Thomson-Leeds Co. v. Taxation Division Director

8 N.J. Tax 24
CourtNew Jersey Tax Court
DecidedDecember 5, 1985
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 8 N.J. Tax 24 (Thomson-Leeds Co. v. Taxation Division Director) 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
Thomson-Leeds Co. v. Taxation Division Director, 8 N.J. Tax 24 (N.J. Super. Ct. 1985).

Opinion

ANDREW, J.T.C.

The issue presented in this state tax case is whether plaintiff, Thomson-Leeds Company, Inc. (Thomson-Leeds), a Delaware corporation, with its principal office in New York City, had sufficient business activities in New Jersey to require it to file corporation tax returns under the Corporation Business Tax Act (CBT), N.J.S.A. 54:10A-1 et seq., or, in the alternative, the Corporate Income Tax Act (CIT), N.J.S.A. 54:10E-1 et seq.

The facts were stipulated. Because this matter is one of those types of cases which are intensely fact-sensitive some factual detail is appropriate here. Thomson-Leeds is engaged nationwide in the business of designing and selling custom-ordered advertising displays that promote consumer products. Although Thomson-Leeds itself does not manufacture any of the displays, it does subcontract with a variety of independent component manufacturers and suppliers, some of which are located in New Jersey, to produce its unique displays according to individual clients’ specifications. Thomson-Leeds derives its revenues from the sale of these displays which are utilized at the point of purchase. Thomson-Leeds has no offices, property, or employees based in New Jersey, nor does it conduct any local media advertising of its services. The corporation does, however, send brochures to present and prospective clients in and outside New Jersey and it does advertise in national trade journals.

[28]*28Plaintiff corporation has never been specifically authorized to do business in New Jersey, and has never filed a corporate tax return in this State. During the disputed tax period, August 1, 1981 to March 31, 1983, the corporation employed three New York-based sales representatives who visited seven current clients and initiated contacts with eight other prospective ones in New Jersey. Out of a total of 332 orders with a gross volume of $25,563,354, New Jersey orders totaled 13 and produced gross receipts of $211,855 (approximately .9% of plaintiffs gross volume). Thomson-Leeds’ salesmen work on a commission basis carrying samples of the company’s displays in their own automobiles. The corporation does not reimburse its sales representatives for expenses, nor does it maintain a local telephone listing or mailing address.

The corporation instructs its sales representatives to initiate and maintain a continuous relationship with potential customers both in New Jersey and elsewhere. The typical procedure of the company’s salesmen is to schedule a meeting with a client, usually at the client’s place of business, at which they discuss the product to be displayed, type of advertising and quantity needed, as well as the budget for the project. After this initial presentation, the sales representative returns to the New York office. The client’s ideas and needs are translated into several rough drawings by the company’s art department, and subsequently, presented to the client, either in New York or at the client’s business address for suggestions and changes. The representative then returns to the art department and makes the revisions.

At a second presentation to the client, a full color sketch and three-dimensional model of the display sketch is discussed for further modifications. This second encounter is usually held in New York, but occasionally at the client’s business location. Sometimes, an artist or designer may accompany the salesman to answer questions or to make design changes. On one such occasion, a designer visited a New Jersey client with a sales representative.

[29]*29Once the design is approved, someone in the New York office estimates the cost and relays this information by telephone or by mail to the client. Subsequently, if it accepts the estimate, the client then submits a purchase order to Thomson-Leeds in New York City. Any reorders of displays are handled in a similar manner. The fabrication and final assembly of the client’s order is done by a variety of manufacturers and suppliers both in and outside of New Jersey. Thomson-Leeds tracks the production of the advertising display, and, as problems arise, periodically contacts clients by telephone or by scheduling follow-up meetings, again in New York or at the client’s business. During the disputed tax years, two such meetings occurred in New Jersey.

Thomson-Leeds retains the right of final approval of displays both before placing the client’s final order and before delivery to the client. It arranges a meeting with the client and shows samples of the completed prototype to the client in the New York office or at the client’s location. Plaintiff pays all its suppliers, and retains the rights to the specially-created tools, dies, and molds which are eventually passed on to the client. Billing is done from the New York office, and payments are received by mail. Delivery is F.O.B. shipping point, i.e., the final assembly manufacturer.

In August 1981, at the request of some of its suppliers, Thomson-Leeds registered to obtain sales tax authority for issuing resale certificates for its purchases for resale of display components from New Jersey manufacturers. The application designated Thomson-Leeds as a service company in the point-of-purchase business. As a result of the application, in May 1982, the Director of the Division of Taxation advised the corporation that it was subject to the CBT as of August 1981. Contesting the Director’s determination, plaintiff filed a complaint with the Tax Court in May 1983. Subsequently, in a second determination dated July 24, 1983, the Director advised plaintiff that, in the alternative, it was subject to the CIT. To date, plaintiff corporation has refused to file a corporate tax return under [30]*30either tax statute and, thus, has not been assessed any specific amount of tax.

Plaintiff contends that its business presence in New Jersey is so slight that it does not meet the required statutory criteria of the CBT to justify the imposition of a privilege tax for conducting business in the State. It argues that it does not meet the definitional requisites for “doing business,” N.J.A.C. 18:7-1.9, nor does it own or employ capital or property, or maintain an office in New Jersey. N.J.S.A. 54-.10A-2. Plaintiff emphasizes that the corporation’s contacts with the State consist solely of “sporadic and irregular” forays into New Jersey by its sales representatives to promote company business. Alternatively, plaintiff maintains that subjecting it to the corporate income tax violates the constitutional requirement of minimum contacts because plaintiff does not derive any benefits or protection from this State. In sum, plaintiff concludes that, statutorily and constitutionally, its contacts with New Jersey do not justify subjectivity to tax under either the CBT or CIT.1

To the contrary, defendant alleges that close examination of the corporation’s activities denotes an extensive business presence in the State that goes far beyond mere solicitation of orders. In addition, because the corporation engages some New Jersey manufacturers in the production of advertising displays, defendant claims that the presence of these goods, even if only temporarily held in plaintiff’s name until delivery, is sufficient to conclude that the corporation has a stock of goods or inventory within the State. Moreover, the tools, dies, and molds that Thomson-Leeds buys from its New Jersey suppliers to pass on to its clients creates the presence of property in the State. Thus, defendant concludes that plaintiff meets the subjectivity criteria of the CBT. N.J.S.A.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
8 N.J. Tax 24, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/thomson-leeds-co-v-taxation-division-director-njtaxct-1985.