Colorado: Domestic Holding Companies cannot be Forcibly Combined with Affiliates

Recently, the Colorado Supreme Court released two long-awaited decisions addressing nearly identical corporate income tax issues. The first was whether a domestic holding company that had no property and payroll could be required to be included in a Colorado combined report with its affiliates. The second issue was whether the Department could use the state’s IRC section 482-type statute to include domestic holding companies in their respective combined groups. The court ruled in favor of the taxpayers on both issues. However, Legislation (Senate Bill 233) is currently pending signature that would clarify prospectively that domestic corporations with no property and payroll or minimal property or payroll can be included in the Colorado combined group. Please contact Derek Weisbruch at 303-382-7299 with questions on Department of Revenue v. Agilent and Department of Revenue v. Oracle.