After New York’s Supreme Court ruled last year that online retailers are required to collect sales tax on orders they receive through affiliate Web sites based in the state, it was always pretty much a certainty that other states would pile on with their own versions of the “Amazon tax” (see my blog here). But I have to admit I’ve been a bit taken aback by how fast that’s happening this year. No fewer than five states — Virginia, New Mexico, Mississippi, Vermont, and Colorado — have jumped on the bandwagon in the past few weeks. more

Nice to see the Wall Street Journal headlining some good news this morning — “Tech Spending Bounces Back as Profits Rise” — and let’s all cheer some impressive earnings reports from Cisco et al. IT spending, which was in the pits much of last year and 2008, has been staging a modest comeback. A December study from Gartner projects total IT spend in the U.S. (for both products and services) at around $960 billion for 2010, up from $930 billion in ‘09.

What I’m wondering is how much, if any, of that money will be heading corporate tax’s way. more

Perhaps the biggest surprise for corporate taxpayers in the President’s budget, released yesterday, is the absence of a proposal to scrap the entity classification rules — aka “check-the-box” rules — which many U.S.-based multinationals rely on to structure their offshore subsidiaries so as to minimize tax liabilities. The administration estimated last year that repealing check-the-box could bring in some $87 billion through 2020. But for now, at least, the idea seems dead in the dust.

So … is this a sign that the administration is easing up on its drive to reform the U.S. international tax system? more

If you’re a business taxpayer with assets over $10 million and you file under FIN 48, the IRS has a new tax return schedule in the works for you.

IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman announced yesterday that the agency wants public and private companies that meet those criteria to provide “concise descriptions” of their uncertain tax positions and to disclose the maximum amount of income tax they’d be liable for if the positions were not sustained.

What, so FIN 48 itself wasn’t enough? more