Thinking Out Cloud: California State Sales and Use Taxability of Cloud Computing Transactions

51 Pages Posted: 22 Mar 2012 Last revised: 1 Jun 2014

See all articles by Matthew Susson

Matthew Susson

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Date Written: Fall 2013

Abstract

Confronted with growing budget deficits and decreasing tax bases, states have sought to expand sales tax laws to capture revenue from sales of digital products. Just as states have begun to impose such taxes, however, the shift from downloaded products to cloud-based data and applications — accessible from anywhere in the world — poses new challenges to the states’ ability to reach such transactions with their taxing powers.

Thus far, state governments have taken inconsistent and patchwork approaches towards determining taxability. Rather than supplement or amend state tax codes to address cloud computing transactions directly, they have sought to apply existing provisions dealing with tangible personal property, services, or information processing. As a result of their piecemeal approaches, cloud service providers and their customers are left without definitive guidance as to their sales and use tax obligations, which may vary substantially state-to-state.

If California wishes to stanch its revenue bleeding and budgetary problems, it must do more than simply repurpose existing state provisions ad hoc and shoehorn new business paradigms into old categories. California’s ongoing transition to an information services economy requires a coordinated effort to effectively tax crucial revenue. California must amend its tax code to allow taxation of some services — specifically digital services — if it hopes to maintain a steady stream of sales tax revenue. It must, however, propound comprehensible guidelines if it wishes to incentivize innovation and provide certainty and stability to service providers and retail customers regarding their tax obligations. California should also work in concert with other states to commonly define goods and services and create a consistent national vocabulary, which would simplify the levying and collection of sales taxes on interstate transactions, and pave the way for unifying federal action.

Keywords: Cloud Computing, Sales Tax, Use Tax, Taxability, California, Technology, Chapman University School of Law

Suggested Citation

Susson, Matthew, Thinking Out Cloud: California State Sales and Use Taxability of Cloud Computing Transactions (Fall 2013). Chapman Law Review, Vol. 17, p. 295, 2013, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2027658 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2027658

Matthew Susson (Contact Author)

affiliation not provided to SSRN

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