Pennsylvania wants to tax the Cloud
Tom Paine
The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue issued a new letter ruling on May 31 (Sales and Tax No. SUT-12-001(pdf)) stating that a Pennsylvania user accessing cloud software over the Internet is subject to sales or use tax. The ruling states that accessing “canned software” on remote servers is subject to sales or use tax, as long as the user is based in Pennsylvania, no matter where the software or servers are located. The logic behind the ruling is that using cloud software from a Pennsylvania location is the same as the purchase of tangible personal property in the state.
The ruling appears to reverse a 2010 ruling that stated "access to software solely through the Internet is not a taxable transfer of software unless the server or data center resides in Pennsylvania". That ruling is no longer on the Department of Revenue's website.
