August 2016
On July 13, 2016, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf signed H.B. 1198, enacting the revenue portion of the Commonwealth’s budget for the 2016 – 2017 fiscal year. H.B. 1198 was passed without a broad based tax increase or significant overhaul to the tax system. However, among the developments are several noteworthy changes to the Pennsylvania Bank Shares Tax (72 Pa. Stat. Ann. § 7701 et. seq.), including: (1) amending the definition of “doing business”; (2) increasing the rate; (3) revising the definition of “equity capital”; (4) clarifying the goodwill deduction; (5) amending the apportionment provisions; and (6) aligning the definition of receipts to eliminate reference to the federal tax return.