HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2217        FILED ON: 1/17/2019

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 2519

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_________________

PRESENTED BY:

Bradley H. Jones, Jr.

_________________

To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act to clarify the net-worth measure of the corporate excise.

_______________

PETITION OF:

 

Name:

District/Address:

Date Added:

Bradley H. Jones, Jr.

20th Middlesex

1/17/2019

Bradford Hill

4th Essex

1/24/2019

Elizabeth A. Poirier

14th Bristol

1/17/2019

Susan Williams Gifford

2nd Plymouth

1/17/2019

Paul K. Frost

7th Worcester

1/30/2019

Todd M. Smola

1st Hampden

1/31/2019

Randy Hunt

5th Barnstable

1/28/2019

David F. DeCoste

5th Plymouth

1/29/2019

Steven S. Howitt

4th Bristol

1/30/2019


HOUSE DOCKET, NO. 2217        FILED ON: 1/17/2019

HOUSE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 2519

By Mr. Jones of North Reading, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 2519) of Bradley H. Jones, Jr., and others relative to the calculation of the corporate excise tax net worth of certain business corporations.  Revenue.

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

 

_______________

In the One Hundred and Ninety-First General Court
(2019-2020)

_______________

 

An Act to clarify the net-worth measure of the corporate excise.

 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1. Paragraph 8 of Section 30 of chapter 63 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2016 Official Edition, is hereby amended by striking out the last sentence, in lines 175 through 178, inclusive, and inserting in place thereof the following sentence:-

In determining whether an item shown on the books of a corporation is to be treated as reflecting debt or equity, the taxpayer’s treatment of the item for accounting purposes shall be considered to be controlling, unless the commissioner establishes that such treatment is not in accordance with the accounting standards used by that taxpayer for making financial reports to shareholders, such as, without limitation, generally accepted accounting principles or International Financial Reporting Standards; and in determining the book value of any asset, the commissioner may disallow any reserve, in whole or in part, established with respect thereto which, in his judgment, is not reasonable and proper.

SECTION 2.  By this act the general court clarifies its original intention that the treatment of an item on the books of a corporation shall be controlling in determining its net worth. This act shall be effective upon its passage, and shall be applicable to all open tax years.

SECTION 3. Subsection (f) of section 38 of said chapter 63, as so appearing, is hereby amended, in line 138, after the word “include”, by adding the following phrase:-

“an item of income of a corporation that is organized outside of the United States to the extent that such item is exempt from United States federal income tax either by virtue of a federal income tax treaty or otherwise, or”.