Dentons Bingham Greenebaum Tax Law Insights

Indiana Tax Court Denies Premature Direct Appeal from Real Property Tax Assessment

February 28, 2019

In Convention Headquarters Hotels, LLC v. Marion County Assessor, 18T-TA-00014 (Ind. Tax Ct. Jan. 25, 2019), the taxpayer, Convention Headquarters Hotels, LLC (“CHH”), initiated a real property assessment appeal at the county level, which remained dormant for a substantial amount of time.

SCOTUS Asked Whether Tax Commissioner's 500% Penalty Violates Excessive Fines Clause

February 14, 2019

On February 6, Counsel for Ashland Specialty filed a Petition for Certiorari with the Supreme Court of the United States, Docket No. 18-1053, to request review of the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia’s opinion in Ashland Specialty Co. Inc. v. Dale W. Steager, State Tax Comm’r of West Virginia, 241 W. Va. 1 (2018), which rejected Ashland Specialty’s Excessive Fines Clause challenge to the State’s imposition of a 500% civil penalty for inadvertent civil noncompliance.

Nonprofits and Kentucky Taxes

February 14, 2019

As taxes pose challenges to businesses, taxes also pose challenges to nonprofits. Belief in the myth that a nonprofit is wholly tax-exempt can land a nonprofit in hot water, particularly given Kentucky’s expansion of its sales tax in 2018 to certain services and broadly to many admission charges.

Indiana Sales Tax Not Imposed for Access to Online Database

January 31, 2019

In Revenue Ruling #2018-03ST (Oct. 29, 2018) (published Dec. 26, 2018), an out-of-state corporation (“Company”) sought an opinion as to whether sales tax should be collected for subscription fees charged for access to an online information database.

IRS Provides Safe Harbor for 20% Pass-Through Deduction For Rental Real Estate

January 24, 2019

On January 18, 2019, the IRS published much anticipated guidance addressing the question of whether rental real estate businesses can be treated as generating qualified business income (“QBI”) for purposes of the 20% passthrough deduction of § 199A of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (“Code”).

Kentucky: Department Letter Ruling Not Binding, Refund Denial Upheld

January 16, 2019

The Court held that the taxpayers were not entitled to a refund of amounts that would have been owed had they been able to file consolidated returns. Note that effective for 2019, the General Assembly eliminated the mandatory nexus consolidated return method and replaced it with combined unitary reporting.

Top 10 Things You Need to Know About Opportunity Zones

January 11, 2019

The 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act created substantial benefits for taxpayers who realize gain and timely invest such gain into a “qualified opportunity fund” or “QOF.” A QOF is a partnership or corporation which is organized for the purpose of investing in a qualified opportunity zone. Qualified opportunity zones are certain census tracts throughout the country that have been designated as such by the Secretary of the Treasury.

Kentucky’s Top 10 Biggest Tax Developments in 2018

December 19, 2018

2018 has seen quite a few significant tax developments. Following are some of the ten biggest.

Property Owned by Public Charity and Leased to a Non-Profit Providing Affordable Housing Does Not Qualify for Property Tax Exemption – Review Denied

October 21, 2018

In Grand Lodge of Kentucky Free and Accepted Masons, et al. v. City of Taylor Mill et al., the Kentucky Court of Appeals held that the real property owned by a non-profit organization but occupied by senior citizens as their residence is subject to ad valorem taxation and not subject to the charitable exemption found in Section 170 of the Kentucky Constitution.