SALT Blog 

The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts has published proposed amendments to 34 TAC §3.342, the sales and use tax rule on information services, in the October 30, 2026 issue of the Texas Register (51 TexReg 7510, TRD-202604429). The amendments center on electronic health record (EHR) and electronic medical record (EMR) systems provided to healthcare providers. The notice describes the proposal as "a change in policy," and comments are due within 30 days, a window that includes the Thanksgiving holiday.

The starting point: information services vs. data processing

The proposal ...

The bottom line

The Texas Comptroller has proposed amending Rule 3.330 (34 TAC §3.330, Data Processing Services) to stop taxing the fees online platforms charge their sellers, such as marketplace, delivery, ride-hailing, and short-term rental fees. The change would help both the platforms and the sellers, drivers, hosts, and restaurants that pay those fees. Comments are due November 15, 2026. Because that’s a Sunday, plan for yours to arrive by Friday, November 13.

How we got here

Since October 1, 2025, Rule 3.330 has said that services a marketplace provider gives its sellers may ...

Texas has changed how it conforms to the federal Internal Revenue Code for purposes of the Texas franchise tax, creating both potential tax benefits and additional costs for Texas businesses.

Beginning with the 2026 franchise tax report, the 2007 Internal Revenue Code will only apply where Texas law expressly references the Internal Revenue Code. The practical impact of this approach depends on the specific federal tax provision included.

For businesses claiming depreciation through cost of goods sold (COGS), the change can provide significant relief by allowing certain ...

The Texas Franchise Tax has often been the subject of litigation because of its hybrid structure—formally imposed on taxable margin rather than gross receipts but calculated using revenue-based inputs and apportionment rules.  This structure has repeatedly exposed the tax to challenges arguing that despite legislative labeling to the contrary, in substance, it operates as a gross receipts tax.  Against that backdrop, the Fifteenth Court of Appeals’ decision in American Airlines, Inc. v. Hancock represents a departure from the assumption that the tax’s structure alone ...

    The newly created Fifteenth Court of Appeals has issued its first sales-tax opinion, and its early signals should be on the radar of every Texas business, as well as tax professionals, in-house counsel, compliance teams, and industries that rely on exemptions or navigate complex tax classifications. In Hancock et al. v. ChampionX, LLC, the court held that the Texas Comptroller’s policy requiring manufacturers to pay sales tax on returnable containers and associated services is unlawful. While the underlying dispute involved specialized chemical containers, the ...

The State of Texas imposes a sales tax on most property and services.[1] A seller who makes a sale subject to the Texas sales tax is required by law to “add the amount of the tax to the sales tax.”[2] Once added, the Texas Tax Code says the following occurs:

1. The sales tax becomes part of the sales price;
2. The sales tax is a debt of the purchaser to the seller until paid; and
3. If unpaid, the sales tax is recoverable at law in the same manner as the original sales price.[3]

Sellers are not required to collect the sales tax if the purchaser provides an exemption certificate.[4] The exemption ...

In a win for a New Jersey couple, the New Jersey Tax Court concluded 2024 with a declaration that the couple’s Internal Revue Code (IRC) Section 965 income is not taxable as dividends for purposes of the New Jersey Gross Income Tax (GIT) Act.[1] On December 31, 2024, in a published opinion, the court granted the taxpayer’s summary judgment motion and held that the taxpayers’ undistributed earnings from certain controlled foreign corporations (CFCs), which were reported on their federal Form 1040 as Subpart F income, were not includible as dividends under the plain meaning of ...

The recent Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision in Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc. v. Commonwealth[1] has generated widespread attention and debate concerning the retroactive or prospective application of legal principles. This blog article will discuss the recent decision and its likely impacts.

Majority Rule: Prospective Relief

            During 2014, Pennsylvania law permitted taxpayers to take a net loss carryover deduction of the greater of 25 percent of income or $4 million. Thus, taxpayers with Pennsylvania taxable income below the $4 million cap could deduct their losses, reducing ...

On February 28, 2023, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued its evenly divided opinions in GM Berkshire Hills LLC v. Berks County Board of Assessment Appeals, 16 MAP 2022 (“Berkshire”).  In Berkshire, the Wilson School District (“WSD” or “school district”) adopted a policy of appealing recently sold properties that were potentially underassessed by at least $150,000. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court granted cert, agreeing to review two issues:

• whether the school district’s selective real estate tax assessment appeals violate the uniformity clause when the ...

The SALT deduction cap, enacted by a Republican-controlled Congress in 2017, is a quagmire for Democrats.  They’ve made promises to repeal it, and have made a wedge issue out of it.  But repealing the cap would be regressive (it would benefit higher-income earners), which contradicts the party’s broader platform. 

Aside from repeal, leaders in the kill-the-cap campaign have sought to undo the SALT deduction cap by challenging its constitutionality in court and by enacting State statutes that seek to end-run the cap (known as “workaround statutes”).  But challenges to the ...