[Revenews] Oregon Supreme Court ruling-minimum tax may be reduced by credits

[HENDERSON Jeffrey S]

Oregon Supreme Court ruling-minimum tax may be reduced by credits

The Oregon Supreme Court recently upheld the judgment of the Oregon Tax Court and ruled that a Business Energy Tax Credit (BETC) may be allowed against the corporation minimum tax. The decision (Con-way, Inc. & Affiliates v. Dept of Revenue, SC S060141<http://www.publications.ojd.state.or.us/docs/S060141.pdf>) addressed only the BETC but we're interpreting the ruling to broadly apply to corporation tax credits. There are two credits that are specifically prohibited from being allowed against the minimum tax.

*         Contributions of computers or scientific equipment credit (ORS 317.151).

*         Surplus kicker credit (ORS 291.349).

When will you begin issuing refunds based on the ruling?
Our return processing system doesn't easily allow us to reduce the minimum tax with credits. Now that we have the ruling we're working on programming the necessary changes into our system. We believe we'll begin processing returns and issuing refunds October 1, 2013.

I filed a timely protective refund claim for this issue; do I need to contact you to have the claim processed?
If you filed your protective refund claim on an amended tax return there is no need for you to contact us. We'll process your claim as soon as our processing system is up.

If you filed your claim in letter format, you will need to file an amended tax return. We'll then process your amended return as soon as our processing system is up. If the refund statute of limitations is no longer open for your amended return, attach a statement to your return indicating you filed a timely protective refund claim in letter format.

I haven't filed a protective refund claim for this issue; may I still file a protective refund claim?
No. Protective refund claims are no longer an option for this issue. The protective claim was only available to prevent the refund statute of limitations from expiring during litigation.

If the refund statute of limitations is still open, you may file a timely amended corporation tax return to apply tax credits against the corporation minimum tax. We can process the amended return and issue a refund. Visit www.oregon.gov/dor/business<http://www.oregon.gov/dor/business> for information on filing an amended corporation tax return.

IMPORTANT: If you claim "other credits" on your amended corporation tax return, you must attach a schedule that clearly identifies the credit(s) being claimed.



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