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The Evolving Marketing Concepts for Selling Goods and Services – Sales Tax Treatment


Product Code - TMW06
Speaker(s): Arthur R. Rosen, Partner, McDermott Will & Emery, LLP, New York and Miami, Robert Nuzum, Partner, Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC, New Orleans and Matthew Hedstrom, Associate, McDermott Will & Emery, LLP, New York
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 Names such as Groupon, LivingSocial, and Kickstarter have not only entered the public lexicon over the past few years, but have come to signify new types of transactions. They have, of course, drawn the attention of several states, which have reached varying conclusions as to how sales tax should apply to social media coupons and other emerging business models.

The tax treatment of social media coupons depends largely on how the state implements its definition of “sales price.” As a result, varying treatments of these types of transactions exist—even among the 21 states that have fully adopted the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement.

Upon completion of this program, participants will learn:

  • how most states define “sales price”
  • the jurisdictions that exclude cash discounts from “sales price”
  • how “sales price” is defined under the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement
  • the distinctions between manufacturer’s coupons and vendor’s coupons
  • the sales and use tax consequences of reimbursements and rebates
  • the sales and use tax issues that arise from transactions involving the redemption of social media coupons, such as Groupon or LivingSocial
  • the available state tax agency guidance addressing transactions involving social media coupons
  • how new business models such as Kickstarter are likely to raise issues regarding sales and use tax compliance

Arthur R. Rosen, Partner, McDermott Will & Emery, LLP, New York and Miami, Robert Nuzum, Partner, Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC, New Orleans and Matthew Hedstrom, Associate, McDermott Will & Emery, LLP, New York

Arthur R. Rosen is a partner in the global law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP. His practice focuses on tax planning and litigation relating to state and local tax matters for corporations, partnerships, and individuals. Formerly the Deputy Counsel of the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance as well as Counsel to the Governor’s Temporary Sales Tax Commission and Tax Counsel to the New York State Senate Tax Committee, Mr. Rosen has held executive tax management positions at Xerox Corporation and AT&T. In addition, he has worked in accounting and law firms in New York City.

Mr. Rosen is a Fellow of the American College of Tax Counsel and is listed in the Best Lawyers in America and in the Best Lawyers in New York; he is also ranked in Chambers and the Legal 500.

Mr. Rosen is a past chair of the State and Local Tax Committee of the American Bar Association’s Tax Section and a past chair of the National Association of State Bar Tax Sections. He is a member of the Executive Committee of the New York State Bar Association’s Tax Section, and has served as co-chair of its Committees on New York State Tax Matters, New York City Tax Matters, and State and Local Tax Matters. He also served as President and Chairman of the NYU Tax Society and is an active member of the Institute for Professionals in Taxation. Mr. Rosen was a member of the steering committee of the NTA Communications and Electronic Commerce Tax Project. He founded and chairs the annual week-long “Introduction to State and Local Taxes” program, as well as the “State and Local Taxation II” program, offered at New York University. Mr. Rosen serves as a member of the New York State Commissioner of Taxation and Finance’s advisory council, the New York City Commissioner of Finance’s advisory council, and the New York City Tax Appeals Tribunal’s advisory council.

Mr. Rosen was the founder and editor of the monthly newsletter Inside New York Taxes, co-editor of the semi-monthly newsletters New York Tax Highlights and New York Tax Cases; he was the original editor-in-chief of CCH’s E-Commerce Tax Alert, and was the monthly tax columnist for the E-Commerce Law Journal. He has written scores of articles that have appeared in publications such as the Journal of Taxation, the Journal of State Taxation, the Journal of Bank Taxation, the State and Local Tax Lawyer, Multistate Tax Analyst, Inc. Magazine, the Assessment Digest, the Journal of New York Taxation, and The Tax Executive. Mr. Rosen has spoken extensively throughout the country on state and local tax matters.

McDermott Will & Emery LLP has one of the largest state and local tax practices in the United States. With offices located across the country, McDermott is uniquely positioned to advise and represent multi-state businesses on a broad range of state tax matters. You can find full text state and local tax articles at www.mwe.com/articles.

Robert W. Nuzum, shareholder in the New Orleans office, concentrates his practice in the areas of Louisiana state and local taxation, multi-state taxation and federal taxation. Following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, Mr. Nuzum developed a disaster tax practice, where he concentrated in Gulf Opportunity (GO) Zone tax incentives and benefits, GO Zone bonds, new markets tax credit transactions, tax-increment financing arrangements, and Louisiana state and local tax benefits, incentives and credits, including Louisiana new markets tax credits. He has completed two new markets tax credit transactions that closed in 2009 and 2008. He currently is counseling three clients regarding potential new markets tax credit transactions, encompassing both federal credits and Louisiana credits.

Mr. Nuzum's Louisiana state and local tax practice includes Louisiana income, franchise, sales and use, ad valorem property, bank shares tax, unclaimed property, tax incentives, rebates and tax credits, litigation and legislative initiatives, and tax controversy matters with, and litigation against, the Louisiana Department of Revenue and the local parish taxing authorities. In addition to his federal disaster tax practice, his federal tax practice also includes corporate reorganizations and liquidations, partnership tax, foreign tax, individual tax planning, corporate tax planning and tax controversy matters with, and litigation against, the Internal Revenue Service and the Tax Division of the United States Department of Justice.

Matthew P. Hedstrom is an associate in the law firm of McDermott Will & Emery LLP and is based in the Firm’s New York office. He focuses his practice on state and local taxation.

Matthew has tax controversy experience at the audit, administrative and appeals level in several jurisdictions. He also advises clients in all areas of multistate tax planning related to sales and use taxes and income taxes, including the state and local tax implications of restructuring, mergers, acquisitions and dispositions. Matthew has also assisted with multistate legislative analysis, including analyzing the impact of new state tax legislation to existing business operations.
Matthew has advised clients on unclaimed property matters, including multistate compliance, voluntary disclosure, planning, audit defense and legal opinions.
Prior to joining the Firm, Matthew was an associate at an international law firm, where he concentrated on state and local tax and unclaimed property matters.

Matthew is a member and on the executive board of the State and Local Tax Committee of the American Bar Association’s Tax Section. He also regularly speaks and publishes on a wide variety of state tax topics.