Dedicated to covering high-end cloud computing
in science, industry and the datacenter
June 15, 2012
Two Letter Rulings Outline Massachusetts' Approach to Cloud Computing
DALLAS, June 13 — The Massachusetts Department of Revenue ("DOR") recently issued two letter rulings finding that software accessed in the "cloud" is taxable depending on the level of access and control over the software application granted to a customer. These letter rulings are representative of the state's approach to the taxation of cloud computing.
Publishing Software
In Letter Ruling 12-6 (May 21, 2012), the DOR determined that a charge for use of a hosted service to create newsletters and perform other tasks was subject to sales tax as a license to use prewritten computer software. Customers utilized the application to control and manipulate data to create a unique product. As a result of the level of control granted to the customer, the DOR determined that the object of the customer's purchase was to obtain a license to use taxable software.
Physician Service Offerings
In Letter Ruling 12-5 (May 7, 2012), the DOR determined that Internet-based physician service offerings, such as medical records management and access to medical databases, were nontaxable services. The DOR determined that each service offering, whether sold alone or in conjunction with another, was exempt from sales and use tax as either nontaxable personal and professional services, information services, and/or database access and management services. Although the company's customers were able to use the software to perform certain tasks, the DOR determined that the true object of the transaction was the provision of nontaxable personal and professional services, as well as information management services, database access, and data processing.
Taken together, these letter rulings demonstrate the approach Massachusetts is taking with regards to cloud computing. Specifically, the key factor in determining whether a cloud service is a taxable license to use software or a nontaxable service is the level of control over the application granted to the customer.
About Ryan
Ryan is an award-winning global tax services firm, with the largest indirect tax practice in North America and the seventh largest corporate tax practice in the United States. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, the Firm provides a comprehensive range of state, local, federal, and international tax advisory and consulting services on a multi-jurisdictional basis, including audit defense, tax recovery, credits and incentives, tax process improvement and automation, tax appeals, tax compliance, and strategic planning. Ryan is a two-time recipient of the International Service Excellence Award from the Customer Service Institute of America (CSIA) for its commitment to world-class client service. Empowered by the dynamic myRyan work environment, which is widely recognized as the most innovative in the tax services industry, Ryan's multi-disciplinary team of more than 925 professionals and associates serves over 6,500 clients in 40 countries, including many of the world's most prominent Global 5000 companies. More information about Ryan can be found at www.ryan.com.
-----
Source: Ryan
Discussion
There are 0 discussion items posted.
|
Join the Discussion |
RSS Feeds
Feeds by Topic
Feeds by Content Type
Subscribe to All Content
This Week's Headlines
Most Read Features
- CERN, Google, and the Future of Global Science Initiatives
- Avoiding Scientific Computing Bottlenecks in the Cloud
- Research Roundup: Toward a More Efficient Cloud
- Overcoming the Cloud Security Barrier for Financial Services
- The Science Cloud Cometh
- CometCloud: Using a Federated HPC-Cloud to Understand Fluid Flow in Microchannels
- DDN, University College of London Aim at 100PB Research Network
- Floating Genomics to the Cloud with AWS
Most Read Around the Web
- HPC and the True Cost of Cloud
- Running Computational Fluid Dynamics in the Cloud
- NASA Builds 'Climate in a Box'
- In Support of Cloud-based Rendering
- Internet2 Awards Program Seeks Innovative Applications
- Throwing Cancer on the BonFIRE
- Running Stochastic Models on HTCondor
- IBM Acquires SoftLayer
Most Read This Just In
- Dell to Deliver Public Cloud Through Partner Ecosystem
- OpenNebula 4.0 Released
- Fujitsu Announces Vertically Integrated Virtualization and Cloud Platform
- AWS Direct Connect Service Now Available in Equinix Seattle Datacenters
- Riverbed Recognized for WAN Optimization Controllers in Gartner Magic Quadrant
- VMware Announces vCloud Hybrid Service
- Spotify and NASA Join Strong Keynote Program at Cloud World Forum
- Internet2 Establishes Direct Peering to Microsoft Cloud Services
- Leading Internet Experts Focus on Innovation at European Networking Conference
- Cloud-Ready GlusterFS 3.4 Beta Now Available
Feature Articles
SLA-Aware Scheduling and Virtual Efficiency
Researchers from the Suddhananda Engineering and Research Centre in Bhubaneswar, India developed a job scheduling system, which they call Service Level Agreement (SLA) scheduling, that is meant to achieve acceptable methods of resource provisioning similar to that of potential in-house systems. They combined that with an on-demand resource provisioner to ensure utilization optimization of virtual machines.
