Criticare, Inc. v. Director, Division of Taxation

28 N.J. Tax 169
CourtNew Jersey Tax Court
DecidedJuly 8, 2014
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 28 N.J. Tax 169 (Criticare, 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
Criticare, Inc. v. Director, Division of Taxation, 28 N.J. Tax 169 (N.J. Super. Ct. 2014).

Opinion

FIAMINGO, J.T.C.

This is the court’s opinion1 with respect to the parties’ cross-motions for summary judgment. The issue presented is the amount of the New Jersey Gross Income Tax (“GIT”) credit for income taxes paid to New York State to which the individual plaintiff, Marina Shakour-Haber (“plaintiff’)2 is entitled. Plaintiff contends that she is entitled to a credit calculated with reference to the income passed through to her as the sole shareholder of the S corporation, Criticare, Inc. (“Criticare”), as determined by the State of New York, and which was actually taxed by that state. Defendant (“Director”) concedes that a credit is allowable but must be calculated to take into account the income properly “allocated to New Jersey” against which the credit is not allowed.

At issue is the interpretation of the limitation of the credit allowed against the GIT for income taxed by another state set forth in N.J.S.A. 54A:4-1(c).

For the following reasons, defendant’s motion is granted and plaintiffs motion is denied.

[173]*173I. Facts

Plaintiff is the sole shareholder of Criticare, a New Jersey corporation, which provides registered nurses and other personnel to hospitals and clinics in New York and New Jersey. Criticare has duly elected to be taxed as an S corporation for both federal and New Jersey tax purposes.3 For calendar year 2009, Criticare filed a New York S Corporation Franchise Tax Return which, based on the New York single sales factor allocation computation, allocated 80% of its income to New York State.

Plaintiff filed a 2009 New York State Nonresident Income Tax Return on which she included the income of Criticare allocated to New York (as calculated on the New York S Corporation Franchise Tax Return) and passed through to her as the sole shareholder. She paid New York income tax in the amount of $66,587. Criticare also filed a New Jersey Corporate Business Tax (“NJ CBT”) Return for calendar year 2009 allocating 100% of its income to New Jersey because it did not maintain a regular place of business outside New Jersey.4 Plaintiff also filed a 2009 New Jersey GIT Return on which she sought a GIT credit against New Jersey taxes in the amount of the $66,587 in income taxes paid to New York State.

In connection with an audit of the plaintiffs GIT return, the Director required that Criticare provide a pro forma CBT-100S Return recalculating its income as if it maintained a regular place of business outside of the State of New Jersey. That return resulted in the allocation of 39.2031% of Criticare’s income to the State of New Jersey, rather than the 100% required in the NJ CBT return filed by it.

[174]*174On March 1, 2013 the Director issued a Notice of Deficiency-denying plaintiffs GIT credit in part and assessing GIT of $20,130, plus interest and penalties5. On May 29, 2013 plaintiff filed the Complaint challenging the Director’s Notice of Deficiency.

II. Conclusions of Law

Summary judgment should be granted where “the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show there is no genuine issue as to any material fact challenged and the moving party is entitled to a judgment or order as a matter of law.” R. 4:46-2(c). In Brill v. Guardian Life Ins. Co., 142 N.J. 520, 523, 666 A.2d 146 (1995), our Supreme Court established the standard for summary judgment as follows:

[W]hen deriding a motion for summary judgment under Rule 4:46-2, the determination whether there exists a genuine issue with respect to a material fact challenged requires the motion judge to consider whether the competent evidential materials presented, when viewed in the light most favorable to the non-moving party in consideration of the applicable evidentiary standard, are sufficient to permit a rational factfinder to resolve the alleged disputed issue in favor of the non-moving party.

“The express import of the Brill decision was to ‘encourage trial courts not to refrain from granting summary judgment when the proper circumstances present themselves.’ ” Township of Howell v. Monmouth Cnty. Bd. of Taxation, 18 N.J.Tax 149, 153 (Tax 1999) (quoting Brill, supra, 142 N.J. at 541, 666 A.2d 146).

The parties agree that the facts are not at issue and that the resolution of the dispute will revolve around the interpretation and application of the relevant GIT statute, N.J.S.A. 54A:4-1 and in particular the limitation of subsection (c) thereunder. Therefore, the matter is ripe for summary judgment.

The review of this matter begins with the presumption that determinations made by the Director are valid. See Campo Jersey, Inc. v. Director, Div. of Taxation, 390 N.J.Super. 366, 383, [175]*175915 A.2d 600 (App.Div.), certif. denied, 190 N.J. 395, 921 A.2d 448 (2007); L & L Oil Service, Inc. v. Director, Div. of Taxation, 340 N.J.Super. 173, 183, 773 A.2d 1220 (App.Div.2001); Atlantic City Transp. Co. v. Director, Div. of Taxation, 12 N.J. 130, 146, 95 A.2d 895 (1953). “New Jersey Courts generally defer to the interpretation that an agency gives to a statute [when] that agency is charged with enforcement.]” Koch v. Director, Div. of Taxation, 157 N.J. 1, 15, 722 A.2d 918 (1999). Determinations by the Director are afforded a presumption of correctness because “[c]ourts have recognized the Director’s expertise in the highly specialized and technical area of taxation.” Aetna Burglar & Fire Alarm Co. v. Director, Div. of Taxation, 16 N.J.Tax 584, 589 (Tax 1997) (citing Metromedia, Inc. v. Director, Div. of Taxation, 97 N.J. 313, 327, 478 A.2d 742 (1984)). The Supreme Court has directed courts to accord “great respect” to the Director’s application of tax statutes, “so long as it is not plainly unreasonable.” Metromedia, supra, 97 N.J. at 327, 478 A.2d 742.

An S corporation is not subject to GIT. However, the income, dividends and gains of an S corporation are allocated to its shareholders and subjected to GIT in the shareholder’s return whether or not actually distributed. N.J.S.A. 54A:5-9. Thus, although an S corporation is not subject to the GIT directly, all of its income is taxed at the shareholder level.

A resident taxpayer is generally subject to the GIT on all income earned, regardless of the source of the income. See N.J.S.A. 54A:5-1.

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28 N.J. Tax 169, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/criticare-inc-v-director-division-of-taxation-njtaxct-2014.