––––––––––––––––––––
Subscribe to the Legal News!
http://legalnews.com/Home/Subscription
Full access to public notices, articles, columns, archives, statistics, calendar and more
Day Pass Only $4.95!
One-County $80/year
Three-County & Full Pass also available
- Posted December 25, 2014
- Tweet This | Share on Facebook
Judge OKs law shielding Mich. from payout
By David Eggert
Associated Press
LANSING (AP) - Michigan lawmakers were entitled to correct a mistake by retroactively clarifying that they never intended for out-of-state companies to lessen their tax liability under a 2007 business tax overhaul, a judge ruled.
Court of Claims Chief Judge Michael Talbot, in rulings made public Monday and issued last Friday, upheld a law signed by Gov. Rick Snyder in September. It was designed to ensure that the state is not forced to pay $1.1 billion in refunds in about 134 cases similar to one in which the Michigan Supreme Court in July said IBM was owed roughly $6 million.
The law's approval was a "valid, constitutional act" and one that prevented taxpayers from getting a "windfall that the Legislature did not mean to provide," Talbot wrote.
He issued two opinions in cases brought by Santa Ana, California-based Ingram Micro Inc. and its subsidiaries and Waukegan, Illinois-based Yaskawa America Inc. - along with 98 related orders. Fifty-four cases were dismissed, 21 were partially tossed and 25 remain open, said John Nevin, spokesman for the high court.
In 2007, Michigan scrapped the Single Business Tax in favor of the Michigan Business Tax.
IBM later challenged the state Treasury Department's ruling that it was not allowed to determine certain tax bases using a formula from a 1970 multi-state tax compact. IBM sought a $6 million refund; the state said it should have been about $1.2 million under the MBT.
The Supreme Court agreed with IBM, ruling 4-3 that legislators never expressly repealed multistate businesses' ability to calculate their taxes via the compact.
A 2011 tax rewrite subsequently replaced the MBT with the Corporate Income Tax. The legal dispute involves certain companies' tax liability in the 2008, 2009 and 2010 tax years.
Before he signed the law making clear the Legislature's intent, Snyder had said the state should not take chances. Treasury has estimated that it could have been forced to pay back $1.1 billion plus interest because of the high court's decision five months ago.
Published: Thu, Dec 25, 2014
headlines Oakland County
headlines National
- 50 Years of Service: ABA has been a ‘stalwart ally’ for LSC funding
- ACLU and BigLaw firm use ‘Orange is the New Black’ in hashtag effort to promote NY jail reform
- Biden recalls time he bluffed knowledge of torts case and why he changed his mind about civil-trial work
- Lawyers’ ‘barrage of personal attacks’ on opponents started with tissue-box toss, appeals court says
- Longtime prosecutor resigns after judge tosses him from case, citing Perry Mason-type revelations
- 24% of law students expect to work in public service, survey says