment Appeal Deadline – March 31, 2023
The deadline for filing a real estate tax assessment appeal for the 2023 tax year is fast approaching in Allegheny County. The deadline is March 31, 2023. Normally, you would only be able to appeal the assessment for the 2023 tax year, however, because of the shenanigans with Allegheny County manipulating the Common Level Ratio
New Year, New Useful Guidance: Clarification on Inflation Reduction Act’s New Excise Tax for Share Redemptions
This past summer under the Inflation Reduction Act, Congress enacted new Internal Revenue Code (“Code”) Section 4501, which imposes an excise tax on certain corporate redemptions or repurchases by a corporation of its own stock. Essentially, Section 4501 only applies to “Covered Corporations”, which more or less translates to corporations whose stock is publicly traded.
Circle of Seasons: A Refresher on the Importance of Administrative Formalities
In Circle of Seasons Charter School v. Northwestern Lehigh School District, 273 A.3d 23 (Pa. Cmwlth. 2022), the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court reversed the trial court decision, and the matter was remanded to the common pleas court to transfer the matter to the County of Lehigh Board of Assessment Appeals via a nunc pro tunc
Philadelphia Publishes FAQs Addressing Expiration of Its Temporary Nexus Waiver
In February, the City of Philadelphia published FAQs regarding expiration of the temporary nexus waiver that had been in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, the City had temporarily waived its legal nexus threshold that considers the presence of employees working temporarily from home within the City as sufficient to establish nexus for
PA Supreme Court Says Whistleblower Payments are Taxable Compensation
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”).
PA Commonwealth Court affirms that Bankruptcy and Trust Fund Taxes Don’t Play Well Together
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
PA Department of Revenue guidance on telecommuting due to COVID-19.
On November 9, 2020, the Pennsylvania Department of Revenue issued guidance relating to telecommuting and related tax implications. If an employee is working from home temporarily due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Department does not consider that as a change to the sourcing of the employee’s compensation. For non-residents who were working in Pennsylvania before
PA Announces Additional Relief from Tax Enforcement and Collection Activities
The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue has announced additional relief from tax enforcement and collection activities due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A complete list of newly announced relief for taxpayers is available at https://www.revenue.pa.gov/Pages/Relief-For-Taxpayers.aspx. Some of the highlights are summarized below.
Pause Payments for Existing Payment Plans
Taxpayers with existing installment payment agreements may request
COVID-19 UPDATE: Waiver of Sales Tax Prepayments and Impact of Employees Temporarily Working from Home
Sales Tax Prepayments
The PA Department of Revenue has announced that businesses that collect Pennsylvania sales tax will not have to make accelerated sales tax prepayments in April, May or June. Businesses that normally have a monthly prepayment requirement will not be charged penalties for missing the prepayment deadline during this three-month period.
Under this