BIS LP, Inc. v. Director

26 N.J. Tax 489, 2011 WL 3667622, 2011 N.J. Super. LEXIS 238
CourtNew Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division
DecidedAugust 23, 2011
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 26 N.J. Tax 489 (BIS LP, Inc. v. Director) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Jersey Superior Court Appellate Division primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
BIS LP, Inc. v. Director, 26 N.J. Tax 489, 2011 WL 3667622, 2011 N.J. Super. LEXIS 238 (N.J. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

LISA, P.J.A.D.

In a published Tax Court opinion, Judge Vito L. Bianco granted the summary judgment motion of plaintiff, BIS LP, Inc. (BIS), and denied the summary judgment motion of defendant, Director of the Division of Taxation (Director), thus ordering a refund to BIS for corporation business tax (CBT) paid for fiscal year 2003 and abating an assessment for an additional amount. BIS LP, Inc. v. Dir., Div. of Taxation, 25 N.J.Tax 88, 91 (Tax 2009). What follows is a brief summary of the undisputed facts, as set forth more fully in the Tax Court opinion, id. at 91-93, and as contained in the record before us.

BIS is a foreign corporation. It has no place of business, property, employees, agents, or representatives in New Jersey. Its only interest in New Jersey (and its only asset) is a ninety-nine percent limited partnership interest in BISYS Information Solutions L.P. (Solutions), which does business in New Jersey. This status was achieved through a series of reorganization steps by BISYS Group, Inc. (BISYS Group), which provides processing and technology outsourcing services for its clients, including banks, investment management and mutual fund companies, and insurance companies. As a result of the restructuring, BIS is a wholly [492]*492owned subsidiary of a holding company, BISYS, Inc. (BISYS), which, in turn, is a holding company in the BISYS Group.

The limited partnership, Solutions, was formed thusly: BISYS transferred ninety-nine percent of the assets and liabilities of its banking information solutions division to BIS and one percent to Solutions. BIS then contributed the assets and liabilities it had received from BISYS to Solutions. Pursuant to a limited partnership agreement, BISYS, with a one percent interest, is the general partner, and BIS, with a ninety-nine percent interest, is the limited partner. The agreement conferred on the general partner the “sole and exclusive right to manage the business and affairs” of Solutions, with some limited exceptions reserved for the limited partner. Conversely, the agreement provided that BIS “shall not have either the obligation or the right to take part, directly or indirectly, in the active management” of Solutions, “perform any act in the name of or on [its] behalf,” or “have a voice in or take part in [its] business affairs or business operations.” BIS and BISYS are both Delaware corporations, and the partnership was formed under the Delaware Revised Uniform Limited Partnership Act.

BIS filed its 2003 CBT Return, electing to be taxed as an “Investment Company” pursuant to N.J.S.A 54:10A-4(f), which limits tax liability to measurement by forty percent of entire net income and forty percent of entire net worth. N.J.S.A. 54:10A-5(d). The Director disallowed the investment company election. Judge Bianco reversed that determination. The Director does not appeal from that aspect of the Tax Court’s decision.

BIS also contended it owed no CBT because it did not have a constitutional presence in New Jersey. The Director rejected that position, concluding that BIS had a unitary relationship with the business conducted by Solutions in New Jersey. The Director also imposed certain addbacks to BIS’ reported income. Judge Bianco disagreed and found that BIS lacked a sufficient nexus to New Jersey to make it subject to the New Jersey CBT. Because no tax was due, the judge found it unnecessary to address the [493]*493validity of addbaeks. It is from these decisions by the Tax Court that the Director appeals.

More particularly, the Director presents these arguments on appeal:

THE TAX COURT’S NEXUS AND ADDBACK RULINGS SHOULD BE REVERSED BECAUSE UNDER THE GOVERNING CBT STATUTES AND REGULATIONS, THE UNDISPUTED MATERIAL FACTS OF THIS CASE DEMONSTRATED THAT BIS WAS “DOING BUSINESS” IN NEW JERSEY AND, THROUGH ITS $49M PARTNERSHIP DISTRIBUTION, HAD TAXABLE NEW JERSEY RECEIPTS FOR FY 2003.
A. The Tax Court’s Entry of Summary Judgment Should Be Reversed Because It Overlooked or Underevaluated Evidence and Drew Incorrect Legal Conclusions from the Undisputed Material Facts Presented by BIS and [the Director].
B. BIS Is Not Entitled to a Refund of the CBT Solutions Properly Remitted to New Jersey on Behalf of BIS Because BIS Had CBT Nexus for FY 2003 Since It Was Doing Business in New Jersey and Deriving Taxable Receipts from Solutions.
C. The Tax Court Should Have Found That BIS’S ENI [entire net income] Included Addbaeks Consistent with the Royalty and Tax Expenses Solutions Added Back to Its Income Because BIS and Solutions Were Unitary and BIS Had Nexus Here.

We reject the Director’s arguments and affirm substantially for the reasons stated by Judge Bianco in his published opinion. We add the following to address the issues raised on appeal.

I.

Our review of the grant of summary judgment is de novo, and we apply the same standard as the Tax Court judge. Prudential Prop. & Cas. Ins. Co. v. Boylan, 307 N.J.Super. 162, 167, 704 A.2d 597 (App.Div.), certif. denied, 154 N.J. 608, 713 A.2d 499 (1998); Coastal Eagle Point Oil Co. v. W. Deptford Twp., 19 N.J.Tax 301, 304 (App.Div.2001); see also Brill v. Guardian Life Ins. Co. of Am., 142 N.J. 520, 528-29, 666 A.2d 146 (1995). We generally extend enhanced deference to the expertise of the Tax Court, but we also recognize the expertise of the Director, particularly when the Director’s expertise is exercised in the “specialized and complex area” of the tax statutes. Metromedia, Inc. v. Dir., Div. of Taxation, 97 N.J. 313, 327, 478 A.2d 742 (1984).

[494]*494II.

In Point A, the Director first contends that BIS was plainly devised to export taxable income from New Jersey in contravention of measures taken by the New Jersey Legislature in 2001 and 2002 to deter inappropriate CBT loss. However, the Director admitted all material facts set forth in BIS’ statement of undisputed material facts, including those relating to the corporate restructuring and its purposes, which did not include tax avoidance. And, in a counter-statement of material facts, the Director did not state that the restructuring arose from a plan to avoid a fair share of tax due to New Jersey. Indeed, the Director’s counter-statement of material facts, supported by a certification of the conferee of the Conference and Appeals Branch of the Division of Taxation, included these findings in the conferee’s conference report, which also do not support the Director’s claim:

The BISYS Group reorganized its operating divisions to create a series of holding company/limited partnership structures in order to accomplish the purposes of: Aligning the functional lines of business operations; Limit liability at the holding company level; Facilitate further acquisitions and dispositions; and to minimize administrative costs and operating tasks.

Therefore, the record does not support the improper purpose now urged by the Director.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
26 N.J. Tax 489, 2011 WL 3667622, 2011 N.J. Super. LEXIS 238, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bis-lp-inc-v-director-njsuperctappdiv-2011.