State and Local Taxes

The online sales and use tax automation provider Avalara, Inc., has acquired the entire line of Zytax energy-related tax automation solutions for U.S. and international jurisdictions. Incorporating Zytax’s products now provides retail fuel and energy companies with a single source for all their transactional tax processing needs. Avalara acquired the Zytax offering from FuelQuest, a provider of on-demand software and services for global downstream energy companies.

The tax season may be over now, with most Americans having filed their returns before last week's April 15 deadline, but federal and state income taxes are just one part of the myriad of taxes that people pay.

Attempting to establish residency elsewhere -- especially in such states as Nevada, Texas and Florida that have no income or estate tax -- is not a new strategy for wealthy Minnesotans. But the creation of the new, higher top income bracket has raised the stakes.

What will happen to the “tax extenders” that have been virtually ignored by Congress the last few months? At long last, there seems to be some movement on several fronts concerning these tax law provisions that are traditionally extended for just one or two years.

With about two weeks to go in tax filing season, the procrastinators are finally starting to contact your office. Usually, they’ve postponed the inevitable because they fear they’ll be entitled to only a miniscule refund or they will have to ante up to Uncle Sam.

The new new global integration framework can give businesses more accurate and efficient process for ensuring tax policies and reports are maintained and easily accessible everywhere they do business.

Both houses of the Legislature passed a bill Friday to cut income and sales taxes by $443 million over the next 15 months. Gov. Mark Dayton signed it as soon as it reached his desk Friday evening.

State income taxes are often overlooked by the general public, but professional tax return preparers should not make the same mistake. Nevertheless, it is easy to miss tax benefits or liabilities associated with state income taxes, especially as they relate to federal Form 1040.