Chester A. Asher, Inc. v. Director, Division of Taxation

22 N.J. Tax 582
CourtNew Jersey Tax Court
DecidedJanuary 5, 2006
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 22 N.J. Tax 582 (Chester A. Asher, Inc. v. Director, Division of Taxation) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Jersey Tax Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Chester A. Asher, Inc. v. Director, Division of Taxation, 22 N.J. Tax 582 (N.J. Super. Ct. 2006).

Opinion

SMALL, P.J.T.C.

This matter requires the court to consider the immunity from state income taxation provided by Section 101(a) of Public Law 86-272,15 U.S.C.A. § 381 (“P.L. 86-272”), which generally prohibits states from imposing an income tax on businesses whose only contact with the state is the solicitation of orders of tangible personal property.

Plaintiff, Chester A. Asher, Inc. (“Asher”), challenges the Final Determination of the Director, Division of Taxation (the “Director”), declaring Asher to be subject to tax under the New Jersey Corporation Business Tax Act, N.J.S.A. 54:10A-1 to -41, and directing Asher to file apportioned Corporation Business Tax (“CBT”) returns beginning October 1,1996 through September 30, 2001. (Plaintiff reported its income on a fiscal year basis, October [584]*5841 to September 30). A pretrial order limited this matter to 1999, 2000, and 2001.

I.

Asher is a Pennsylvania corporation with its primary place of business in Souderton, Pennsylvania and is in the business of the manufacture and sale of candy and confections. It has been incorporated in the State of Pennsylvania since 1964 and received a certificate of authority to conduct business in New Jersey in February 1998.

During the tax years 1999, 2000 and 2001, it is undisputed that Asher did not lease or own any real property in New Jersey. However, Asher was doing business in New Jersey. For the tax year ending September 30, 1999, plaintiff had gross sales to New Jersey customers totaling $2,650,853.35. For the following year, plaintiff had gross sales to New Jersey customers totaling $2,746,190.91. For tax year ending September 30, 2001, plaintiffs gross sales totaled $2,679,591.29. For these three years, gross sales to New Jersey customers totaled $8,076,635.55.

A. Salesmen

During this period, plaintiff regularly solicited business in New Jersey. Plaintiff employed two salespersons to solicit New Jersey customers. The salespersons were equipped with samples, brochures, price lists, and catalogs. The salespersons would visit plaintiffs customers in New Jersey and if the customers had an order, the order would be written up and faxed to plaintiffs Pennsylvania headquarters. The salespersons would also talk to the customers about new products; however, they did not have final authorization to resolve customer complaints.

Asher also retained the services of Golden Sales Associates and Schnackenberg Associates to help generate business. At trial John Schnackenberg testified that he served as an independent broker for Asher for almost thirty years. Schnackenberg testified that he would solicit sales in New Jersey and would fax or phone the orders to the Souderton office. In addition, price lists were [585]*585mailed to Asher’s customers in New Jersey once a year and catalogs were mailed from time to time.

B. Delivery Drivers

Asher employed approximately eight delivery drivers to deliver some of the ordered candy to its New Jersey customers. Delivery drivers loaded their trucks at plaintiff’s Souderton facility and delivered the candy and confection products to customers in New Jersey. These deliveries were made in company trucks that advertised the “Asher” company logo. Asher would charge some of its customers a $5.00 fee per delivery.

Deliveries were conducted on a daily basis. Asher’s drivers also picked up damaged or returned goods from New Jersey customers as a matter of company policy. Company policy was that if a customer received an order that was more than originally ordered, the driver would take the excess cases back or if there was any damage en route to the customer, damaged boxes would be taken back. According to plaintiff’s job description for its delivery drivers, “[djrivers may be required to pick up customer returns.”

The number of boxes that were picked up by Asher’s employee drivers in New Jersey during the fiscal years ending September 30, 1999, 2000, and 2001 were forty-three (43), seventeen (17), and ninety-four (94), respectively. A total of 154 boxes were picked up over the three years. Charles A. Clark, Asher’s Vice President of Finance, testified that, during the same three fiscal years, approximately 102,000, 104,000 and 101,000 boxes were sold to New Jersey customers, respectively.

Throughout tax years 1999-2001, Asher also collected payments from New Jersey customers on delivery. There was testimony that Asher had a company policy to collect COD payments from certain New Jersey customers. The company policy was that if money was owed by the customer for prior sales, Asher would not leave the shipment with the customer unless a check was picked up in the amount of the past-due accounts. Although Asher insists that these were not “delinquent” accounts, the record is clear1 that if these payments for prior deliveries were not made, the drivers were instructed not to deliver the candy that they had [586]*586on their trucks. Whether “delinquent” or “past-due,” it is clear that these collections were not payment for the deliveries made at that time, but for previous deliveries. Asher’s delivery drivers were aware of this policy. If a payment was made in cash, two of Asher’s drivers testified that they would count the money. Asher also provided some drivers with a locked pouch to hold collected money. At the end of the day when the driver returned to headquarters, these payments were given to the accounting department.

During the trial, Mr. Clark, after reading from interrogatories, confirmed that all eight of Asher’s drivers with routes in New Jersey collected payment on delivery. Mr. Clark also testified that plaintiff authorized United Parcel Service to accept payment on its behalf. He certified the following COD amounts had been picked up by drivers:

Tax Years Ending September 30 Asher’s Drivers UPS Total

1999 $109,458.41 $20,986.33 $130,444.74

2000 $ 75,050.31 $14,960.42 $ 90,010.73

2001 $ 31,128.88 $16,865.95 $ 47,994.83 1

Total $215,637.60 $52,812.70 $268,450.30

Asher’s drivers also testified that they picked up money fi’om Royal Enterprises (one of Asher’s largest distributors in New Jersey) in the amount of $28,748.29 and James Candy Company in the amount of $15,289.68. Mr. Clark testified that these amounts were not pure COD’s and therefore were not on the COD list that he had certified. He also testified that some drivers would collect an old balance when delivering a current shipment.

There is some question as to whether these COD numbers are accurate. For example, according to invoices submitted at trial, Asher’s drivers and UPS were instructed to pick up payments from New Jersey customers twenty-six (26) times in the month of [587]*587July 2001, totaling $52,768.43. This number is greater than the amount listed for the entire year of 2001 on plaintiffs COD list.

C. The Chocolate Shop Program

Asher also sold products to New Jersey customers through its “Chocolate Shop Program.” The “Chocolate Shop Program” provided customers with everything they needed to start their own chocolate business. The “Program” included refrigerated glass chocolate display cases, trays, boxes, gloves, bags, and Asher’s Easel sign. It is not clear whether Asher’s drivers ever picked up any of these products in New Jersey.

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22 N.J. Tax 582, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/chester-a-asher-inc-v-director-division-of-taxation-njtaxct-2006.