Courts

The American Catalog Mailers Association’s (ACMA) suit challenging the Franchise Tax Board’s use of a technical advice memorandum (TAM) to expand the definition of “doing business” in California deserves a trial, the San Francisco County Superior Court ruled November 29. The FTB had asked the court to dismiss the ACMA’s complaint, which challenges the FTB’s February 2022 TAM claiming businesses that provide “post-sale assistance to California customers via electronic chat or email” and businesses that place “Internet ‘cookies’ onto computers…

An association representing remote-selling merchants is suing the Franchise Tax Board, alleging that the FTB is attempting to illegally expand its taxing authority via a technical advice memorandum (TAM) and related guidance publication that “directly contradict the plain language” of a federal law they purport to interpret. The suit, filed August 19 in San Francisco County Superior Court by the American Catalog Mailers Association (ACMA), challenges TAM No. 2022-01 and FTB 1050, relating to when a remote seller is deemed…

There was no prevailing party in the decades-long litigation between the Franchise Tax Board and Nevada inventor Gilbert Hyatt, and thus neither side will be ordered to pay the other’s legal costs or attorney fees, a Nevada trial court judge ruled. The Clark County judge issued the ruling February 21, but the decision was not posted on the FTB’s litigation webpage until March 19. The decision appears to be a win for Hyatt, as the FTB was asking the court…

The U.S. Supreme Court this week denied Arizona’s motion to review a complaint over California’s taxation of Arizona limited liability companies that invest in California businesses. The February 24 majority opinion was concise, simply stating that “the motion for leave to file a bill of complaint is denied.” Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented from the majority opinion, stating that the Supreme Court does not “have discretion to decline review in cases within our original jurisdiction that arise between…