HF 2561

as introduced - 91st Legislature (2019 - 2020) Posted on 03/18/2019 02:41pm

A bill for an act
relating to taxation; corporate franchise; allocation of income and sales of certain
controlled foreign corporations; amending Minnesota Statutes 2018, section 290.17,
subdivision 4.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

Section 1.

Minnesota Statutes 2018, section 290.17, subdivision 4, is amended to read:

Subd. 4.

Unitary business principle.

(a) If a trade or business conducted wholly within
this state or partly within and partly without this state is part of a unitary business, the entire
income of the unitary business is subject to apportionment pursuant to section 290.191.
Notwithstanding subdivision 2, paragraph (c), none of the income of a unitary business is
considered to be derived from any particular source and none may be allocated to a particular
place except as provided by the applicable apportionment formula. The provisions of this
subdivision do not apply to business income subject to subdivision 5, income of an insurance
company, or income of an investment company determined under section 290.36.

(b) The term "unitary business" means business activities or operations which result in
a flow of value between them. The term may be applied within a single legal entity or
between multiple entities and without regard to whether each entity is a sole proprietorship,
a corporation, a partnership or a trust.

(c) Unity is presumed whenever there is unity of ownership, operation, and use, evidenced
by centralized management or executive force, centralized purchasing, advertising,
accounting, or other controlled interaction, but the absence of these centralized activities
will not necessarily evidence a nonunitary business. Unity is also presumed when business
activities or operations are of mutual benefit, dependent upon or contributory to one another,
either individually or as a group.

(d) Where a business operation conducted in Minnesota is owned by a business entity
that carries on business activity outside the state different in kind from that conducted within
this state, and the other business is conducted entirely outside the state, it is presumed that
the two business operations are unitary in nature, interrelated, connected, and interdependent
unless it can be shown to the contrary.

(e) Unity of ownership does not exist when two or more corporations are involved unless
more than 50 percent of the voting stock of each corporation is directly or indirectly owned
by a common owner or by common owners, either corporate or noncorporate, or by one or
more of the member corporations of the group. For this purpose, the term "voting stock"
shall include membership interests of mutual insurance holding companies formed under
section 66A.40.

(f) The net income and apportionment factors under section 290.191 or 290.20 of foreign
corporations and other foreign entities which are part of a unitary business shall not be
included in the net income or the apportionment factors of the unitary business; except that
the income and apportionment factors of a foreign entity, other than an entity treated as a
C corporation for federal income tax purposes, that are included in the federal taxable
income, as defined in section 63 of the Internal Revenue Code as amended through the date
named in section 290.01, subdivision 19, of a domestic corporation, domestic entity, or
individual must be included in determining net income and the factors to be used in the
apportionment of net income pursuant to section 290.191 or 290.20. A foreign corporation
or other foreign entity which is not included on a combined report and which is required to
file a return under this chapter shall file on a separate return basis. new text begin For purposes of this
paragraph and paragraph (g), a controlled foreign corporation as defined in section 957 of
the Internal Revenue Code is deemed to be a domestic corporation if a United States
shareholder of a controlled foreign corporation is required in a taxable year to include in
gross income the shareholder's global intangible low-taxed income under section 951A of
the Internal Revenue Code, as amended through March 31, 2018.
new text end

(g) For purposes of determining the net income of a unitary business and the factors to
be used in the apportionment of net income pursuant to section 290.191 or 290.20, there
must be included only the income and apportionment factors of domestic corporations or
other domestic entities that are determined to be part of the unitary business pursuant to this
subdivision, notwithstanding that foreign corporations or other foreign entities might be
included in the unitary business; except that the income and apportionment factors of a
foreign entity, other than an entity treated as a C corporation for federal income tax purposes,
that is included in the federal taxable income, as defined in section 63 of the Internal Revenue
Code as amended through the date named in section 290.01, subdivision 19, of a domestic
corporation, domestic entity, or individual must be included in determining net income and
the factors to be used in the apportionment of net income pursuant to section 290.191 or
290.20.

(h) Each corporation or other entity, except a sole proprietorship, that is part of a unitary
business must file combined reports as the commissioner determines. On the reports, all
intercompany transactions between entities included pursuant to paragraph (g) must be
eliminated and the entire net income of the unitary business determined in accordance with
this subdivision is apportioned among the entities by using each entity's Minnesota factors
for apportionment purposes in the numerators of the apportionment formula and the total
factors for apportionment purposes of all entities included pursuant to paragraph (g) in the
denominators of the apportionment formula. Except as otherwise provided by paragraph
(f), all sales of the unitary business made within this state pursuant to section 290.191 or
290.20 must be included on the combined report of a corporation or other entity that is a
member of the unitary business and is subject to the jurisdiction of this state to impose tax
under this chapter.

(i) If a corporation has been divested from a unitary business and is included in a
combined report for a fractional part of the common accounting period of the combined
report:

(1) its income includable in the combined report is its income incurred for that part of
the year determined by proration or separate accounting; and

(2) its sales, property, and payroll included in the apportionment formula must be prorated
or accounted for separately.

(j) For purposes of this subdivision, "insurance company" means an insurance company,
as defined in section 290.01, subdivision 5b, that is:

(1) licensed to engage in the business of insurance in Minnesota pursuant to chapter
60A; or

(2) domiciled and licensed to engage in the business of insurance in another state or
country that imposes retaliatory taxes, fines, deposits, penalties, licenses, or fees and that
does not grant, on a reciprocal basis, exemption from such retaliatory taxes to insurance
companies or their agents domiciled in Minnesota.

(k) For purposes of this subdivision, "retaliatory taxes" means taxes imposed on insurance
companies organized in another state or country that result from the fact that an insurance
company organized in the taxing jurisdiction and doing business in the other jurisdiction is
subject to taxes, fines, deposits, penalties, licenses, or fees in an amount exceeding that
imposed by the taxing jurisdiction upon an insurance company organized in the other state
or country and doing business to the same extent in the taxing jurisdiction.

new text begin EFFECTIVE DATE. new text end

new text begin This section is effective for returns filed after December 31, 2018.
new text end