Bass, Berry & Sims attorney Mike Sontag was quoted in two articles covering the arguments before the Tennessee Supreme Court in the Vodafone case. Mike is representing Vodafone in the case and presented arguments before the high court. In June 2014, the Tennessee Court of Appeals upheld a variance imposed by the Commissioner of Revenue requiring Vodafone to use market-based sourcing rather than the COP sourcing currently required by Tennessee’s franchise and excise tax statutes. The Tennessee Supreme Court is hearing the case to determine whether the Commissioner property used his alternative apportionment authority. As stated in Mike’s arguments before the court and as reported in one of the articles, “the only issue in the case is whether the revenue commissioner has the authority, through the state’s variance statute, to request the clear tax policy choices of the General Assembly in favor of the tax policy of his own choosing, based on this judgment that the default statute is unfair or unwisely adopted.”
The two articles, listed below, are available on the Tax Analysts website (subscription required).
- “Tennessee High Court Hears Arguments in Vodafone Alternative Apportionment Case” (June 3, 2015)
- “News Analysis: Tennessee Supreme Court Hammers Parties in Vodafone Arguments” (June 4, 2015)