on a refund claim, so a company is not rushed into addressing its LB644 status. More importantly, the Department will not be able to formally deny the claim without providing the taxpayer with a formal hearing before a hearing officer at the Department of Revenue. At that hearing, a taxpayer can introduce evidence in support of its claim. Rather than having to hurriedly address a company’s status under LB644, and potentially failing to introduce evidence the Department considers necessary, we recommend that clients add a protective request for hearing for both the company’s existing and new refund claims. This is an important procedural step that can sometimes be the difference between successfully obtaining a refund or not. LB644 STATUS: HOW TO PROTECT YOUR COMPANY As noted in our prior article, we are working with companies and their CPAs on the specific written statement that should be attached to a company’s incentive claims and filings. This statement will outline the company’s specific facts and corporate structure, express the presence of a binding incentive contract, and invoke the legal and constitutional defenses that exist against LB644. This will help avoid a waiver situation by preserving your legal and constitutional rights and help prevent the state from successfully contending that the company implicitly accepted the conditions established under LB644 (as well as other new conditions that may be enacted later). Now is the time to clearly assert that you believe a binding contract exists and to state that new or future unilateral, retroactive changes to its terms will not be accepted. Nick Niemann and Matt Ottemann are partners with McGrath North Law Firm. As state and local tax and incentives attorneys, they collaborate with CPAs to help clients and companies evaluate, defend, and resolve tax matters and obtain various business expansion incentives. See www.NebraskaStateTax.com and www.NebraskaIncentives.com for more information or to obtain a copy of their publications, The Anatomy of Resolving State Tax Matters and the Nebraska Business Expansion Decision Guide. You may also contact Niemann and Ottemann at (402) 341-3070 or nniemann@mcgrathnorth.com or mottemann@mcgrathnorth.com. This publication should not be considered as legal, tax, business, or financial advice. Only our clients may rely on any legal advice we provide. 17 nescpa.org
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTg3NDExNQ==