In this episode of SALTovation, we continue our conversation with Olga Goldberg, SALT Partner at Pierce Atwood LLP. They discuss the importance of taxpayer advocacy and the surprising stance taken by the New Hampshire Department of Revenue Administration in a recent tax case and delve into the topic of taxpayers litigating against tax assessments, even when the amount at issue may not be significant. They highlight the importance of pushing the issue to get answers and establish precedents for future cases. They also touch on the uptick in battles over disclosing information in recent years and emphasize the need for clients to be prepared for the additional costs and challenges that may arise in tax litigation.
Topics discussed in this episode:
- Potential risks associated with disclosing confidential taxpayer information
- Additional costs and risks associated with public disclosure
- How states like Massachusetts and Connecticut handle residency and income tax
- Maine’s recent confidential taxpayer decision
- Challenges businesses face in protected information during legal proceedings
Quotables:
- "To establish a true answer, like Wayfair, it's probably not a big deal. Just go ahead and collect. You can agree on something, but at least you have that public answer that in theory, you know, people are going to be held to or states or businesses or whatnot.” -Olga Goldberg [02:51]
- "One of the recent battles that we've had which is not even a tax issue is confidential. The attorney general or the assistant AGs have been really pushing for the disclosure of confidential taxpayer information, like tax returns, and then just confidential information of the taxpayer, like details, of contracts and other information.” -Olga Goldberg [04:40]
- "Luckily, at least so far, trial courts seem pretty skeptical of the AG's arguments, they've been ruling in our favor, and they've been protecting this information. So, that's the good news, that it's not getting out there, but the bad news is that it's adding to the costs of a case that might not have a ton of evidence.” -Olga Goldberg [08:07]
- “Maine has a court-created second avenue to an exemption, which is that you can just file a declaratory judgment requesting an exemption, whether or not you have filed an application or whether or not you have requested abatement. So, you have two options, you can go the abatement route or you can go this declaratory judgment route.” -Olga Goldberg [20:22]
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