State and Local Tax Alerts
Texas — FRANCHISE TAX — Closing business
The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts has issued a release stating that Texas entities registered with the Secretary of State must successfully file cancellation, termination or dissolution documents by December 31, 2009 to end their franchise tax responsibility. Entities that have an active registration with the Texas Secretary of State's Office after that date will be responsible for filing 2010 franchise tax reports. Entities need to obtain a Certificate of Account Status from the Comptroller before filing with the Secretary of State. (Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts Release, Closing Your Business This Year, 12/07/2009.)
New York - SALES AND USE TAX—Internet advertising, set-up, and support
The Department of Taxation and Finance has issued a memorandum discussing the taxability of various Internet advertising, set-up, support, and service fees relating to real estate listing. Charges to advertisers, agents, owners or individuals for advertising services are not subject to sales tax, nor does tax apply to separately stated set-up fees charged when the taxpayer sends a photographer to a property to take the pictures that will be used on the property. Customer support fees for access to sales and contact databases used to provide post-sale support are nontaxable to the extent that they are for proprietary sales information that is personal or individual in nature and not made available to other persons. Access to information derived from a common database, however, would be subject to tax to the extent the receipts are attributable to the taxpayer's customers who receive the information from the taxpayer in New York. Moreover, the taxpayer's sales of information services exclusively for resale are not subject to tax. The taxpayer's ASP fees for web site functionality are considered receipts from the sale of prewritten computer software and are subject to tax. Charges for processing credit card payment transactions are similar to bank processing fees and are not subject to sales tax, provided the charges are separately stated and reasonable. (New York Technical Service Bureau Memorandum TSB-A-09(44)S, 09/24/2009.)
Florida — SALES AND USE TAX — Estimated sales tax requirements.
Taxpayers whose total sales and use tax payments for all accounts that have the same federal employer identification number or social security number have reached $200,000 for the period of July 1, 2008, through June 30, 2009 are required to make estimated sales tax payments for all accounts beginning with their December 2009 return. This estimated payment requirement applies to the January 2010 through December 2010 collection periods, for all of the taxpayers' sales and use tax accounts. Estimated tax liability is based only on Florida sales and use tax due and does not include discretionary sales surtax. Taxpayers should compute their estimated tax liability by: (1) calculating 60% of average sales tax liability for the monthly tax returns for January 2009 through December 2009; or (2) calculating 60% of the sales tax collected during the same month of the previous calendar year; or (3) calculating 60% of the tax collected for the collection period following the current return. Dealers who operate two or more places of business that report through a central office or location are eligible to file a consolidated return, which must be filed and paid electronically. (Florida Tax Information Publication 09(A)01-07, 10/07/2009.)