Doeren Mayhew’s state and local tax (SALT) advisors highlight significant SALT news from across the country to keep you and your business ahead of the curve. Here are the most important topics from this past month.

State Corporate Income Tax

Delaware

Delaware House Bill 171 was signed to clarify that the net operating loss (NOL) for a corporate taxpayer (for Delaware purposes) is limited to the amount claimed as an NOL on the taxpayer’s separate federal return, or the consolidated federal return in which the taxpayer is included as an affiliate.

Florida

Florida Tax Information Publication 21C01-01 provides that Florida’s NOLs can be utilized without any limitations for tax years beginning before Jan. 1, 2021. However, for tax years beginning on or after Jan. 1, 2021, NOL carryovers generated after Dec. 31, 2017, can only be used to offset 80% of Florida’s taxable income. Florida NOLs generated before the 2018 tax year can be carried forward for 20 years, and Florida NOLs generated in or after the 2018 tax year have an indefinite carryforward.

Florida Tax Information Publication 21C01-02 states that Florida’s corporate income tax rate is reduced to 3.535% from 4.458%, effective for tax years beginning on or after Jan. 1, 2021. For tax years beginning on or after Jan. 1, 2022, the corporate income tax rate will become 5.5%.

New York

New York’s Fiscal Year 2022 Budget Legislation was signed into law, indicating taxpayers with business income over $5 million will be subject to an increased corporate income tax rate of 7.25%.

Maine

Maine Legislative Document 1216 updated the state’s nexus statute to include a bright-line nexus test for corporations. The test provides that a corporation is considered to have income tax nexus with Maine if it is organized or commercially domiciled in Maine, its property or payroll in Maine exceeds $250,000, sales in Maine exceeds $500,000, or more than 25% or the corporation’s property, payroll or sales are in Maine.

Nationwide

The Multistate Tax Commission (MTC) is encouraging the states to adopt a factor presence test for their corporate income tax nexus.

State Franchise Tax

District of Columbia

The District of Columbia Fiscal Year 2021 Budget Support Act of 2020 eliminated an exemption used to exclude the gain on the sale of property in the District for unincorporated business tax purposes.

Montana

Montana had an equally weighted three-factor apportionment formula, but Montana Senate Bill 376 recently adopted a double-weighted sales factor.

Washington

Washington Senate Bill 5096 enacted a capital gains tax on the sale of long-term capital assets of individuals at a rate of 7%. However, this tax is highly controversial and is currently in litigation. A Douglas County judge ruled in favor of the bill in Sept. 2021, setting the stage for a debate that the state Supreme Court will have to settle.

West Virginia

West Virginia House Bill 2026 adopted market-based sourcing for sales other than that of tangible personal property and single-sales factor apportionment.

IRC Conformity

Maine

Maine Legislative Document 221 conforms to IRC Code as of April 30, 2021.

Oregon

Oregon House Bill 2457 conforms to IRC Code as of April 1, 2021.

Pass-Through Entity Taxes

Georgia

Georgia House Bill 149 created an optional pass-through entity (PTE) tax for flow-through entities. The electing entity will pay a 5.75% tax on its Georgia taxable income. The individual owners will not receive a corresponding tax credit for the PTE paid by the flow-through entities. Instead, the income that is taxed under the PTE is excluded from the calculation of Georgia’s taxable net income for individual owners.

The Georgia Department of Revenue issued a proposed regulation to provide guidance on how to implement PTE. The rules explained that tax credits, NOLs and other tax attributes from tax years in which the entity-level election was not made cannot be transferred to the electing pass-through. NOLs of these pass-through entities will be treated the same as the NOLs of C corporations.

State Remote Workforce

South Carolina

South Carolina Letter 21-22 extends South Carolina’s nexus relief related to employees teleworking in the state through Dec. 31, 2021.

If you have concerns about how these recent changes may impact your business’s state and local tax liability, contact Doeren Mayhew’s dedicated state and local tax advisors today.