Central National-Gottesman Inc. v. Director, Division of Taxation
Central National-Gottesman Inc. v. Director, Division of Taxation
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
The Director of the Division of Taxation (Director) appeals from a judgment based on a determination of the Tax Court which concluded that the portion of plaintiff taxpayer’s income “derived from [its] investment division is not subject to taxation by New Jersey” and that plaintiff “is entitled to its claim for refund of corporate business taxes for 1988, 1989 and 1990.” Central National-Gottesman v. Director, Division of Taxation, 14 N.J. Tax 545, 560 (1995). We affirm substantially for the reasons expressed in the published opinion of Judge Lawrence L. Lasser, but add the following.
Before us, the Director expressly acknowledges that the merger of Lindenmeyr Paper Corporation into plaintiff and plaintiffs election of subchapter S status is not itself controlling. He further concedes the fact that although separate divisions of a single corporation, controlled by a single board of directors and senior officers, is involved, as opposed to parent and subsidiary corporations, such fact is not dispositive. The Director, therefore, does not contest Judge Lasser’s statement that “[b]ecause a corporate structure consists of divisions rather than subsidiaries does not in itself make the corporation unitary.” Id. at 558. See also Mobil Oil Corp. v. Commissioner of Taxes, 445 U.S. 425, 440, 100 S.Ct. 1223, 1233, 63 L.Ed.2d 510, 523 (1980) (Vermont could apportionately tax dividends received from foreign subsidiaries and affiliates by corporation doing business in that State; “the
As the United States Supreme Court has most recently said:
Among the limitations the Constitution sets on the power of a single State to tax the multi-state income of a nondomiciliary corporation are these: there must be “a ‘minimal connection’ between the interstate activities and the taxing State,” Mobil Oil Corp. V. Commissioner of Taxes of Vt., 445 U.S. 425, 436-437, 100 S.Ct. 1223, 1231, 63 L.Ed.2d 510 (1980) (quoting Moorman Mfg. Co. v. Bair, 437 U.S. 267, 273, 98 S.Ct. 2340, 2344-45, 57 L.Ed.2d 197 (1978)), and there must be a rational relation between the income attributed to the taxing State and the intrastate value of the corporate business. 445 U.S. at 437, 100 S.Ct. at 1231-32, 63 L.Ed.2d 510. Under our precedents, a State need not attempt to isolate the intrastate income-producing activities from the rest of the business; it may tax an apportioned sum of the corporation’s multistate business if the business is unitary. E.g. ASARCO Inc. v. Idaho State Tax Comm’n, 458 U.S. 307, 317, 102 S.Ct. 3103, 3109-10, 73 L.Ed.2d 787 (1982). A State may not tax a nondomiciliary corporation’s income, however, if it is “derive[d] from ‘unrelated business activity’ which constitutes a ‘discrete business enterprise.’ ” Exxon Corp. v. Wisconsin Dept. of Revenue, 447 U.S. 207, 224, 100 S.Ct. 2109, 2120, 65 L.Ed.2d 66 (1980) (quoting Mobil Oil, supra, at 442, 439, 100 S.Ct. at 1234, 1232-33, 63 L.Ed.2d 510).
[Allied-Signal, Inc. v. Director, Div. of Taxation, 504 U.S. 768, 772-73, 112 S.Ct. 2251, 2255, 119 L.Ed.2d 533, 542 (1992).]
Here, Judge Lasser found that the “[t]axpayer has shown by clear and cogent evidence that there was a lack of functional integration, centralization of management and economies of scale between its investment division and forest products division,” 14 N.J. Tax at 560, employing the three factors for so deciding as developed by the United States Supreme Court. Id. at 554-57. See Allied-Signal v. Director, Div. Taxation, supra, 504 U.S. at 781-83, 112 S.Ct. at 2259-61, 119 L.Ed.2d at 548-49; F.W. Woolworth Co. v. Taxation & Revenue Dep’t, 458 U.S. 354, 364, 371, 102 S.Ct. 3128, 3135, 3138-39, 73 L.Ed.2d 819, 832 (1982); Mobil
At argument before us, the Director noted that plaintiffs investment division transferred approximately $16,000,000 to the forest products division to acquire Lindenmeyr; that approximately $17,-000,000 was returned in 1988 after the corporation’s directors decided in 1987 that it would limit the capital investment in the forest products division to $40,000,000; that consolidated financial statements used in connection with a 1987 operational $18,000,000 loan by the Prudential Insurance Company included financial information relative to both divisions, and that plaintiff obtained a letter of credit for the forest products’ acquisition of a paper distributor, D.F. Monroe, in 1988 at a lower rate because the bank was custodian of securities owned by the investment division. The Director thus emphasized that the investment division’s assets were being used in securing loans and credit for the forestry products operation.
It is certainly true that such conduct is relevant to the critical issue before us, see Container Corp. v. Franchise Bd., supra, 463 U.S. at 166, 103 S.Ct. at 2940, 77 L.Ed.2d at 553-54; see also ASARCO Inc. v. Idaho State Tax Comm’n, 458 U.S. 307, 327-29,
The judgment is affirmed.
There was a basis for Judge Lasser's conclusion that the 1988 letter of credit involved a "single incident" and a "de minimus saving of fees.” 14 N.J. Tax at 559.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.