CA Tries To Tax Nevada-Based Businesses

Reaching across the border to tap states that don't suck

Sen. James Settelmeyer, R-Minden, is trying to sound the alarm about a new California law he says could impose that state's corporate income tax on thousands of Nevada businesses.

Proposition 39 was approved by California voters in November and restructures how multi-state businesses calculate the taxes they must pay on sales and services to California customers. It was billed as closing a loophole allowing multi-state businesses to avoid taxes by moving jobs out of California.

Reno Certified Public Accountant David Turner, a former member of Nevada's Tax Commission, said the old formula took into account not only the percentage of a company's sales in California but the percentage of payroll paid and property owned in that state.

The ballot question replaced formula with one that just calculates the percentage of a company's total taxable sales that occur in California, Turner said. The problem for Nevada businesses is that the Silver State doesn't have a business income tax. Therefore, none of its Nevada sales would be part of that calculation.