Read more...
CloudSigma CEO Elaborates on Science Cloud
Experimental scientific HPC applications are continually being moved to the cloud, as covered here in several capacities over the last couple of weeks. Included in that rundown, Co-founder and CEO of CloudSigma Robert Jenkins penned an article for HPC in the Cloud where he discussed the emergence of cloud technologies to supplement research capabilities of big scientific initiatives like CERN and ESA (the European Space Agency)...
Read more...
Examining Questions of Virtualization and Security in the Cloud
When considering moving excess or experimental HPC applications to a cloud environment, there will always be obstacles. Were that not the case, the cost effectiveness of cloud-based HPC would rule the high performance landscape. Jonathan Stewart Ward and Adam Barker of the University of St. Andrews produced an intriguing report on the state of cloud computing, paying a significant amount of attention to the problems facing cloud computing.
Read more...
Short Takes
Datapipe and Verne Global's Green Cloud
Jun 17, 2013 |
With that in mind, Datapipe hopes to establish themselves as a green-savvy HPC cloud provider with their recently announced Stratosphere platform. Datapipe markets Stratosphere as a green HPC cloud service and in doing so partnering with Verne Global and their Icelandic datacenter, which is known for its propensity in green computing.
Read more...
IBM's Guide to Cloud Based HPC
Jun 12, 2013 |
Cloud computing is gaining ground in utilization by mid-sized institutions who are looking to expand their experimental high performance computing resources. As such, IBM released what they call Redbooks, in part to assist institutions’ movement of high performance computing applications to the cloud.
Read more...
OpenStack and the SDSC Research Cloud
Jun 06, 2013 |
The San Diego Supercomputer Center launched a public cloud system for universities in the area designed specifically to run on commodity hardware with high performance solid-state drives. The center, which currently holds 5.5 PB of raw storage, is open to educational and research users in the University of California.
Read more...
Sponsored Whitepapers
Best Practices in Big Data Storage
05/10/2013 | Cleversafe, Cray, DDN, NetApp, & Panasas | From Wall Street to Hollywood, drug discovery to homeland security, companies and organizations of all sizes and stripes are coming face to face with the challenges – and opportunities – afforded by Big Data. Before anyone can utilize these extraordinary data repositories, however, they must first harness and manage their data stores, and do so utilizing technologies that underscore affordability, security, and scalability.
Exploring the Potential of Heterogeneous Computing
04/02/2012 | AMD | Developers today are just beginning to explore the potential of heterogeneous computing, but the potential for this new paradigm is huge. This brief article reviews how the technology might impact a range of application development areas, including client experiences and cloud-based data management. As platforms like OpenCL continue to evolve, the benefits of heterogeneous computing will become even more accessible. Use this quick article to jump-start your own thinking on heterogeneous computing.
Sponsored Multimedias
Newsletters
HPC Job Bank
- Principal Software Research Engineer, Informatics
Pervasive Technology Institute at Indiana Univ - Network Engineer
NCSA - Associate Project Manager
NCSA - HPC UNIX/Storage System Administrator
Oak Ridge National Laboratory-UT Battelle - Systems Administrator I
Texas Advanced Computing Center - Senior Software Engineer
Texas Advanced Computing Center - Visit the HPCwire Job Bank
Featured Events
- June 26, 2013
- June 27, 2013
Cloud World Forum
London,
United Kingdom
- July 22, 2013
- July 25, 2013
XSEDE13: Gateway to Discovery
San Diego, CA
United States
- September 09, 2013
- September 09, 2013
10th Annual HPC for Wall Street
New York City, NY
United States
- November 17, 2013
- November 22, 2013
SC'13
Denver, CO
United States
