1. Multi-State Employees
Stephanie Pfister, Ryan LLC
October 8, 2015 – 9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.

2. Speaker Introduction

3. Agenda The Issue State Unemployment vs. State Income Tax Withholding
Reciprocal Agreements
Local Taxes
Multi-Jurisdictional Income
Withholding Complications
Telecommuters
Audits

4. The Issue
Employees working in more than one tax jurisdiction, such as:
Business travelers
Telecommuters
Corporate officers
Board members
Expatriates
Foreign nationals
Short-term assignees
Permanent transfers

5. SUI Taxation vs. SIT Withholding
State Unemployment Insurance (UI) taxability is governed by a four-part test that all states adhere to:
Are services localized? Are services performed outside the state incidental to those performed within the state? If so, employer is subject to state in which the services are localized.
Where is the base of operations? If in a particular state, that is the UI state.
Is there a place of direction and control? Where is immediate control exercised?
What is the employee’s state of residence? If all other tests have not been met, the default is to the state of residence.

6. Reciprocal Agreements
Illinois
Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Wisconsin
Indiana
Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin
Iowa
Kentucky
Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin
Maryland
Washington DC, Pennsylvania, Virginia, West Virginia
Michigan
Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Minnesota, Ohio, Wisconsin
Minnesota
Michigan, North Dakota
Montana
North Dakota
New Jersey
Pennsylvania
North Dakota
Minnesota, Montana
Ohio
Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Pennsylvania, West Virginia
Indiana, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia
Virginia
Washington DC, Kentucky, Maryland, Pennsylvania, West Virginia
West Virginia
Kentucky, Maryland, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia
Wisconsin
Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan

7. Local Taxes States with Local Taxes Mobile Workforce Examples
Alabama, Colorado, Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, West Virginia
Mobile Workforce Examples
Columbus, Ohio – Nonresidents working in the city are taxed at 2.5%
New York Metropolitan Commuter Transportation Mobility Tax (MCTMT) –Based upon four-part test (akin to SUTA )
Earned Income Tax (EIT) Pennsylvania – Required to withhold at the nonresident rate
Aurora Colorado Occupational Privilege Tax (OPT) – “Head tax” on both employers and employees on individuals who work within the city
Grand Rapids, Michigan – Withhold from nonresidents for services rendered/performed when Grand Rapids is the predominant place of work

8. Multi-Jurisdictional Income

9. U.S Tax Issues
Mobile employees traveling outside their primary work location may trigger income tax withholding requirements in multiple states.
Issues to consider:
Income taxes currently not withheld in nonresident work state for traveling/mobile workforce
Limited system capabilities and overall lack of resources to track and calculate domestic mobility
Withholding tax calculation is complicated for deferred and equity- based compensation (e.g., bonus paid in current year for prior year performance, deferred compensation and stock vesting/exercise)

10. Multi-State Withholding
Employers should monitor closely
Impacts employer’s employment tax filings and employee’s personal income tax liability
Some states require an apportionment of stock compensation based on where vesting took place
Compliance issues – if not managed properly, can lead to significant employer liability, tax, penalties, and interest
FAS 5 – FIN 48 accrual/disclosure
May lead to greater individual audit exposure for executives
May affect state payroll apportionment factors
City/Local tax withholding and reporting may apply

11. De minimis Exceptions
In general most states do not have a de minimis threshold relating to the payment of wages for services.
However:
Seven states have a “time based” de minimis threshold
e.g., New York does not require withholding unless an individual is present in the state for more than 14 days
Nine states have an “income based” de minimis threshold
e.g., Oregon does not require withholding unless an individual earns more than the Oregon Standard Deduction amount
Georgia has both a “time based” as well as “income based” de minimis threshold

12. Exposure Areas
Officers and highly paid employees traveling to nonresident states (including board meetings and meetings with investors)
Companies utilizing stocks as a form of compensation
States actively conducting employment tax audits
Subsidiary entity operates in another state
Unemployment paid to state but no income tax withholding
Expense reports show frequent travel to nonresident state(s)
Corporate jet log shows travel to nonresident state(s)
Global operations – necessitating foreign employees providing services in various states

13. Telecommuters
The Bloomberg BNA 2013 Survey of State Tax Departments revealed that 36 states, plus the District of Columbia and New York City, take the position that income tax nexus would result for an out-of-state corporation with employees that telecommute from homes within their jurisdiction.
As in prior years, most of these states said that their position would remain the same even if the corporation had made no sales in the state or the employees telecommuted for only part of their total work time.

14. Telecommuters (con’t)
33 states said that nexus would arise from a single telecommuter who performed back office administrative business functions, such as payroll, as opposed to direct customer service or other activities directly related to the employer’s commercial business activities.
34 states said that nexus would be triggered by a single telecommuting employee who performs product development functions, such as computer coding.

15. Telecommuter Cases
The California State Board of Equalization held in that a recruiter working from her home in California for a Massachusetts business created Nexus for California franchise tax purposes (even though she was classified as an independent contractor).
The New York Department of Taxation and Finance is imposing automatic income tax withholding audit assessments on employers that made wage reporting adjustments as the result of an IRS employment tax audit. The Department asserts that these income tax withholding audit assessments are not subject to the normal three-year statute of limitations.

16. State Withholding Audits
Review of company expense reimbursement and travel policy
Review of payroll manual for company policy on taxation of mobile workforce
Review of payroll manual for company policy on taxation and reporting of stock and equity compensation
Review of employee expense records–specifically hotel and flight reimbursements
Review of any publicly available information as to major projects/events taking place in the state
Review of executive calendars
Review of corporate jet logs/itineraries
Review of stock grant, vest, and exercise data relating to mobile workforce

17. Pending Legislation
The Mobile Workforce State Income Tax Simplification Act - House Bill H.R and it’s companion Senate bill S.386 are pending
Several previous versions have not passed of this bill H.R and H.R did not pass
States currently have varying and inconsistent requirements for:
Employees to file personal income tax returns when working in a nonresident state; and
Employers to withhold income tax on employees who travel outside their residence state (or primary work state)
This bill provides that wages and other remuneration earned by an employee who works in more than one state in a year are subject to income tax in the:
Employee’s resident state; and
State within which the employee is present and performing duties for more than 30 days during the calendar year

18. Best Practices Identify/quantify the problem
Make appropriate risk management decisions
Develop short-term and long-term solutions
Identification of mobile employee
Capture the transaction
Allocate the income
Withhold and report-gross up or equalize?
Develop appropriate policies
Company’s responsibility for tax compliance
Policy for double taxed income

19. Telecommuters
The Bloomberg BNA 2013 Survey of State Tax Departments revealed that 36 states, plus the District of Columbia and New York City, take the position that income tax nexus would result for an out-of-state corporation with employees that telecommute from homes within their jurisdiction.
As in prior years, most of these states said that their position would remain the same even if the corporation had made no sales in the state or the employees telecommuted for only part of their total work time.

20. Thank you and please remember to complete your evaluation for this session.