Recently, the Arizona Court of Appeals (Court) determined the Wisconsin headquartered online auto parts retailer RockAuto, LLC (RockAuto) had established substantial nexus in Arizona through its network of distributors, vacating and remanding the tax court’s decision. With a twist of fate regarding the tax court’s decision favoring RockAuto, the online retailer now faces a liability in excess of $8 million of tax, penalties and interest assessed by the Arizona Department of Revenue (Department).

In a recent decision, the Nebraska Supreme Court (Court) held a company officer personally liable for over $56,000 in unpaid use tax, penalties and interest. The officer was the former president of Direct Media, Inc. (Media) a direct mail processing company which ceased operations in 2011. The Court’s ruling affirmed the lower court’s determination that the officer was the company’s responsible officer in charge of managing the business’ finances and thereby responsible for the unpaid tax.

Affirming the Illinois Independent Tax Tribunal’s decision, the Illinois Appellate Court denied a $162.7M refund claim from American Aviation Supply, LLC (American) after determining that a sales tax exemption for property bought and stored temporarily in Illinois did not apply to the company’s sales of aviation fuel. In reaching its holding, the Court determined the exemption did not apply because the fuel was not consumed solely outside of the state.

Sparked by ongoing litigation in a class action lawsuit by Sheetz, Inc. (Sheetz), the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court (Court) is reviewing whether Perrier water is classified as “water” or a “soft drink” for sales tax purposes. The dispute arose after a class action lawsuit was filed against Sheetz, in which the plaintiff alleged that Sheetz incorrectly charged and collected sales tax on nonflavored mineral water such as Perrier. Now, the Court must decide if the characteristics of Perrier water, including the bottling process and the carbonation, are more aligned with the definition of “water” or a “soft drink” for Pennsylvania sales tax purposes.

Netflix, Inc. (Netflix) began a long, arduous battle against the Colorado Department of Revenue (Department) regarding the state’s position on the taxability of Netflix’s streaming services. Now, Netflix is seeking a refund of tax paid to the Department based on three arguments: (1) Netflix’s streaming services do not involve the transfer of a physical product, (2) Netflix’s Terms of Use do not grant tangible personal property to the users, and (3) the services are provided on a month-to-month subscription basis that does not qualify as a sale.

Airbnb filed an appeal challenging Boulder, Colorado’s Municipal Court's decision to include its service fee in the city's Short-Term Rental Tax base. Additionally, Airbnb questioned the court's decision denying its penalties and interest abatement.