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A recent Utah Supreme Court decision may influence taxes throughout the country by clarifying whether goodwill is a component of taxable real estate value. Most states exclude intangible property from taxation, so identifying intangible components of a business can significantly reduce property tax liability.<\/p>\n
In T-Mobile vs.Utah State Tax Commission,<\/em> the Court declared that accounting goodwill is intangible property and not subject to property tax. The Court defined goodwill as \u201ca business\u2019 reputation, patronage, and other intangible assets that are considered when appraising the business.\u201d<\/p>\n The taxing jurisdictions argued that \u201caccounting goodwill is not intangible property but rather taxable tangible property.\u201d\u00a0 They relied on a 2000 Utah Supreme Court decision in Beaver County vs. WilTel<\/em> to argue that the synergistic value of a company\u2019s intangible property, working together with the tangible property, constituted enhanced value and was taxable because the enhancement value was directly attributable to tangible property.<\/p>\n As the taxing jurisdictions saw it, goodwill was enhancement value, and therefore taxable.<\/p>\n The Court disagreed with the counties and held that goodwill constitutes intangible property and is therefore not subject to taxation. The Court stated that goodwill includes such items as \u201ccustomer base, customer service capabilities, presence in geographic markets or locations, nonunion status, strong labor relations, ongoing training programs, and ongoing recruitment programs.\u201d\u00a0 The Court then stated that these items \u201care associated with the business being conducted on the property; they are not directly attributable to tangible property.\u201d<\/p>\n By clarifying the accounting of goodwill, the Utah case provides a reference point and reminder for taxpayers nationwide. To ensure that property is not over-assessed and thus overtaxed, it is important to make sure the taxing jurisdictions have made all the proper adjustments to remove intangible property. And that entails the exclusion of business value attributable to goodwill.<\/p>\n \u00a0David J. Crapo is a partner in the Bountiful, Utah law firm of Crapo Smith, the Utah member of American Property Tax Counsel, the national affiliation of property tax attorneys. He can be reached at djcrapo@craposmith.com.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A recent Utah Supreme Court decision may influence taxes throughout the country by clarifying whether goodwill is a component of taxable real estate value. Most states exclude intangible property from taxation, so identifying intangible components of a business can significantly reduce property tax liability. In T-Mobile vs.Utah State Tax Commission, the Court declared that accounting…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":59,"featured_media":1004518219,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[39372],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1004211861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cpe-blog"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n