The CAT is officially out of the bag in Oregon!😺

Oregon legislators passed a new “gross receipts” tax known as the Corporate Activity Tax (“CAT”), which officially became effective January 1, 2020. While Oregon currently does not administer a sales or use tax, the effects of the CAT may now require your business to register in a state otherwise part of the collective “NOMAD” states for sales and use tax purposes.

Eligible Businesses

The Oregon CAT affects most businesses, including unitary groups of businesses, doing business in the state. Most, if not all business types are included, such as S-corporations, C-corporations, partnerships, sole proprietorships, and other business entities.

While all businesses would potentially be affected by this legislation, only those with commercial activity above $750,000 during a one-year period would be required to register. Those business would then be required to file a CAT return once sales have reached over $1,000,000 in Oregon commercial activities.

What are Commercial Activities

For purposes of CAT, commercial activities include the total amount of transactions made in Oregon and realized by the business, without deduction for expenses incurred by the business. The accounting method use for federal income tax returns will be the accounting method adopted by this tax type.

CAT Nexus Position

Similar to a sales tax, CAT will govern only on businesses with substantial nexus in Oregon. Substantial nexus includes physical presence, maintaining systematic and continuous contacts with Oregon’s economy, filing reports or attributing gross receipts to Oregon regulatory bodies or customers, or deliberately marketing or soliciting Oregon customers, etc.

Businesses with substantial nexus who exceed the $750,000 commercial activity threshold during a calendar year would be required to register within 30 days of exceeding the threshold, with penalties for non-compliance.

If your business sells from within, or otherwise has substantial nexus with Oregon and is close to exceeding thresholds, we can assist you with registration and maintaining compliance. As there are many CAT details and nuances that can be easily overlooked, please refer to Thompson Tax & Associates as your Trusted Tax Advisor.

Please contact Thompson Tax for all your CAT questions and concerns at [email protected]