- Court: Oregon Supreme Court
- Area(s) of Law: Tax Law
- Date Filed: 09-11-2015
- Case #: SC S060150
- Judge(s)/Court Below: Baldwin, J., for the Court; Balmer, C.J.; & Kistler, J.; Walters, J.; Landau, J.; & Brewer, J.
AT&T appealed a Tax Court judgment denying AT&T's claim that it was owed a refund for taxes paid between 1996 and 1999. At issue was the interpretation of “income-producing activity” and “costs of performance.” AT&T argued that the terms should be interpreted through a network-based focus on the overall operation of its network. The Department of Revenue contended that interpretation of the terms should be transaction-based, relying on the individual transactional sales of customers. This Court agreed with the Department’s analysis of ORS 314.665(4) and determined that AT&T did not correctly calculate their requested refund because it was based on an erroneous interpretation of the Oregon statute. Affirmed.