One of the biggest challenges in researching state tax issues today is that many jurisdictions often have not enacted laws or issued guidance on the tax treatment of certain types of business transactions, Megan Mahony, co-practice leader, Ryan National Tax at Ryan, LLC, writes in this week’s issue of the Weekly State Tax Report.

This problem is exacerbated by the fact that many sales and use tax laws were written well before the explosion of recent technological innovations, such as cloud computing, she writes.

Furthermore, with states under pressure to close massive budget deficits, state auditors are often “aggressively pursuing additional revenues by asserting new interpretations or applications of laws that pre-date the type of transaction at issue,” according to Mahony.

Against this backdrop, Mahoney, in her article, uses a case study to propose guidelines for a best research practice for transactions that are unique. Her case study follows an issue from “fact discovery, utilization of proper authority, and proper research presentation to thinking ahead to next steps.”

To learn how to develop research strategies when an issue is new and has not been subject to legislation, check out Mahoney’s article in its entirety here.

In other developments,

The Tax Foundation releases a new report, by Joseph Henchman, on state unemployment taxes and benefits.

Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP releases their Tennessee Tax Fall 2011 Update, co-authored by Brett Carter, Joseph Gibbs, Patricia Head Moskal, and Brian Shelton.

Jeff Glickman and Mike Petrik, with Alston+Bird LLP, provide an update on Amazon laws and cloud computing.

By Priya D. Nair
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