Wayfair Update: State & Local Tax Landscape Altered

Oct 30, 2019

Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court found in favor of the State of South Dakota by expanding the definition of in-state nexus to include a “virtual presence” in South Dakota v. Wayfair, Inc. The Supreme Court approved the South Dakota law imposing filing requirements on businesses that have $100,000 of gross receipts or 200 transactions with customers in the state. Many states have adopted those thresholds, but others have altered them slightly.

Since the Supreme Court’s decision, many states have enacted legislation similar to South Dakota’s rule expanding sales tax conditions to require more businesses to register and file sales tax returns. Businesses can now be required to collect sales tax even if they do not have a physical presence in a state, so long as it meets some minimum thresholds.

Recently, Ohio and Pennsylvania adopted modified economic nexus provisions:

Ohio
In response to the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Wayfair, Ohio has adopted an economic sales & use tax nexus standard.  The new standard replaces the traditional physical presence nexus standard. Under House Bill 166, effective August 1, 2019, a seller is presumed to have sales & use tax nexus in Ohio if the seller has either gross receipts in excess of $100,000 from sales into Ohio or engages in 200 or more separate transactions in Ohio. The threshold under either test is measured during the current calendar year or the preceding taxable year. Taxpayers doing business in Ohio should review their sales data to determine if they are subject to the new nexus standards and are required to collect and remit sales tax from customers.

Pennsylvania
Beginning in the tax year 2020, the State of Pennsylvania will impose a new income tax nexus standard that is comparable to the sales & use tax economic nexus standard outlined in Wayfair. Historically, a taxpayer had income tax nexus in a state where it had a physical presence, i.e. carrying on activities beyond the solicitation of sales or having property located in the state. The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue is asserting that the physical presence is no longer required. Under the new standard, the state will impose an income tax filing obligation on remote taxpayers that are doing business and have an economic presence in the state. Economic presence under the Pennsylvania nexus standard is defined as having in excess of $500,000 of gross receipts sourced to Pennsylvania from the sale or lease of tangible personal property, sale of services or the sale or licensing of intangible property in the state. Taxpayers that have Pennsylvania sourced sales and are not filing an income tax return in the state should review their sales data to determine if they have an income tax filing obligation based on the new nexus standard for tax years beginning on or after January 1, 2020.

Click here to view an up-to-date state nexus guide.

Categories: Retail, Tax Compliance, Tax Planning


FASB Lease Accounting Standards Delayed

Jul 24, 2019

What happened?
The Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) voted unanimously on Wednesday, July 17, 2019, to propose delaying the effective date for portions of its major accounting standards, including ASC 842, Leases, for privately held companies and nonprofit organizations.

Also, the new proposal is expected to create two new “buckets”: (1) SEC filers other than smaller reporting companies (SRCs, as defined by the SEC) and (2) all other entities, allowing at least a two-year difference in the effective date between the buckets.

Why is this important?
For private companies, ASC 842 was previously scheduled to take effect for annual financial reporting periods beginning after December 15, 2019 (2020 for calendar year-end companies), and interim periods after December 15, 2020. However, this delay means companies now have an extra year to adopt the new lease accounting rules, subject to the FASB issuing a formal proposal for public comment before finalizing the new effective dates.

What’s next?
The FASB staff will draft the proposed amendments to existing standards and provide them to the Board to vote by written ballot, after which they are expected to be exposed for a public comment period of 30 days. The FASB expects to issue the final amendments later this year.

As we continue to consult with current clients, we highly encourage companies to proactively address the implementations of both standards as evaluation and adoption typically take longer than anticipated.

For additional insights or assistance on the adoption of the new revenue standards please contact one of the following members of our audit team at 419.891.1040

                

Tracie Youngless            Kristin Metzger               Juli Seiwert                Ryan Leininger                 Amy Barber

Categories: Audit & Accounting