Bradley Partner Bruce Ely Quoted in BBJ on Impact of Proposed Legislation for Combined Tax Reporting

State and Local Tax (SALT) attorney Bruce Ely was quoted in the Birmingham Business Journal on a bill that would require many of Alabama’s midsize and large companies to file a combined income tax report, rather than individual returns for each subsidiary. While the bill’s proponents are pushing the legislation on grounds it would bolster the state’s meager tax revenue, critics say the bill will limit the state’s ability to attract new businesses and increase the budgetary requirements for existing ones. Ely believes the bill will give the Alabama Department of Revenue a broad amount of power in deciding which businesses qualify as “unitaries,” or taxable entities.

“The concept of combined reporting is deceptively simple,” Ely said. “The idea is you should bring in all members of a unitary group, wherever they may be, and you tax them. That creates all sorts of problems.”

The complete article, “Potential Alabama tax law, credit changes raising eyebrows in biz world,” appeared in the Birmingham Business Journal on February 10, 2017. (login required)