Reed Smith’s State Tax Group has significant experience handling Ohio state tax matters. We are licensed to practice in Ohio. Our experience includes assessment and refund matters through the administrative level, at the Board of Tax Appeals (where an Ohio-licensed attorney is required), and at the Ohio Supreme Court. In particular, our team has handled appeals and advised clients on the Commercial Activities Tax, Sales and Use Tax, and the Financial Institutions Tax.
Here is a brief summary of a few of Ohio state tax issues and opportunities we have recently worked on for our clients:
- Represented multiple health care goods and services providers at the Board of Tax Appeals in an issue involving federal preemption of the CAT on federal health benefit plans.
- Advised a technology company in a dispute involving the proper sourcing of services provided to customers located in multiple jurisdictions, and the effect of book/tax adjustments in calculating CAT gross receipts.
- Substantially reduced a sales and use tax assessment for a national consumer goods company at the Board of Tax Appeals by expanding the manufacturing exemption, and challenging Ohio’s assertion that certain purchases of services were subject to tax.
- Represented a national information technology company at the Board of Tax Appeals in challenging a sales and use tax assessment regarding the scope of the resale exemption, whether certain purchases qualified as “business fixtures,” and Department assertions that certain purchases of services were subject to tax.
- Advised a consumer goods manufacturer on the applicability of tax to repair services, and the extent of the manufacturing exemption for sales and use tax.
- Represented a mutual fund marketer and distributor in a dispute involving the sourcing of mutual fund receipts for CAT purposes.
- Represented a federally chartered savings institution in reducing its Financial Institutions Tax.
- Represented a national food processing company as amicus before the Supreme Court of Ohio in a case involving the constitutionality of the CAT as applied to the sale or purchase of food.
Ohio State Tax Intelligence
As part of our full service for clients with Ohio tax issues, we maintain a database of published and unpublished Department of Taxation rulings and pending cases involving Commercial Activities Tax, Sales and Use Tax, and the Financial Institutions Tax. We are also a member of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce Tax Committee, and a member of the planning committee for the Ohio Tax Conference, where several of our attorneys have spoken on various topics.
